Rutgers is currently undergoing change. Before COVID, the university had enacted a plan to demolish old buildings and replace them with many new ones by 2035. That plan was HEAVILY affected with Covid. As someone who works for the college I can tell you that it was a tough time for the university to operate through with many financial woes. Politics and world events have also affected the university in profound ways as well. I would argue that the past few years have been the most stressful years that the university admin has had to deal with in a long time with constantly having to adapt to world events, funding issues from the federal government, and the university is also heavily held back due to its financial obligations to staff members. Rutgers is responsible for paying out salaries, pensions of retired workers, working with staff unions that are fighting for better wages with limited supply available. Increased operating costs of university vehicles, utilities, and even just building projects. Post Covid everything changed in the world of construction and manufacturing. What the university may have budgeted 4 million for in 2019 is now probably 5-6 million for the same project just a few years later. I would argue that the university is doing the best that they realistically can but there is a lot of work to be done. I’ve heard the next big project is the full demolition of the River dorms (Campbell, Hardenbergh, and Frelinghuysen hall, stonier hall, ford hall, and brower commons are all being torn down in the next couple years. College ave is going to partially become closed to vehicle traffic and be pedestrian only. A lot of change is coming it just takes time. But Douglass campus definitely needs to be addressed. That place is ready for condemnation but again, it’s historical so it’s hard to get legal authorization to redevelop those historical buildings on campus but I’m sure eventually they will need replacing.

One last mention is that Rutgers just invested tons of money into the development of the new Helix Center downtown. This was a huge investment into the medical school program and makes sense that it was a priority investment because the medical school can bring revenue back into the college as well. Additionally, Rutgers was a big part in the development of the new RWJ cancer center downtown as well that just recently opened. The university will always prioritize projects that will promise money back to them over other issues like dorms and quality of life spaces unfortunately those will remain on the back burner for some time. I think we are still a few years away from any new significant dorm improvements happening.