The Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations

In November 2015, Chancellor Edwards announced the creation of the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations in Rutgers History.

Chaired by Deborah Gray White, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History, the committee has worked diligently to trace the university’s early history and its relationship with local African-American and Native-American communities.

With active participation from students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, faculty, staff, local historians, and librarians, the committee has conducted painstaking research to reexamine the university’s roots, including locating and studying the wills of Rutgers’ founders and benefactors and other archived documents.

The Committee

Chair

Deborah Gray White, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of History

Director of Research

Marisa Fuentes, Associate Professor, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of History

Committee Members

Carolina Alonso Bejarano, Lecturer, Rutgers University–Newark, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Women’s Studies

Sonia Brown, Part-time Lecturer, Graduate School of Social Work–New Brunswick

Paul Clemens, Professor, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of History

John Coakley, Professor of Church History, New Brunswick Theological Seminary

Thomas Frusciano, University Archivist, Rutgers University Libraries

Dionne Higginbotham, Student, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Human Resource Management Major

Denajah Hoffman, Student, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Anthropology Major

John Keene, Associate Professor, Rutgers–Newark, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of English

Felicia McGinty, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Rutgers–New Brunswick

Richard Murray, Part-time Lecturer in English, Assistant Director for Marketing and Communications, University Undergraduate Admissions, Rutgers–New Brunswick

Jomaira Salas, Graduate Student and Fellow, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology

Karen Stubaus, Rutgers University Vice President for Academic Affairs and Administration and Professor, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of American Studies

Monica Torres, Student, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Latino and Caribbean Studies and Women's and Gender Studies Double Major

Camilla Townsend, Professor, Rutgers–New Brunswick, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of History

Staff Member

Alexis Biedermann, Senior Executive Associate, Rutgers–New Brunswick Office of the Chancellor