Dear colleague,
As you have likely heard by now, the Rutgers Board of Governors appointed Dr. William F. Tate IV to be the 22nd president of Rutgers University. Dr. Tate comes to Rutgers from Louisiana State University, where he has served as president since 2021. Prior to LSU, he was a provost at the University of South Carolina and a Dean and Vice Provost at Washington University in St. Louis.
In the official announcement, Rutgers Board of Governors Chair Amy Towers said of President Tate: “When the presidential search committee began the search for Rutgers’ next president with your input, we sought a transformative leader who embodies Rutgers’ values and our multi-campus identity: someone who is intentional, collaborative, and unafraid to think big—someone who understands well the broad, higher education environment and sees the unique opportunities for Rutgers to succeed through it all.” We are hopeful that our incoming president will indeed be a collaborative partner as the students and workers of this university face today’s extraordinary challenges and the challenges in years to come.
President Tate steps into this new role at Rutgers at a crucial time for both the university and higher education at large. The federal government is cutting funding to public research. Across the country, DEI policies and efforts are being undermined and cancelled. International students and scholars are facing threats to their visa status. We need a leader who understands these threats and is ready to face them with us.
President Jonathan Holloway’s time as president was meant to be a “reset” of the relationship between administration and labor at the university, but we did not see that happen. We hope President Tate will take a different approach. We are committed to working with President Tate and his new leadership team to support faculty, staff, and students, defend public higher education, resist federal attacks, and protect our community.
That being said, we are also clear-eyed about President Tate’s recent and troubling track record. During his time at LSU, President Tate dropped DEI language and recently instituted a hiring freeze that did not include the Athletics department. He eliminated the tenure track for librarians. He allowed corporations to purchase influence over academic research and curricula. During the 2024 Olympics, President Tate shared video from an anti-transgender group on X, and while he apologized in part, the tweet in question is still up.
These actions would concern us at any time, but especially now as Rutgers faces attacks from the federal government on academic freedom, free speech, and the rights of international students. Our LGBTQ colleagues and students deserve the full support of their future university president. We are committed to holding President Tate accountable to the Rutgers community and call on him to join us in resisting anticipatory obedience to the Trump administration.
President Tate did write about the importance of funding the U.S. Department of Education, criticizing efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle national education research. However, when pushed by LSU faculty members to sign on to a pledge to resist intimidation by Trump, Tate refused, saying he spoke to fellow members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and “asked them to engage” and “they said no.” We urge him to reconsider and call on him to sign on to the Big 10 Mutual Defense Compact proposed by our Rutgers University Senate.
In the final analysis, we are the university, and it is up to us to work together as union members. We will need to be united to pressure the new administration to fight for us and to push for the Rutgers–and the New Jersey–that we all deserve.
Click here to sign up for updates about upcoming activities, from canvassing for Ras Baraka for governor, to lobbying and other efforts to win the state funding we need for Rutgers. It is imperative that the state undo the proposed cut to Rugers’ funding, and it will take all of us to make sure legislators understand the importance of restoring these funds.
In solidarity,
Rutgers AAUP-AFT and the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union
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