what kind of name is rutgers?

That's got to be near the top of the list for weird university names. Given that its full name is actually "Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey" its common name is even weirder. Why not just "University of New Jersey" or something similar like that? Oh, because New Jersey is the crappiest hell-on-earth place known to man and so Rutgers folks don't want the scorn that would come with having their state name tied to their place of higher learning. That's understandable; I'd feel the same way were I associated with New Jersey. As a co-worker puts it, New Jersey is a great state to be from. (Being from there, he would know.)

Anyway, being curious as I am and doing nothing better on a beautiful day like today than sit inside and stare at my monitor, I decided to get to the bottom of this. Below is a very brief account of how Rutgers became Rutgers, taken from the school's website. (I should add that the site is all hosed up such that text selection can't be done. That's just great. Jesse has to copy their stuff the long way, letter by letter. Bunch of New Jersey idiots...)

Chartered in 1766 as Queen's College, the eighth institution of higher learning to be founded in the colonies...the college developed as a classic liberal arts institution. In 1825, the name of the college was changed to honor a former trustee and Revolutionary War veteran, Colonel Henry Rutgers... Rutgers College became the land-grant college of New Jersey in 1864... Rutgers assumed university status in 1924, and legislative acts in 1945 and 1956 designated all its divisions as The State University of New Jersey. [Much to the chagrin of all associated with the university, I'm sure.]

So money talks...big surprise there. I should have known that'd be at the root of any name change back in the day. So Arkansas and Rutgers have more than just upstart football teams in common.