Rutgers-Camden in the 1950s

 

Every senior class summons a sense of collected pride - that they represent a meaningful new beginning.  In 1952,

Rutgers–Camden’s first senior class not only felt proud of themselves, but proud of the campus they were confident would become a shining beacon in the Rutgers family.

To illustrate this faith in the future of their alma mater, their senior yearbook was dedicated to “all those, known and unknown, donors and trustees, administrators and teachers, whose spirit of devotion, service and sacrifice entered into the foundation and development of the College of South Jersey and enabled it to become an integral part of Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey.”

What a feat for new Rutgers–Camden students to leave behind the first of many efforts, including a constitution for student government, foundations for student activities, including organizations such as the student newspaper The Gleaner, which began as an eight-page tabloid.

A strong sense of spirit was conjured on the campus, even as the physical facilities were still being constructed. The intimate campus size remained pivotal in fostering close relationships.

According to Dr. Frank Rykiel, who graduated from the campus with a liberal arts degree in science and general chemistry in 1956, the smallness of Rutgers–Camden was key in getting to really know those around him.

“I was a hard worker, maybe not the smartest person in the world, but through those great references from my professors I was able to pick from the medical schools I applied to. Rutgers–Camden was the sounding board to get me into medical school,” says Rykiel, a retired physician from Marlton.

Carolyn Miller LaMountain, who graduated from Rutgers–Camden in 1956, is a former teacher at Atlantic City High School, where she taught psychology and U.S. history for over 30 years. While at Rutgers–Camden, LaMountain served as editor of The Gleaner. She also credits the coziness of the Campus for why she thrived academically.

“I remember how the campus was small enough that everyone knew everyone else. There was a closeness; it was like a family,” she notes.

These friendships were solidified even more with the founding of fraternities like Theta Phi Kappa and Kappa Sigma Upsilon, which acquired 318 North Fourth Street as the campus’ first official fraternity house and the establishment of the school’s first sorority, Delta Rho, in 1952.

The first class to study the full four years as Rutgers undergraduates made this poignant dedication in the 1954 Mneme yearbook:

“A city is our campus. A city with its noise of subway trains and honking car horns; its odor of boiling soup and roasting coffee beans; and the sight of its majestic city hall tower and sweeping Delaware River Bridge span. Our buildings are nestled between unimpressive row houses, but inside this plant bears the pulse of a great university whose facilities offer opportunities for increasing knowledge and developing a spirit of fellowship through an exchange of ideas and a sharing of rich cultural social experiences.”

As the first decade of Rutgers–Camden’s existence came to a close, improvements to the Campus and its surrounding environs were made with the completion of the first major construction project in 1958: the campus library, now known as the Paul Robeson library, and a campus landmark, formerly the Delaware River Bridge, earned its new moniker as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in 1956.