The Queen's College, Rutgers College and Rutgers University Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees was established by the charter of Queens College in 1766. Members of the Reformed Dutch Church requested the establishment of this college in order to educate and prepare young men for the ministry. The charter was granted through William Franklin, Esquire, Governor of the Province of New Jersey. The Board of Trustees had the responsibility for the direction of all college activities. Its duties included granting and conferring honorary degrees, nominating and appointing as well as dismissing faculty, nominating and electing new board members, purchasing and holding land, and making financial transactions as necessary on behalf of the College. The number of members was not to exceed forty-one and not above one-third at any time were to be ordained ministers. The president was to be a member of the Reformed Dutch Church, elected by the Trustees.

The exercises of the College were suspended between 1795 and 1807. In 1807, the Board of Trustees reached an agreement with the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church allowing the Trustees, many who were ministers themselves, to solicit funds in churches of their denomination on the condition that most of the money raised would go towards establishing a professorship in theology. This agreement was the beginning of a long, but not always tranquil relationship between the College and the Church. In 1816, the Board of Trustees closed the College again due to financial problems. They allowed the General Synod to use the College Building for its theological seminary. Problems arose with this arrangement because the Trustees still had control of the "professoral fund" along with two scholarship funds which were to benefit theological students. In 1823, the Trustees sold the College Building and lot to the General Synod in order to pay off debts. The College reopened in 1825, after the signing of a Covenant between the Trustees and the Reformed Dutch Church. This agreement left much of the power of the College in the hands of the General Synod. The College was combined with the theological seminary and took on a stronger religious orientation. Also, at this time, the name of the College was changed from Queens College to Rutgers College, named after Colonel Henry Rutgers, an active member of the Reformed Church in New York City and benefactor of the College.

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