Black Organization of Students
About
February 1969: The Black Organization of Students staged a “Locked Down” of Conklin Hall at Rutgers University - Newark for 72 hours and threw a banner over the front of the building which read “Liberation Hall”. They demanded that the Rutgers’ Board of Governors and the President increase the amount of Black students accepted into the University. At that time, 2% of the Newark Campus’s student body was African-American while 75% of Newark Public School System student’s were African-American.
Faced with this inequity, the members of BOS led the largest student movement by any racial group ever before seen at any of Rutgers University’s three campuses. Their actions led to the creation of the Educational Opportunity Fund Program at Rutgers Newark which, in turn, increased enrollment of African-Americans University-wide. Rutgers University – Newark currently has held the title for the ‘Most Diverse University in America’ for 11 Years (US News & World Report).
The Historic Black Organization of Students is an organization dedicated to serving the African Diaspora community at the University and in Newark through advocacy, community service, and a wide range of student-led programs.