• Traditions can serve as one way to create a sense of community and often act as a pathway to connect the past with the present.
• The Scarlet Council traditions program digs deep to uncover some of Rutgers oldest traditions and encourages students to join them on this experiential opportunity to build connections through shared experiences with our robust alumni family. Through participation in this program, students will enhance and enrich their student experience and ultimately create a more rooted lifelong connection with their alma mater by connecting themselves with the past and creating new memories in the present.
• This series of programs work toward the following purpose and goals of the group:
  • ENCOURAGE a connection to the Rutgers University Alumni Association (RUAA)
  • RAISE pride in alma mater
  • INSPIRE and connect students, alumni and donors

Charter Day

Happy Birthday, Rutgers! More than 250 years ago, on November 10, 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was founded. The Scarlet Council and the RUAA celebrate the birthday of the eighth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, which started as a small sectarian college and is now a leading national public research institution. Join us to celebrate Charter Day and our place in the history of higher education and create a sense of belonging and pride in being Scarlet Forever!

Class Stones

Engraving Kirkpatrick Chapel building stones has been a graduation tradition since 1876. Initially, each graduating class would choose the location of the stone to be engraved. In later years, new stones were placed adjacent to the stone belonging to the class that graduated 50 years before.

The Scarlet Council and the RUAA have resurrected this piece of Rutgers history and brought old class stone unveilings back into the student experience! Each year, seniors and their respective 50th-anniversary alumni class participate in the time-honored tradition of taking a rubbing of their class stone for a personal keepsake of Rutgers history.

Celebrate at the Gate

Rutgers students have taken part in old and new traditions for generations! In fact, graduates of Rutgers College used to gather at Old Queens and march through the 1902 gateway to Voorhees Mall, where commencement ceremonies would take place in front of Willie the Silent. Legend has it though, if you pass through the gate twice, you may not graduate within four years. And so for decades, Rutgers students hopped the walls or took the long way around Old Queens to avoid the gate at all costs. The gate was erected in 1904 as a gift from the Class of 1902 and it’s a reminder of the importance of alumni support. Traditions like this unite generations of Rutgers students, and the Rutgers University Alumni Association and the RUAA Scarlet Council are excited to remember and honor this tradition in partnership with Welcome Week each year.

Scarlet Success

Starting your first year at Rutgers can be exciting and intimidating all at the same time. It helps to know that you have a community to support your journey and that Rutgers alumni all over the world want to help you succeed! Pick up some advice from a recent Rutgers graduate during New Student Orientation over the summer and start with the end in mind.