Rutgers President Holloway to step down next June

Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway has announced that he will step down from the post at the end of June next year.

Holloway, Rutgers' first Black president, has had to navigate some rocky years, which included the COVID-19 pandemic, a faculty union strike and, more recently, student encampments on campus to protest the Israel-Hamas military conflict in Gaza.

Among the advancements made at Rutgers during Holloway’s first four years is the enrollment of the university’s largest, most diverse and most accomplished first-year class this fall, a university statement said. Applications jumped more than 60% with the adoption of the Common Application at Rutgers and included a significant surge in applications from out-of-state and international students.

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“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," Rutgers Board of Governors Chair Amy Towers said in a statement.

"Dr. Holloway's decision was his and his alone," Towers said. "We respect it and thank Dr. Holloway for his passion and service.”

Holloway oversaw a turbulent but formative four years during which the university rose in rankings and began a controversial merger of its medical schools that is underway.

Holloway’s tenure saw unprecedented disruptions, too.

He arrived at Rutgers in July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had forced the 100,000-plus public university community into remote operations. Holloway guided the university to a safe return as Rutgers led the nation in vaccination requirements, a university statement said.

Then, in April 2023, the first faculty strike ever to occur at Rutgers brought all three campuses to a standstill as tenured and contractual teaching staff members halted classes until their demands were met.

That September, in a largely symbolic vote, the Rutgers University Senate voted no confidence in Holloway for disregarding "labor rights" and the spirit of "shared governance" in the school's operations.

The vote followed a year of disagreements between Holloway and the Senate over the university’s decision to merge its medical schools, Holloway’s dismissal of the chancellor of the Newark campus in August, and comments made during the faculty strike.

The Senate had asked for a postponement of the vote to merge medical school campuses, as many in the medical faculty and unions questioned the need for the merger without a clearer understanding of its fiscal and academic impacts.

This was followed by student protests in October 2023 and a weeklong pro-Palestinian student encampment on the New Brunswick campus, which ended peacefully after Holloway and university administrators negotiated with the protesters even as college campuses around the nation saw violence break out between police and students.

Holloway was one of three university leaders called to testify at a House hearing in May on antisemitism after the student encampment on the New Brunswick campus disbanded.

Emphasizing "dialogue and education" — and his own personal experience with discrimination as the son and grandson of African Americans — Holloway told House Republicans that only "civil discourse" could help during "polarized" times.

He defended his decision to negotiate with pro-Palestinian student protesters in order to have them dismantle an encampment on the grounds of Rutgers-New Brunswick.

Will take a sabbatical and join Rutgers faculty

Holloway, a U.S. historian, said he plans to take a sabbatical in the 2025-2026 academic year, when he will return to longstanding research projects, before joining the Rutgers faculty full time.

“This decision is my own and reflects my own rumination about how best to be of service,” Holloway said.

“Serving as the university president has been an enormous privilege and responsibility,” he said Tuesday in a message about his decision.

“I welcomed the opportunity to join the Rutgers community in July 2020 because I found inspiration in the possibilities that this institution represented: a belief that cutting-edge research could thrive in a university that was deeply committed to making education as accessible as possible to a profoundly diverse student population," he said.

"The reality behind this inspiration has been reaffirmed time and again during my tenure,” Holloway said.

Search for Holloway's successor

The university will likely set up a search committee soon to identify potential successors to Holloway. He had been the provost at Northwestern University, another Big Ten Conference school, before coming to Rutgers, and was the first Black dean of Yale College, serving from 2014 to 2017.

It would not be surprising for Rutgers to look again at provosts from other Big Ten schools as presidential possibilities.

"I cannot speak for all senators, but I am confident that many of my colleagues in the University Senate are looking forward to ensuring that the Senate has a meaningful role in the search for a new president and the continuance of our commitment to shared governance of Rutgers University,” said Paul Boxer, a professor of psychology and Newark faculty representative to the executive committee of the University Senate.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers President Holloway to step down next June