Rutgers University–New Brunswick Informations

Rutgers University – New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's public research university. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campus of the university, the others being in Camden and Newark. The campus is composed of several smaller campuses: College Avenue, Busch, Livingston, Cook, and Douglass, the latter two sometimes referred to as "Cook/Douglass," as they are adjacent to each other. Rutgers – New Brunswick also includes several buildings in downtown New Brunswick.

The New Brunswick campuses include 19 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. Prospective first-year students can apply into the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS), School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), School of Engineering (SOE), the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy (EMSOP), the Mason Gross School of the Arts (MGSA), the School of Nursing (SON), and the Rutgers Business School (RBS).

After year one, students wishing to pursue a major not listed in one of the direct-admit schools may apply for a “dual-enrollment” or transfer into the School of Communication and Information (SCI), the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy (EJB) School of Social Work (SSW), or the School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR).

The Graduate School, the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, the Graduate School of Education, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, School of Graduate Studies, School of Public Health, and the School of Health Professions offer post-undergraduate programs and degrees for students who wish to continue their education for either a masters or doctorate.

Each of the five campuses hosts its own student center, libraries, commercial venues, dining halls, and residence buildings. However, the physical atmosphere of each campus differs, and may also host specific academic departments, facilities, and schools.

Residence halls provide many facilities for students. With over 15,000 resident students, 5 different campuses each with its own identity, 58 residence halls, 4 dining halls and 30-plus food courts/cafés, students can find everything they need right on campus. Despite some over-crowding, students wishing to live on-campus are usually accommodated, with a lottery system for non-incoming freshmen determining the order in which students choose their preferred housing (With the exception of Demarest Hall, which exempts students from the lottery system as long as they are contracted to special interest sections, and BEST (Busch Engineering, Science, and Technology) Hall, which is open only to students from SAS, SOE,and Pharmacy, and exempts them from the lottery if they got into the hall as a freshman). Single, double, and triple-occupancy rooms (in traditional residence halls), apartments housing four students each, and suites housing six (or four, as in BEST Hall) students each are available. Rooms and apartments are single-sex, with the exception of married graduate student housing, which also permit children of students. The other exceptions to this rule are the Livingston Apartments, Demarest Hall, and Rainbow Perspective Special Interest Rooms in New Gibbons. (These, however require special applications to be made) Most floors and buildings are co-ed, with the exception of Douglass Residential College facilities for women. Rooms usually contain beds, desks, chairs, dressers, and a closet for each student. Cable/internet access are also provided, but due to the widespread use of mobile phones, traditional land-line phone service is no longer provided in the halls. Many residence halls include laundries, main lounges with TVs, foosball and ping-pong, floor lounges with sofas, study tables, and kitchenettes, study lounges, and vending machines. Every floor or house has a resident assistant, an upper class student mentor who has received special training and is responsible for handling a number of tasks, such as planning programs and events, monitoring for safety, and documenting policy and procedure violations.

In the past, due to overcrowding, Rutgers has rented rooms for students in the Franklin Township Crowne Plaza. Shuttle buses provided transportation to campus for these students.

Residence halls by campus:

Three complexes provide graduate family housing. They are Johnson Apartments, Marvin Apartments, and Nichols Apartments. All three apartment facilities are located in Piscataway Township on Busch Campus.

In 1966 Johnson was built. In 1973 Marvin was built. Nichols was constructed in 1975.

The campus is home to over 80 fraternities and sororities, including African-American, Latino/a, multicultural and Asian-interest. Several organizations maintain houses for their chapters in the area of Union Street (known locally as "Frat Row"), adjacent to the College Avenue Campus. Greek organizations are governed by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

The Grease Trucks were a group of truck-based food vendors located on the College Avenue Campus. They serve traditional grill fare, Middle-Eastern specialties, and are especially well known for serving "Fat Sandwiches," a sub roll containing various ingredients such as cheesesteak, burgers, pork roll, chicken fingers, French fries, mozzarella sticks, eggs, bacon, gyro meat, marinara sauce, etc. The Rutgers Grease Trucks were located in a designated lot for nearly two decades until August 2013. Truck owners were forced to relocate due to the construction of a $84 million student apartment complex. Three trucks remain on the College Avenue Campus, while the remaining two were moved to the Cook/Douglass Campus. Now, there is a store opening in the new area on College Avenue called "The Yard".

The Dance Marathon is a student-run organization that consists of a year-long series of fundraisers and culminates with the annual Marathon on April 5–6 in the College Avenue Gym. At the Marathon over 400 dancers pledge to raise funds and remain standing for 32 hours without sleeping. The 'Dancers', along with over 500 volunteers and countless visitors, are entertained by live bands, comedians, prize giveaways, games, sports, a mechanical bull, computer and internet access, various theme hours and much more. Rutgers has held this tradition since 1999 and to date has raised in excess of $1.3 million for the Embrace Kids Foundation. In the seventies the Dance Marathon raised funds for the American Cancer Society. In the Eighties it was the Rutger Cancer Research Association.

RutgersFest was a day-long cultural event staged variously on either Livingston Campus or Busch Campus. It was designed to promote college spirit through student organization participation with activities and entertainment throughout the day, culminating with a free concert and fireworks at night. The event was free to all students and guests and was funded as part of an elected programming fee paid by all students as part tuition. Past musical guests have included: Kanye West, Everclear, Sugar Ray, Guster, Goldfinger, Ludacris, Reel Big Fish, Method Man and Redman, Fuel, Third Eye Blind, Hawthorne Heights, NAS, SR-71, Ok Go, N.E.R.D, Pitbull, and more. The event would feature carnival attractions such as bungee bull, bouncy boxing, moon walk, electronic basketball, a recording studio and more. Attendance for the annual event was about 40,000–50,000, topping out at an estimated 65,000 in 2004 at the event which featured Kanye West and Sugar Ray The event was staged by the Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA), formerly known as the Rutgers College Programming Committee (RCPC), as a year-end celebration before the start of the final examination period.

During its final year in 2011, the festival was held on Busch Campus. Invited musical guests included Yelawolf, Pitbull, and 3OH!3. Several violent incidents that year lead to the indefinite cancelation of the event. President Richard McCormick, in a letter to the Rutgers community, commented: "The problems that occur following Rutgersfest have grown beyond our capacity to manage them, and the only responsible course of action is to cancel the event."

The size of the campus requires the use of mass transit to get students around to the different residential campuses. Bus Service is currently provided by First Transit, and runs all year including breaks and weekends. When the campus transit system is not in service, a smaller point-to-point shuttle called the Knight Mover is provided for student transportation.

Currently, there are bike lanes and bus lanes separately at College Avenue Campus to improve the traffic.

According to a New Brunswick Crime Rate Report,"the city's violent crime rate for New Brunswick in 2009 was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 75.98% and the city property crime rate in New Brunswick was higher than the national property crime rate average by 12.75%. In 2009 the city violent crime rate in New Brunswick was higher than the violent crime rate in New Jersey by 142.64% and the city property crime rate in New Brunswick was higher than the property crime rate in New Jersey by 64.59%". Projected Crime Incidents for 2012, include 184 incidents for Aggravated Assault, 3 incidents for Arson, 523 incidents for Burglary, 25 incidents for Forcible Rape, 865 incidents for Larceny and Theft, 73 incidents for Motor Vehicle Theft, 5 incidents for Murder and Manslaughter, 132 incidents for Robbery, with 1,791 total incidents including 1,464 for Property Crime and 347 for Violent Crime.

On March 2012, the Daily Targum published an article, City Activists Seek Answers to Street Violence, regarding the increase in street violence in New Brunswick, "In an attempt to stop local street violence, residents are teaming up with New Brunswick authorities to make the city streets safer through various efforts. David Harris, executive director of the Greater New Brunswick Daycare Council, said community leaders and activists in New Brunswick are exploring different ways to combat criminal activity".

However, the crime rate in New Brunswick for 2012 is expected to be lower than in 2009. Based on data from 11 years, New Brunswick crime statistics report an overall downward trend in crime. But, compared to statistics from previous years, while property crime is decreasing, violent crime is increasing.

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