While the Rutgers University alma mater "On the Banks of the Old Raritan," will be sung aloud numerous times throughout the New Brunswick campuses during commencement week, not everyone knows how the song has stirred its way into a strong tradition.
The song has a varied history, and according to University archives, the history of the alma mater began in 1873.
That's when Rutgers College Glee Club organizer Edwin E. Colburn approached another member, Howard N. Fuller, with the request to write a Rutgers song for the students to sing for the Club's first public tryout, said George J. Lukac of the Rutgers Focus staff.
Until then, Rutgers had no distinctive or formal song of its own, and according to Lukac, Colburn said it was a shame Rutgers did not have a distinctive song that reflected college loyalty.
Fuller agreed, and accepted to write such as song for Rutgers. However, Fuller had little knowledge about musical composition, and completed the song within the two-hour time constraint that Colburn allowed him, Lukac said.
The result, "On the Banks of the Old Raritan," actually owes its inspiration to a song popular in the late 1800s.
The lyrics and the melody were composed after the words of "On the Banks of the Old Dundee." Fuller later told the Rutgers Alumni Monthly the song "immediately struck me that the air of that song had the right melody and the stirring and martial swing for an effective college song."
The song has a rousing chorus in the lyrics "On the banks of the old Raritan (my friends)?/ Where old Rutgers evermore shall stand / For has she not stood /?Since the time of the flood / On the banks of the old Raritan."
The University lists Rutgers as having a "long and abundant tradition of school songs," but it wasn't until the Glee Club was formed that an official song existed.
At the time, students picked up a comprehensive book of college songs published in 1869, and noticed no Rutgers song was in it.
Oliver Kip Westling, a librarian at Alexander Library on the College Avenue campus and Rutgers Class of '33, said the book, Carmina Collegensia, was termed the first complete collection of American college songs in 1869.
Westling said the Rutgers men - women were not part of the university until 1918 - were disappointed from this omission and formed a glee club in 1873 to make Rutgers better known musically.
Thomas Frusciano, University Archivist, said the glee club was a part of a national movement in the late 19th century in which various college music groups held shows to compete with each other.
"This is a song that identifies students with college," Frusciano said.
The efforts of the glee club and its members influenced the Carmina Collegensia to publish all 13 Rutgers songs by 1876 in its second edition.
The University has several songs, including what the University calls the "sentimental to silly … its songs are as rich as its history."
In 1989, University officials thought the alma mater could use an update.
The University Senate and former Rutgers President Edward Bloustein appointed a committee to hold a competition to expand the verses of the alma mater to better reflect the University in the 20th century and to include references to its campuses in Newark and Camden.
A total of 44 contestants, including students, alumni, and faculty, participated in the event. The result of the contest were four additional verses each celebrating New Brunswick, Newark, Camden, and the State University of New Jersey overall.
Frusciano said the glee club and other groups will sing not only during the graduations and commencement ceremonies but also throughout the alumni reunions organized by the Rutgers Alumni Association this week.
Despite small changes and additions to its verses, the old song will continue … "Rutgers' name shall never die / On the banks of the old Raritan."
