# New Jersey City University

New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a public university in Jersey City, New Jersey. Originally chartered in 1927, NJCU consists of the School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of Professional Studies and is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. In 2022, it announced that it was severely reducing its academic offerings due to a budgetary crisis. In 2024, the school was considered financially stable though still underfunded. In early 2025, Kean University submitted a proposal to execute a merger with New Jersey City University (NJCU). On Wednesday, March 5, the NJCU Board of Trustees voted to authorize the NJCU president to pursue a letter of intent (LOI).

## Historical chronology

* 1927: The New Jersey State Normal School at Jersey City was chartered. The institution was built to accommodate 1,000 students and an eight-room demonstration school in its one building, Hepburn Hall, on 10 acres (40,000 m$^2$) on what was then Hudson Boulevard.
* 1935: The name was changed to New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City. The institution was authorized to offer a four-year teacher education program and award the Bachelor of Science degree in education.
* 1936: A degree program in health education and nursing was initiated in cooperation with the Jersey City Medical Center for the training of school nurses.
* 1958: New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City became Jersey City State College and was authorized to award the bachelor of arts degree.
* 1959: The institution began to offer the Master of Arts in elementary education.
* 1968: Jersey City State College became a multipurpose institution, authorized to develop a liberal arts program and to enlarge teacher preparation programs.
* 1981: The Thomas Edison Film Festival established as the Black Maria Film and Video Festival at NJCU Media Arts Department.
* 1985: The institution was awarded a $5.7 million Governor's Challenge Grant for an expanded Cooperative Education Program, which would serve all academic majors.
* 1998: The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education approved a petition submitted by the JCSC Board of Trustees requesting that the institution be granted university status and renamed New Jersey City University. The university was restructured into three colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education, and Professional Studies.
* 2003: NJCU joined with the City of Jersey City, the Jersey City Board of Education, and New Jersey Transit to collaborate on the Jersey City Bayfront urban development plan.
* 2012: After 19 years, NJCU President Carlos Hernandez retired. Under his tenure, three new buildings were erected and, in 1998, the school became a university.
* 2013: On September 20, NJCU inaugurated Dr. Sue Henderson to be the 12th president of the University, the first woman to hold the position.
* 2016: First building of major campus expansion opened.
* 2022: In June 2022, NJCU declared a financial emergency and sought a $10 million lifeline from the state government. Henderson resigned as president of the university, effective July 1. In August, Governor Phil Murphy called for an investigation into NJCU's dramatic change in financial standing from a surplus of $108 million in 2013 to a deficit of $67 million amid plans to expand NJCU's campus. It was later learned that there was never a surplus and those facts were misreported. The university did have a $22.7 million operating deficit. The university announced a cut of 37% of its academic offerings. Campus expansion was curtailed.
* 2025: In early 2025, Kean University submitted a proposal to execute a merger with New Jersey City University . On March 5, the NJCU Board of Trustees voted to move forward to explore a letter of intent.

## Academics

NJCU is organized into four colleges. In 2022 it announced the reduction of numerous undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
The largest programs of study at NJCU are psychology, nursing, early childhood education, and music. In addition, the NJCU Fire Science program is the only university-based bachelor's degree fire science program in the State of New Jersey. NJCU has a department of professional security studies that prepares students for work with agencies such as the FBI, NSA, and CIA.

## Campus
### A. Harry Moore School

A special needs school operated by NJCU and the Jersey City Board of Education, the A. Harry Moore Laboratory School was first opened in 1931 and offers academic, therapeutic, and social programs for approximately 140 students between the ages of three and 21. The students are classified as Preschool Disabled, Learning and Language Disabled, and/or Multiply Disabled. The school has operated under the direction of the College of Education of NJCU since 1963. In September 2019, it was announced that the school would close in 2020, though the decision was quickly walked back after public and political backlash. In 2021, a former principal sued both the school and University alleging wrongful termination after he pushed for stricter COVID-19 protocols.

### Main campus

The university's landscaped main campus is situated on Kennedy Boulevard. The university's administrative center is Hepburn Hall. Designed by Guilbert and Betelle and completed in 1930, the Collegiate Gothic structure serves as the symbol of the university and features in school publications as well as the university's athletic nickname.
The NJCU Frank J. Guarini Library is available to students as well as staff for learning materials such as books, DVDs, CDs, computer lab, quiet study rooms, and access to electronic databases. Since the Fall 2014 semester, despite some objections by librarians, a Dunkin Donuts franchise has been open on the first floor of the library.
A six-story Arts and Sciences building named Karnoutsos Hall was designed by architect Michael Graves. It is known by students as the Crayola building, because of the colors which make up the building's exterior, and as the K building. It is located in the center of the campus. The 77,000-square-foot (7,200 m$^2$) building houses 14 classrooms, 10 computer labs, faculty offices for nine departments, and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences.
Other academic buildings include: Rossey Hall (music, dance, and theatre; sociology and anthropology; environmental and earth science; nursing; and educational counseling; as well as numerous classrooms); the Science Building (natural sciences); the Professional Studies Building (education departments; national security/security studies; criminal justice); Fries Hall (media arts); and Grossnickle Hall.
The Visual Arts Building on Culver Avenue features a Maya Lin sculpture in the entrance garden area. The university is as of 2024 exploring the potential sale of the building.
* Grossnickle Hall
* Karnoutsos Building aka Crayon or K Building
* Guarini Library
* Science Building
* Business, Education & Professional Studies

### West campus

Renovated buildings on West Side Avenue are also part of the school, including the West Side Theatre, which is used for theatrical productions and community events. Another building houses the Business Development Incubator program. The affiliated University Academy Charter High School opened in 2002 and offers students with a high grade average a scholarship.
Construction began on the 21-acre (8.5-hectare) "West Campus" between West Side Avenue and Bayfront on Route 440 in the mid 2010s. Plans for further expansion were curtailed in 2022 due to financial difficulties and decreased enrollment. It would have more than doubled the university's footprint and was to have included academic buildings, residences, retail spaces, parking, and a University Promenade. The first building, a student residence, opened in 2016. A new performing arts center would have housed the Joffrey Ballet School.

### Athletic complex

The university's Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex is located less than a mile southwest of the main campus at near Droyers Point on Newark Bay. In 2017, the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer entered into a facility usage partnership with the university to upgrade the natural grass soccer training field at the complex to professionally approved standards. Under the partnership, national and international teams will be allowed to train at the facility ahead of their matches at Red Bull Arena. Phase one of the project began in early June 2017 and involved regrading, aeration and reseeding of the training facility. The project, which is still ongoing, will also involve overall maintenance of the training facility.

### NJCU School of Business

In September 2015, the NJCU School of Business opened at Harborside Plaza directly on the Jersey City waterfront. The two-story facility features 18 instructional spaces, two data science centers, computer labs and laundry facilities, an auditorium, offices, study areas, a student lounge, and a large waterfront conference center with views of Lower Manhattan.

### Campus living

The university operates three residence halls: Co-op Hall, a corridor-style facility with common area bathrooms and study lounges for freshmen and first year dorm students; Vodra Hall, a traditional dormitory with shared bathrooms between rooms for upper-class students and special needs individuals; and West Campus Village, its newest suite-style residence hall on its west campus at University Place.

## Athletics

NJCU is a member of Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
* The John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) is the home of the Gothic Knight basketball, volleyball and wrestling programs and the focal point for the NJCU athletic department and recreation and intramural activities. The 72,000-square-foot (6,700 m$^2$) JMAC opened in the fall of 1994, giving the university one of the finest indoor recreational facilities in the area. The building features a 2,000-seat basketball and volleyball arena, an exercise and fitness center, a 25-yard (23 m) swimming and diving pool with adjacent sauna, a one-tenth-mile (160 m) elevated jogging track, a multi-purpose room for aerobics and classes, and locker room space for teams, students, faculty, and staff.
* New Jersey City University sponsors 17 intercollegiate athletic programs in baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, women's cross country, Esports, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field, men's and women's wrestling, and men's and women's volleyball.
* The women's bowling team qualified for the first seven NCAA National Collegiate Championship events from 2004 to 2010. The Gothic Knights advanced to the national semi-finals four times, always coming in even-numbered years: 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, finishing third nationally in 2004 and 2008. NJCU hosted the 2010 NCAA Championship in New Brunswick, N.J.
* The men's basketball team is the oldest program, having reached the Final Four in 1986 and 1992. The team has appeared in 21 NCAA Tournaments, most recently in three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019.
* The baseball team now, under tenth-year head coach Jerry Smith, along with long-time assistant coaches Nick Cesare and Raj Subramanian have built the program into a contender which has culminated in a win over the No. 1 ranked team in the nation and program records for wins in a single season and two, three and four-year periods.
* In the 2020–2021 year, the university began offering varsity programs in eSports, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's wrestling. It's the first university in New Jersey or the tristate area to ever offer a collegiate program for women's wrestling, the first new men's wrestling in the state since 1997, and one of the first to offer eSports at the varsity level.

## Student newspaper

The Gothic Times is New Jersey City University's official student newspaper. It was reintroduced in 2001 and prints monthly issues, excluding June, July and August. It features stories about campus happenings as well as articles on lifestyle, sports, arts and entertainment. It also features an editorial and opinion/advice section.