AVELLINO: Holloway benches himself as U. president
On Tuesday, University President Jonathan Holloway announced that he will not be seeking a renewal of his term as president at the end of his five-year term.
Plenty of Rutgers students are celebrating Holloway's departure. From the sounds of it, so is Holloway. After a rocky tenure of campus protests, testifying before Congress and one of the largest educational strikes in American history, Holloway wants a break from Rutgers before returning as a history professor.
And Rutgers wants a break from Holloway. The school has had a tumultuous relationship with its president. From protests outside of his home to a University Senate vote of no-confidence in September 2023, Holloway has created something of an infamous name for himself among his greatest critics. And after other Presidents of schools rocked by protests resigned, it was only a matter of time before Holloway joined them.
Holloway's tenure was indeed controversial, and I have plenty of criticisms on how he handled his tenure. But university presidents have a lot of responsibilities, and also some limitations. I get frustrated when people blame or credit U.S. presidents for events outside their control. I do not see any reason to behave differently with university presidents.
So, what has actually happened to Rutgers under Holloway's tenure?
Hironao Okahana, executive director at the American Council on Education's Education Futures Lab, says that "(Presidents are) not only the leader for teaching and learning, but in a place like Rutgers, you're overseeing a massive research enterprise and a large-scale athletic organization ... That comes with a range of stakeholders to engage with on behalf of the institution..."
U.S. News and World Report says the responsibilities of a college president include "fundraising for the school, ensuring the budget is balanced and being the outward facing leader, voice and representative of the institution."
So what is happening in each of those areas?
Fundraising for the school, especially for research, has undeniably skyrocketed. Research funds have reached nearly $1 billion for the 2024-2025 school year, a 41 percent increase from five years ago.
This is a much rosier picture than Rutgers' structural budget deficit. According to the University's Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report, we are running a roughly $90 million and $80 million deficit for Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025, respectively. These deficits are still a decrease from the $125 million deficit from Fiscal Year 2023, but still quite bad.
Schools need money to operate. As a public university, Rutgers gets nearly one-fifth of its funding from the State of New Jersey. You could argue that these budget restrictions put Holloway in a bind when the faculty went on strike over wage increases that Holloway claimed the school could not pay for without more money from Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ).
But part of Holloway's job in ensuring fiscal responsibility is having good relations with lawmakers in Trenton and the private donors cutting checks for research and scholarships. He is not just our president, he is our lobbyist. And in this area, quite a poor one at that.
That excess spending has created some good things on campus.
Examples include the new Health and Life Science Exchange (HELIX) building coming to the Rutgers—New Brunswick campus in January 2026 and the Rutgers Scarlet Service Programs, which connect Rutgers students with public service internships in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
The faculty also got the salary bumps they fought for during the strikes in 2023.
But these new programs, institutions and staff support have costs that Holloway has struggled to navigate. Tuition and fees make up nearly 30 percent of Rutgers' funding, and costs just exceeded inflation for the second year in a row. One way or another, we will pay for everything eventually.
I understand and am sympathetic to arguments against Holloway based on his behavior during the teachers' strike and last semester's campus protests. He is the president of our university, and serving as a good public face is a part of the job description.
But our discussions should not just be about a president's most embarrassing moments. Presidents do more than take photo-ops and speak at commencement. They have real influence over the school's finances and our tuition, and we need to be able to evaluate that. Bureaucracy is complicated, management is hard, and that is all the more reason we need to stay informed on who is doing what at our school and decide whether we like it.
And I do not.
Noble Avellino is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in economics and minoring in political science. Avellino’s column, “Noble’s Advocate,” runs on Mondays.
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