liberal, the divinity, and useful arts and sciences" and for the training of future ministers for the Dutch Reformed Church.
In 1771, the college admitted its first students, which included a single sophomore and a handful of first-year students taught by a lone instructor, and granted its first degree in 1774, to Matthew Leydt. Despite the religious nature of the early college, the first classes were held at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion. When the Revolutionary War broke out and taverns were suspected by the British as being hotbeds of rebel activity, the college abandoned the tavern and held classes in private homes.
Like many colleges founded in the U.S. during this time, Rutgers benefited from slave labor and funds derived from purchasing and selling slaves. Research undertaken at the university in the 2010s began to uncover and document these connections, including the university's foundation on land taken from the indigenous Lenape people.
=== 19th century ===
In its early years, due to a …
