Congratulations to the Rutgers Class of 2015 and best to you all. Hope you have made friends here that will last a lifetime. I know I did. Here's a couple of items about Rutgers graduation days years before the Civil War. Back then, students graduated toward the end of June or start of July...........
An alumni wrote a June 29, 1857 letter about commencement to the New Jersey Eagle of Newark that published it in its July 7 edition. The Rutgers grad noted, “No pleasanter reunion can be imagined; lent too often do the cause of business harden the heart to old College remembrances, so that after this first meeting very seldom do the Class come together again. A sad thought it is that we cannot keep our hearts ever possessing the freshness and buoyant feeling which abode there in youth.”
Distinguishing colors at Rutgers go back before intercollegiate sports began. There were 300 in attendance for commencement exercises when the July 7, 1857 New Jersey Eagle of Newark reported, “…The two ‘secret societies’ of the College are welcoming back their graduate members who come from all parts of the Union. The Zeta Psi has for its distinguishing mark the ‘white ribbon,’ while the ‘Delta Phi’ wear the ‘dark blue.’ You meet them all over the city, and no doubt the worthy Professors stare to see the marks of those ‘awful, (?) forbidden, dangerous (?) societies’ fluttering from every student’s coat. The Zeta Psi possesses, I believe, the larger number of members now in College, some of whom have already enrolled their names on the records of fame...”
An alumni wrote a June 29, 1857 letter about commencement to the New Jersey Eagle of Newark that published it in its July 7 edition. The Rutgers grad noted, “No pleasanter reunion can be imagined; lent too often do the cause of business harden the heart to old College remembrances, so that after this first meeting very seldom do the Class come together again. A sad thought it is that we cannot keep our hearts ever possessing the freshness and buoyant feeling which abode there in youth.”
Distinguishing colors at Rutgers go back before intercollegiate sports began. There were 300 in attendance for commencement exercises when the July 7, 1857 New Jersey Eagle of Newark reported, “…The two ‘secret societies’ of the College are welcoming back their graduate members who come from all parts of the Union. The Zeta Psi has for its distinguishing mark the ‘white ribbon,’ while the ‘Delta Phi’ wear the ‘dark blue.’ You meet them all over the city, and no doubt the worthy Professors stare to see the marks of those ‘awful, (?) forbidden, dangerous (?) societies’ fluttering from every student’s coat. The Zeta Psi possesses, I believe, the larger number of members now in College, some of whom have already enrolled their names on the records of fame...”
