Rutgers president to step down after five years

Rutgers University president Jonathan Holloway announced Tuesday he would step down in June after several turbulent years on the job, including a weeklong faculty union strike, a no-confidence vote by the faculty senate a year ago, and controversy over the handling of a pro-Palestinian encampment.

Rutgers’ first Black president, Holloway said in his announcement that it was his own decision to depart after five years “and reflects my own rumination about how best to be of service.”

Holloway, 57, a U.S. historian and professor of history and African American studies, intends to take a sabbatical in 2025-26 and then return to the faculty of the 67,956-student state flagship university.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Holloway said he made the decision over the summer after two really difficult years that included two weeks of having 24-hour security at his home and on campus during the height of contentious faculty contract negotiations and increased security throughout the last year following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent unrest on campus.

“It changed the way I occupied space on campus,” he said. “It’s not part of what I signed up for.

“For me, it’s better to go out on my own terms than to be told to get out of here by somebody else,” he said. “And better for me to have time to finish the book I have been working on slowly but surely. And what a great state to leave the university in for another person. It just feels right.”

Under Holloway, Rutgers increased its standings in rankings, broke admissions records, and exceeded fundraising goals, the university said. The New Brunswick campus placed 15th among public institutions in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Holloway’s departure is among a flurry of presidential resignations nationally as the job of college president becomes increasingly challenging amid the Israel-Hamas war and increased competition and financial challenges. Former University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill resigned in December after bipartisan backlash over her congressional testimony regarding Penn’s handling of antisemitism on campus. Holloway came under scrutiny by the same committee and testified in May.

» READ MORE: Rutgers University senate votes no confidence in the school’s president after faculty strike and controversial changes

“I think it’s time to turn the page for the university,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP-AFT chapter at Rutgers and a professor of journalism and media studies. “We need new leadership. I think it’s the right decision.”

In September, the faculty senate voted no confidence in Holloway, following several controversial decisions in recent months, including the ouster of popular Newark campus chancellor Nancy Cantor and the planned merger of the university’s two medical schools, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick and the New Jersey Medical School in Newark.

» READ MORE: Rutgers’ president on the medical school merger, that vote of no confidence, and the faculty strike

The senate vote was largely symbolic but sent a message about the dissatisfaction of the senate, made up of a broad base of students, faculty, alumni, and staff. The measure specifically stated that the senate had “lost confidence in his ability to effectively lead this institution.”

The move also followed a faculty strike in spring 2023, during which time Holloway had threatened to seek an injunction to make faculty return to class.

The board of governors, however, stood staunchly behind Holloway following the no-confidence vote.

In a statement Tuesday, Rutgers Board of Governors chair Amy Towers praised Holloway and said the university would launch a national search for his replacement.

“Jonathan Holloway has led Rutgers with integrity, strong values, and a commitment to service and civility, while helping to steer the university through challenges facing higher education — including a global pandemic, shifting labor demands and a Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in admissions,” she said. “Dr. Holloway’s decision was his and his alone; we respect it and thank Dr. Holloway for his passion and service.”

Holloway last year joined a national movement of more than a dozen college presidents committed to championing free expression, civic preparedness, and the civil exchange of ideas on campus. He also launched the Rutgers Scarlet Service initiative, which offers up to 150 sophomores and juniors paid summer internships in public service, working for nonprofit organizations.

From the start, Holloway, a Yale-educated former provost of Northwestern University, faced extraordinary challenges. He took office in July 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

» READ MORE: Rutgers faculty defend the university in advance of Thursday’s GOP-led congressional hearing on antisemitism on campus

Last spring, Holloway came under fire after negotiating an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters who had erected an encampment on the New Brunswick campus. It was among a flurry of similar encampments at colleges across the nation. The faculty union supported Holloway’s actions as he was grilled by a congressional committee investigating the handling of antisemitism on college campuses.

Holloway maintained that Rutgers made the right choice when it decided against calling in law enforcement to end the encampment.

Rutgers agreed to review, as part of the regular university process, a demand that the university divest its financial holdings from any firm connected to Israel. The agreement also included commitments for the president and chair of the joint committee on investments to meet with up to five students to discuss their request for Rutgers to divest, the establishment of an Arab Cultural Center, and staff training in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racism.

But the deal drew bipartisan criticism, including from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat. Some Jewish faculty and students at Rutgers also were critical and said the university had not done enough to quell antisemitism on campus.

Holloway said his relationship with Murphy has been a very good one. He does worry, he said, about the contentious times college presidents face and is concerned they will lead to the hiring of people who don’t understand and appreciate higher education.

“I’m very worried about it,” he said. “We’re absolutely losing a lot of talent. … I’m worried you are going to see a generation of people who come in and see the political complexity of higher education as a negative instead of a strength and will look for efficiencies and solutions that might make sense in a for-profit setting” but not for a college.

He said he looks forward to continuing to teach his seminar “Citizenship, Institutions, and the Public.” The “earnestness” of students’ questions inspires him, he said.

“From where I sit now as president, higher education can feel mighty broken,” he said. “But when I take off that hat and put on my professor’s hat, higher ed feels great.”