Stockton University
Stockton University is a public university in Galloway Township, New Jersey, United States. It is a part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. It is named for Richard Stockton, one of the New Jersey signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Founded in 1969, Stockton enrolled its first class in 1971. Stockton is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The university has a second campus in Atlantic City.
History
In November 1968, New Jersey approved a $202.5 million capital construction bond issue with an earmarked $15 million designated for the construction of a new state college in Southern New Jersey. In 1969, a tract was selected for the campus in the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens in Galloway Township. The school's trustees narrowed down final name options as either "Southern Jersey State College", "South Jersey State College", "Atlantic State College", and "Jersey Shore State College" before settling on "South Jersey State College." However, the school quickly sought another name, due to confusion between the new College and Rutgers College of South Jersey. The trustees considered naming the college after one of New Jersey's five Signatories of the Declaration of Independence; Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, and Abraham Clark, before settling on Stockton. The reason why Stockton was chosen was never disclosed, nor properly recorded, with the school launching an investigation as to why in 2017.In 1970, as construction began to run behind schedule, the trustees realized they needed an alternative location for the first class in 1971. They selected the historic Mayflower Hotel in Atlantic City as the temporary campus. Accreditation of Stockton State College by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools was first granted in December 1975.
In 1993, the college's name was changed to the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. After the New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education approved Stockton's petition, the college was awarded university status and was officially renamed Stockton University on February 18, 2015.
Shortly after the toppling of the Robert E. Lee Monument in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the deadly aftermath of the Unite the Right rally, the school dismantled a bust of Richard Stockton on campus on August 25, 2017, partly due to Stockton's ownership of slaves, and partly because of a widespread flyer-spreading incident in favor of Unite the Right on campus at the same time. University leaders then announced they would make a special "contextual history exhibit" as the bust's new home with the school vowing to have an honest investigation into the prospect of a name change. Ultimately this was never done, and the bust was simply returned to its previous location by 2023. The university's president also announced that the university had already looked into changing its name for its 40th anniversary in 2009, but ultimately decided against it but that they were willing to have an "honest discussion" about a new name for its 50th anniversary in 2019.
In June 2020, the board of trustees passed a resolution on "Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice at Stockton" asking the president to create a committee to discuss changing the name. The president declined to create such a committee but the Faculty Senate created a 30-person task force to do just that and look into more practical issues of a name change such as the university's built up cultural identity, reception, and cost. The task force found that the student and faculty bodies were evenly split on the issue, as Stockton also suffered the "contentious accusation of being a traitor" due to the way he was released from British Custody during the American Revolution by Swearing an Oath to King George III vowing to forego politics during the war and resigning from Congress. In their final report, the task force found that Stockton University had no legal means of changing its name, and urged for the creation of such bylaws and for the President to at least consider a name change. On April 7, 2023, university president Harvey Kesselman went on an interview with WPGG, unequivocally stating that there would be no name change and Stockton was the only signer imprisoned and starved by the British. Ultimately, the school never did find why Stockton's name was chosen from among the New Jersey signatories.
In the fall of 2017, Stockton University began constructing a new facility in the Chelsea neighborhood of Atlantic City. The addition was met with applause from local residents and community leaders, who hailed it as a redevelopment of the long-declining neighborhoods in Ward 5 of Atlantic City. The $220-million-campus opened in September 2018 and included a three-story academic center and apartment-style complex for student living called Kesselman Hall.
Presidents
- Richard E. Bjork
- Peter M. Mitchell
- Vera King Farris
- Herman Saatkamp
- Harvey Kesselman
- Joe Bertolino
Campus
Stockton opened a new $39.5-million Unified Science Center with state-of-the-art equipment in September 2013. The, three-story facility expands Stockton's School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Seaview Resort
In September 2010, as part of its expansion of its tourism and hotel management program in the School of Business, Stockton purchased the nearby Seaview Resort & Golf Course for $20 million. In 2010, Stockton established the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism, part of the Stockton School of Business in Atlantic City at Stockton's Carnegie Center.Stockton University officially completed the sale of the Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Club on July 31, 2018, to KDG Capital LLC of Florida for $21,070,000.
Atlantic City campus
The university has built an Atlantic City campus at the Boardwalk and Albany Ave, with student residences overlooking the beach and Boardwalk. Stockton University Atlantic City opened fall 2018 with more than 500 residential students and more than 1,800 students taking courses in the new Academic Center, built on the former site of Atlantic City High School. The project is a public-private partnership with Atlantic City Development Corp., or AC Devco, a non-profit modeled on New Brunswick Development Corp., which expanded Rutgers' New Brunswick campus.The project includes a parking garage topped by new offices for South Jersey Gas, with 879 parking spaces for use by the university, South Jersey Gas and the public; and an academic building that can accommodate up to 1,800 students. The university also owns and operates the nearby Rothenberg Building.
Funding sources for the Atlantic City campus include $50.4 million in bonds from the Atlantic County Improvement Authority from proceeds of almost $70 million in tax credits issued by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
In 2023, Stockton opened Parkview Hall, a second Atlantic City residential complex for students. The 133,055-square-foot residential complex combines six stories of student housing and amenities, including 107 apartments capable of housing 416 students.
In December 2014, Stockton had purchased the shuttered Showboat Atlantic City hotel and casino for $18 million, with plans to develop a full-service residential campus awarding undergraduate and graduate degrees and other professional training programs. The former resort, dubbed the "Island Campus", would have been converted casino and employee spaces into classrooms, cafeteria space and offices for faculty and staff. Several floors of hotel rooms would be renovated into student housing, while the remaining rooms would be operated as a hotel. The House of Blues would be modified to house the school's performing arts programs.
Soon after, it was publicly disclosed that Trump Entertainment Resorts held a covenant to the property, preventing the site from being used as anything other than a casino. It was through this covenant that Trump Entertainment Resorts prevented Stockton's plans to open an Atlantic City campus on the Showboat property. President Saatkamp came under fire for making the purchase despite knowing about the covenant. The university reached a deal to lease the property from investor Glenn Straub, who planned to purchase the Showboat. Straub later sued the university to prevent Stockton from backing out of the deal. Stockton sold the Showboat property to Bart Blatstein in January 2016.
Student life
Stockton's Division of Student Affairs is organized to provide comprehensive programs and services to more than 8,800 students, including more than 3,000 students who reside in university facilities. These programs and services are intended to enhance campus life and enrich the academic programs of Stockton.Stockton University is home to more than 200 official student clubs and organizations including a Student Senate. The Office of Student Development oversees all student clubs and organizations.
There are student media organizations, including the Argo, a student-produced newspaper. WLFR 91.7 is the student-run FM radio station licensed to Stockton in 1984. Stockpot Literary Magazine is an annual literary publication featuring art, poetry and writing of Stockton students and alumni. The Stockton yearbook is an historical record of the academic year.
Housing
Stockton has six housing units on campus. Housing II and III are complexes of traditional three-story residence halls, while Housing I, IV and V are all apartment-style complexes of varying architectural character.- Founder's Hall : Housing II is an 11-building, suite-style complex, housing around 520 students, with 17 residents per floor and 51 per three-story building. Housing III is a five-building complex, housing approximately 300 students with 20 students per floor and 60 per building. The residential halls offer a more traditional university lifestyle for the first-year experience. Originally, all students who choose to live on campus in their first year were required to live in either Housing II or Housing III; however, due to exceptionally large freshmen classes in recent years, some freshmen are assigned to Housing 1 as well.
- The Apartments consist of three multi-building complexes. Housing I is a 255-unit, 1,012-bed, garden apartment complex, which allows four students to live in proximity while being part of a larger court community of 128.
- Housing IV consists of eight buildings, each with eight two-bedroom apartments, with a total 246 beds. Each apartment holds four residents. Every four apartments are separated by an indoor foyer that leads out to the Housing IV recreational university green.
- Housing V, completed in 2008 as part of the capital program, consists of a complex of six buildings with a total of 384 beds. The Housing V suites house four students, with four key-entry bedrooms. These students share a kitchen and living area with their roommates and have access to a larger community recreation room.
- In fall 2018 Stockton opened its Atlantic City Campus. The Atlantic City Campus Residential Complex can accommodate some 530 students. The room styles are one-person studio, two-person private, four-person shared and private, and six-person private; all are apartment style living, with full kitchens. The number of rooms was increased for the 2020–2021 school year to comply with regulations relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey.