Celebrating Livingston Memories

By Lucille Lo Sapio LC’73

In 1969, high schools across the country received a bold announcement from Rutgers University: a new kind of college was opening its doors. Named Livingston College, it was designed for the nontraditional student and promised to be different from the Ivy-clad image of
higher education.

“You won’t find ivy-covered walls here,” read the promotional brochure. With its motto, “Strength through Diversity,” Livingston pledged to cultivate critical thinking, social responsibility, and inclusivity on the site of a former Army base — Camp Kilmer — in Piscataway.

Students were drawn to this experimental model of education, where diversity, academic innovation, and community engagement were central values.

A Legacy Revisited

Livingston College no longer exists as a separate institution. It was absorbed into Rutgers University years ago and is now referred to simply as the Livingston Campus — a change that still stirs disappointment among many alumni. Yet to those who studied there, the
name “Livingston College” still carries deep meaning.

That enduring loyalty was on full display on June 14, 2025, when the Livingston Alumni Association (LAA) hosted its first official reunion open to all former students.

Despite the rain, more than a hundred alumni gathered on the campus, reflecting on how far it — and they — had come. Many remembered their first impressions of the college’s muddy grounds and barracks-like dormitories in the early 1970s. Even alumni from the 1990s were struck by how dramatically the landscape had changed.

“Back then, it was rough around the edges — but that was part of its charm,” said one attendee. “Now, it’s a real campus.”