Rutgers University
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modified the Utrecht seal to read "Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra"; embracing the Western world, meaning "Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West also." The boards of governors and trustees approved a revised seal for the University 1997 that includes the words "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" and adds the 1766 founding date.
Student organizations and activities
Rutgers University has a student government which controls funding to student groups. The student government is made up of campus councils and professional school councils. Those councils then send representatives to the student assembly as well as the university senate. An example of these campus councils is the College Avenue Council, which represents
students on the College Avenue Campus.
Rutgers hosts over 700 student organizations, covering a wide range of interests. Among the first student groups was the first college newspaper in the United States of America. The Political Intelligencer and New Jersey Adviser began publication at Queen's College in 1783, and ceased operation in 1785. Continuing this tradition is the university's current college newspaper, The Daily Targum, established in 1869, which is the second-oldest college newspaper currently published in the United States, after The Dartmouth (1843). Both poet Joyce Kilmer and economist Milton Friedman served as editors. Also included are The Medium, Rutgers Entertainment Weekly, Rutgers Centurion, a conservative newspaper, the Rutgers University Glee Club, a male choral singing group established in 1872 (among the oldest in the country), as well as the Rutgers University Debate Union. Governed by the Student Activities Council, and funded by student fees disbursed through student government associations, students can organize groups for practically any political ideology or issue, ethnic or religious affiliation, academic subject, activity, or hobby.
Rutgers University is home to chapters of many Greek organizations, and a significant percentage of the undergraduate student body is active in Greek life. Several fraternities and sororities maintain houses for their chapters in the area of Union Street (known familiarly as "Frat Row") in New Brunswick, within blocks of Rutgers' College Avenue Campus. Chapters of Zeta Psi and Delta Phi organized at Rutgers as early as 1845. There are over 50 fraternities and sororities on the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus,
Prof. Selman A. Waksman (B.Sc. 1915), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing 22 antibiotics—most notably Streptomycin—in his laboratory at Rutgers University.