Rutgers Camden can be said to be run by its adjuncts, just as many institutions of higher education across the country are. Similarly to many other groups of professionals, the adjuncts of RUC have a union to protect their interests. Per the website for the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, 1,300 adjuncts teach at least 30% of all undergraduate classes across all Rutgers campuses. Many of the most popular professors on RUC today are considered adjunct lecturers. 

Current RUC students might remember the strikes of spring 2023, wherein the adjunct faculty union was forced to cease working and go on strike in order to make gains on their new contracts. At the time, the primary issues were wages, job security, and healthcare. Since then, the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs appeared to briefly be mulling over a strike that never materialized, with a shift in personnel, and now the highest levels of executive staff at Rutgers have changed, such as a new president. 

Despite all the changes, old issues are still afoot behind the scenes. Namely, the contract for adjunct workers is up for renewal soon, and some foresee difficulty reaching an agreement. 

Professor Austin Rooney, an adjunct lecturer and current vice president of the union’s executive board, acknowledged a demonstration that happened in front of the Campus Center on Wednesday the 18th of February: “[There was] a demonstration out in front of the student center during the free period regarding the administration’s refusal to acknowledge the flex work [work from home] component in URA’s contract…. The administration are demanding that people be on campus more.”

Another point of concern from the union is the apparent use of facial-recognition time clocks to “punch in” and potentially monitor RUC faculty without their consent. Fliers posted in visible areas around Armitage Hall and other high-traffic areas on campus mention this, as well as the linked website, which represents the sister union URA-AFT. Union members have indicated that this will be part of upcoming contract negotiations. Per the website, “On August 27, 2025, Rutgers Management sent an email to IP&O Staff in New Brunswick/Piscataway stating they were ‘excited to announce’ that current UKG Kronos time clocks were being upgraded to facial recognition. Workers have been instructed to enroll by providing a face scan without their consent… Increasing workplace surveillance opens the door to abuse, including the capture and dissemination of our faces for dangerous and illicit uses.”

As for the question which might now be on most people’s minds, the possibility of a strike is very remote but never zero: “I don’t think there’s any reason – I haven’t seen anything to suspect that this [round of negotiation] will be unusually difficult,” explained Rooney. “Our power comes from you all. Our working conditions or your learning conditions. We greatly recognize and respect the amount of support that we got under the last labor negotiations. We’re gonna need that again moving forward, so we want to be keeping everybody informed and working hand in hand.”

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Camden shares some problems faced with many former centers of American industry. Long decried as a hotbed of urban crime, revitalization efforts have been fighting an uphill battle to launder the city’s good name. Hindering these efforts are news of petty crimes that still crop up, like the purse snatching that lit up the inboxes of Rutgers Camden over the past winter break.

Described by Delaware River Port Authority Police as a robbery, the alert first reached RUC students via the RU-Community Advisory Message as an email that went out to all students on January 20th. In the email, it was stated that a robbery occurred at the nearby North Sixth Street Pedestrian Tunnel that links the two sides of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Despite the theft, the mood on campus towards security and safety still remains positive. RUPD Officer Watley said “If it happens outside our jurisdiction, Camden handles it, but everything around here they keep us up to date.”

The report further states that the victim, an unnamed woman with no affiliation to Rutgers-Camden, had her purse forcibly removed from her person by an unidentified male. Details about the perpetrator were that he was wearing blue jeans and a “navy puff style with white lettering on the back” and that he fled “back towards the Rutgers University Campus.”

Although that final detail may be cause for alarm for some, Officer Watley had a message of calm: “As far as on campus, not common at all, stuff like that is not common at all…. if something seems out of the ordinary don’t hesitate to give us a call. We want to always be available, so if students need us just give us a call 24/7.”

Similarly, students did not seem to be paying the case any particular close mind with the semester now fully underway. Julie, a RUC student, said, “Well, there’s security pretty much everywhere around here. The only part that is not safe, I would say, is walking from lot 16 to get onto campus, but there is security driving around all the time. …It would be nice if we had those buttons [the police escort call buttons located throughout campus] in the parking lot.”

No further information on the case has been released by the DRPA, and the RUC security team asks that anyone with information or who remembers being in the area around that time, to contact the Delaware River Port Authority Police Department at 856-968-3301.

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This November 11th, a wreath laying ceremony was held at the Jeremy Kane Memorial Plaque by the flagpole in front of the library. Despite the wind and cold, the ceremony was solemn and gathered observers from the RUC faculty and student body. A brief salute was rendered by an honor guard of police officers as the wreath was laid.

The plaque stands in memoriam of Rutgers–Camden student Lance Corporal Jeremy Kane, USMC. He was a senior majoring in criminal science while serving in the National Guard when he was deployed to the Helmand Province in Afghanistan, and was subsequently killed in action on January 23rd 2010. In the years since, his plaque has become a minor landmark on the Rutgers Camden campus, serving as the locale for many events revolving around veterans.

New Jersey Assemblywoman Melinda Kane, mother of the fallen student, presented the wreath at the ceremony and gave a speech on the nature of her son’s sacrifice and the path of public service that it led her down. 

“There’s always a level of emotion because I am in this position because of Jeremy’s death, and I never forget that.”

The assemblywoman was inspired by her son’s sacrifice to begin running for office, first with the Cherry Hill city council and then as a councilwoman for Camden County, and since then has gone on to represent New Jersey’s District 6 in the state legislature. She spoke a little on the nature of her service in the wake of her loss:

“…I believe that his loss makes me prepared to help others because I know what it’s like to go through tragedy and to have a heart that has dealt with loss, and I can understand when people are suffering and try to help them… whether it’s with dealing with economic issues or other issues that people in New Jersey are dealing with.”

The wreath laying and remembrance ceremony was followed the next day with the annual Veterans Day Luncheon, which was well attended by veteran members of the student body as well as the faculty and the greater Rutgers Camden Community. Attending both of those as a keynote speaker was Christian Cintron, senior coordinator for Rutgers Camden’s Office of Military Veterans Affairs. He reflected on the ceremony: 

“Yeah, the wreath laying was awesome. I mean, I love paying respects there for our memorial for Jeremy Kane. And, always having his mother there is a treat because she is just such a wonderful lady.”

For her part, Melinda Kane was in turn happy with what she saw at Veterans Week on campus:

“Actually, I’ve seen a much more positive profile for those willing to serve and protect our nation. And that brings me great, great joy.

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Voters across the nation have reported in exit polls and online that they think the average age of their elected leaders is far too high. One Rutgers Camden student is aiming to change that, at least for the voters of New Jersey’s 12th congressional district.

In an email circulated to select student organizations on November 14th, Economics major and prospective Class of 2026 graduate, Carlos Rodriguez, announced that he is seriously contemplating a run for the seat of Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, who herself announced that she would not be running for the 119th Congress beginning in 2027. The email listed several motivating factors and his contact information as well as prospective next steps and interest forms for interested students.

His efforts come at a time of increased political activity in the Garden State, with the recent 2025 gubernatorial race showing the highest turnout in over twenty years: in Camden County alone there was a 10% surge in voters to a total of 48% of all registered voters. A youthful candidate could be very welcome to the newly awakened voters of the country. 

Andrew Hoover, a Political Science major, when hearing about the potential new candidate, had the following to say: “I’m interested how this person is younger, and I’m very- that’s very appealing, as I believe younger people should get involved in politics.”

If his intentions are true and he if wins, he would be particularly young compared to his contemporaries: the average age of members in the House of Representatives is around 63 years old per congress.gov. However, the tide towards younger members is growing, especially with the recent election of 28-year-old Maxwell Frost in Florida. 

Rodriguez, with his birthday in December, would only have been of age to legally serve in congress for around a month at the time of his swearing in, should he win election. He’s also no stranger to politics, having once previously ran for his local board of education when he was twenty years old.

The reasons he thinks it is necessary were outlined in his email. Among them, inflation and falling purchasing power as well as a lack of job prospects, a lack of home options for younger generations, and an entrenched political system. “The issues that plague the country, plague New Jersey, plague our generation, are federal issues that have to be solved at a federal level. That’s the reason I’m jumping into this race.”

His focus now is putting together a team that will help him run, which he plans to oversee from a custom Discord server among other places. The Discord, named Project Olympus to allude to the Greek Gods who were eaten by their father Cronos to prevent them from assuming power, is supposed to evoke a similar overthrowing of entrenched older powers.

“I think a lot of older folks can underestimate what younger people can do, and I’m not going to underestimate what my peers can do.” He reports around 20 people have approached him within the first week of his announcement, and so far around 5 have been slotted into volunteer roles. 

Knowing that moving from a life of relative anonymity to a life in the public eye as an elected official would be a very big change, Carlos said: “It’s terrifying for many reasons, but I think it’s necessary.”

When asked if he thought his youth could be a liability, he said: “I think it would be a lie to say that isn’t a risk or an attack factor, but I think historically speaking, young people are the ones that really kind of move the needle in history” and cited the examples of Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Mary Shelley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Notable details from Rodriguez are a refusal to take donations from corporate sources or other wealthy backers as well as a stated intent to resist federal immigration activity. A signature piece of policy, he said, would be a ban on false or fluffed up job listings. 

“I think we’ve all kind of felt the pain of getting our data harvested by submitting our resume for a job we thought was exciting and then it turning out not to have been a legit opportunity. I think that’s deceptive, I think that’s fraudulent, and I think that the government needs to crack down on that,” he remarked on the issue.

Newcomers in state elections usually have worse odds than incumbents, and he put himself at around a 10% to win the primary, but isn’t letting it get in his head – “If I were afraid of long odds, I don’t think you would want me in congress in the first place.”

His final elevator pitch: “I’m running because our generation is the first that’s been told to expect less than their parents.”

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In a country founded on dissent and protest against a higher authority and in an age of political turmoil, protests have once again become common currency in the minds of Americans in cities large and small. Saturday October 18th, the spectre of political assembly once again arrived as the No Kings II protests kicked off. In addition to protests in cities large and small across the nation and a flagship protest in nearby Philadelphia, a No Kings II event was held in Collingswood, NJ. 

According to Camden County Emergency Services, over 8,000 protestors were in attendance. No protest-related arrests or injuries were reported, and pro-trump counterprotestor presence was minimal with one or two trucks reported by marchers bearing MAGA iconography driving down Haddon Avenue. In addition to the protestors, special speakers were in attendance like Congressman Donald Norcross, who spoke on the government shutdown and the controversial Project 2025 platform, as well as Muhammad Emanet whose parents were targeted in a high profile ICE detention earlier this year.

No Kings is an event planned by progressive protest organization Indivisible, whose splinter groups have been behind other protests and have partnered with groups like the 50501 movement in the past ten months of Donald Trump’s second term as president. The prior No Kings event was held on June 14 in cities across the country, including Collingswood. The protests are aimed at attracting public attention and expressing discontent with the actions taken by the Trump administration, with protestors’ motivations ranging from ICE and immigration policy to questions of free speech.

A website claiming to belong to the organizers, nokings.org, had a front page that read: “On October 18, more than 7 million of us rose up at more than 2,700 events in all 50 states, DC, and cities worldwide to say: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.” Elsewhere, it had a graphic that boasted attendance fourteen times larger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined.

Still, some people like Lucas, a RUC finance major, were more skeptical towards the protests: “I’m in disagreement with [the protests], I honestly wish [the administration] had gone with more budget cuts. Honestly, I think a lot of our tax dollars are wasted.”

While he disagrees with some of their initial motives, he does believe in their right to assemble: “That’s their right to do so. I don’t, you know, I don’t see why I should stop them.”

It would have taken a lot indeed to stop the crowd assembled alongside Haddonfield-Berlin Road, marching on either side of the street, chanting slogans, and carrying all manner of signage that spoke to their cause. All of them, from older protestors in costumes to young people there with families, said they were there to call attention to what they perceived as serious problems within and around the Trump presidency, such as his connection to convicted and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

An anonymous protestor from Burlington county said, “There’s so much joy here. First of all, and I think that that’s an important part of it, it is a diverse group, which is amazing. There’s no violence here. No one was paid to be here. People are taking a beautiful day to show how much they care. That’s really it.”

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Every September for the past 25 years, students of Rutgers Camden have undergone a pilgrimage that could be counted on as regularly as the leaves turning orange for the fall. This was the trek to the bookstore, wherein students gathered the required materials for the semester – and as of this summer, it will never happen again. The campus bookstore, previously located three blocks to the east of campus in the bottom floor of the Camden County College parking garage, has moved to a more centralized location within the campus center, where the old Corner Lounge used to be. The move was announced via an email to all students over the summer, and completed before the first day of classes for the fall 2025 semester. 

The move was announced as a result of an expiring contract with the CCC bookstore that was chosen not to be renewed this June, after almost 25 years in service. Kristin Walker, the Executive Director of Special Initiatives, Events, and Dining for Rutgers Camden was able to elaborate on the contract and the decision not to renew: “Following thoughtful discussions, all parties mutually agreed not to renew the agreement. While Barnes & Noble continues to serve Camden County College students from its Blackwood location, recent years have brought a wave of consistent feedback from students, faculty, parents, and alumni across our institutions. The message was clear: an on-campus bookstore is not just a convenience—it’s a vital part of the college experience. We listened.”

With change can sometimes come uncertainty. In this case, some students were curious as to whether or not the new location would offer all of the same services as the old one. Some students lamented the loss of space to be used for study and relaxation, like Olivia the Fine Arts and Criminal Justice major: “I don’t know if the Freshman Class is bigger this semester, but it’s, there’s so many people, it’s so crowded here, and it’s hard to find spots to work and [the former Corner Lounge] was usually pretty quiet, so it was nice to work in. Aside from that, the location is pretty convenient.”

The walk to the former location every semester will not be missed by many students: “I find it pretty convenient, I could walk in essentially any time. They got clothes, they got most of the books that I need for class. And I appreciate the fact that… you could walk in through the Campus Center, so it’s pretty easy to navigate all right,” said Oliver, a Finance and Accounting major.

Another student added: “For the new bookstore location, I find it to be more comfortable and safer, considering it’s not a way where we have to go, like, in a back road to go to the bookstore that was away from campus… I genuinely like how it’s actually campus centered this time.”

 Kristin Walker assures the student body that they won’t be missing any vital services from the old bookstore like book rental, school supplies, regalia, or even scrubs for nursing students. The new location will offer almost all of the same services that were offered at the previous location, except for books aimed at non-academic general reading. Instead, the plan is to offer more RUC branded merchandise. “The only difference between the previous location and our new location is that we are now on campus and solely focused on servicing Rutgers—Camden,” Walker said.

Walker, who proudly hails from a household full of fellow Rutgers alumni, also understood concerns about the Student Works Gallery that used to occupy the same space. With the bookstore now in this location, efforts are underway to find a new and appropriate location to display the work of Rutgers student artists: “We recognize the importance of showcasing student creativity, and we’re working closely with the Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts to identify a new space within the Campus Center that will better highlight student art in a dynamic and accessible way.”

Additionally, to accommodate the location of the new bookstore, the Kite & Key electronics store was moved to a more centralized location in the main lobby of the Campus Center, overlooking the “fishbowl” seating and lounge area. This means that students in need of electronics and tech support will not have their needs displaced by the new bookstore location.

For her part, Kirstin Walker and the crew at the bookstore want the new space to be positive and useful for students: “Students should have confidence that our bookstore staff will have the correct course material based on the information provided by faculty members.  As far as merchandise goes, all members of the campus community are encouraged to give feedback about the types of merchandise they’d like to see in the store!”

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Plans to Utilize Burlington County Military Base for Migrant Detention Raise Debate, Protests

The “immigration question” is a debate that is never far from the American consciousness, and has only grown more intense in the past decade. Now, for many South Jersey residents, it has come uncomfortably close to home once again.

In July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, known by most Burlington County residents as simply “Fort Dix,” as an immigrant detention facility. New Jersey Congressman Herb Conway was among the first to react publicly, with a video where he referred to the proposed site as “a Garden State Gulag.”
This move comes as just one of the latest in a string of moves by the federal government to crack down on what it says is a wave of migrant criminals. Indeed, the White House’s approach to immigration has been characterized by masked operatives toting rifles in American cities and even accusations of illegal renditioning and torture. Despite those accusations, the Trump administration appears unfazed and even emboldened in the face of protest, with posts on social media taunting immigrants and framing the raids as patriotic and heroic.

Despite this, on Fridays and weekends, outside of the McGuire Gate to the Fort Dix compound, a small crowd of around thirteen to fourteen people can be seen with signs and bullhorns. Their message? They find the notion of keeping immigrants at Fort Dix unacceptable. The protests are manned by members of the Bordentown Bridge Brigade, themselves a chapter of a nationwide network of protestors called Visibility Brigade. As part of a themed protest across the country, they were carrying signs encouraging passersby to “Be Brave With Us.”

A protestor and military veteran who identified himself as Chris claimed leadership over the group: 

“We’re primarily supporting our service members, our military families, and our constitution. We’re opposing ICE presence on base, and the proposal to build a concentration camp on base.”

Among the protestors were many family members of servicemembers as well as veterans who had themselves served in the past. One military spouse remarked,

“I’ve talked to many spouses and they have no idea this is happening. I’ve talked to people that think if it’s happening it’s a good thing, so I’d like to educate them on why this is not a good thing, and definitely just getting the word about because a shocking amount of people don’t know it’s happening.”

Amid supportive honks, shouts of encouragement, and some jeers from passersby on top of the August heat, many protestors showed energy and enthusiasm for their stated cause, and they said they primarily hoped to raise awareness to a population they claim is underinformed on the issue. Chris remarked:

“I want to bring much more awareness to the fact that they’re gonna build a concentration camp here. I would like our elected officials to do as much as possible to slow that down while recognizing there is a federal facility here. While it’s not Fort Dix proper, it’s not the Army, but Homeland Security wants to keep an ICE detainee camp here like [the one in Florida, Alligator Alcatraz]. They [Department of Homeland Security] are rounding people up with no warrants, they’re hiding their identities, they’re acting like the MAGA brownshirts.”

There was no formal response from the base in any publication or social media, and according to the protestors representatives came out to inquire on the nature of the protests and even give advice on where they could find the most engagement with passing traffic. Time will tell if this unofficial endorsement of the protests will stand. 

This is not the first time that locals to the area have been swept up in ICE raids and the debate surrounding them: amid rumored raids and ICE presence around Burlington and Camden Counties, Haddon Township fixture Jersey Kebab had its premises raided and its proprietors taken away, one of them to remain in custody for two weeks. 

Just as the family behind Jersey Kebab was eventually freed from custody, protestors were hopeful that their actions could have some effect on the attitudes of South Jersey residents towards immigrants. Chris mused on the question of the future of the immigration debate:

“It’s never too late until they’ve cancelled elections. When elections get cancelled and stop happening, it’ll be too late. Until then, support us. Students in particular, do you want to grow up under authoritarian rule where you don’t have free choice or free votes? I think it’s more important to younger people than to me. I’ve got a short amount of time to survive this. Students, you have the rest of your lives. You have to make this happen for you.”

The protestors also said that they would be returning to their space outside the McGuire Gate on a regular basis, weekly or monthly depending on their availability.

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New car buyers looking to test drive a Tesla in the upcoming months might find themselves surprised: every other Saturday outside the Cherry Hill Tesla dealership for the past month there has been an ever-growing crowd carrying signs, shouting slogans, and making their presence unavoidable. On March 8th, as many as 400 people were in attendance and protesting.

This unrest lies at the feet of Elon Musk, the mogul behind Tesla as well as other companies like Starlink and SpaceX. His high-profile purchase and rebranding of social media hub Twitter and subsequent endorsement of far-right talking points made him a point of contention, but it is his actions as the head of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE and his alliance with the new president that have turned him into an icon for the right and a figure of derision for the left. Among these include his presence at President Trump’s inauguration ceremony where he performed a Nazi salute to an audience, massive cutbacks to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), similar cutbacks at regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission that polices the investment practices of large corporate bodies, and mass firings at various federal offices.

Tesla is one of the companies Musk is most known for and has thus has come under fire from many protest groups. One such group, based out of the Camden area, is Cooper River Indivisible.

Cooper River Indivisible is the regional affiliate chapter of the national organization Indivisible, representing the 1st and 2nd congressional districts of New Jersey which include Camden and the surrounding areas. Indivisible coordinates with elected officials and stages protests against what they see as a series of unconstitutional power plays by Musk, the president, and others in the high levels of government.

 “Indivisible is a national organization founded in 2017 by two former Congressional staffers, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin. They wrote a very basic Google Doc about best practices to resist the Trump administration. That quickly went viral and spawned an entire grassroots organizing movement. Eventually there were chapters in every single congressional district in America,” said Adam Sheridan, who fills the Chapter Lead Organizer position in the Cooper River branch. He joined in 2017 after finding the group online and being encouraged to attend a meeting. 

“I was a 7th grade English teacher at the time, and one of my students had recently confided to me he was worried about his parents getting deported. I remember specifically that he told me, “I don’t think we have enough money to move back to Nigeria.” His parents were naturalized citizens but he understood the climate at the time and was worried. I vowed from that moment I was going to get off the sidelines and get involved,’” Sheridan continued.

The Tesla Takedown, as CRI have come to call their biweekly protests, are just one front on the larger fight being undertaken across the country and have already turned up results: Tesla’s stock price spent a large part of March in freefall, a key investor has called for Musk to step down as CEO, and public opinion towards Musk and his companies have also taken a nosedive according to polls put out by CNN and NBC.

In response to the boycotts and to reports of violence at Tesla locations, President Trump made a statement that the boycotts were “illegal” and that any further violence towards Tesla dealerships was to be considered domestic terrorism: “They’re harming a great American company. Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell.”

Sheridan, for his part, says that he and the rest of Cooper River Indivisible leadership are undeterred by the attention being paid to their protests by the federal government:

“All that Trump’s whining tells me is that the protests and the boycotts are getting to him and Elon. Tesla’s stock price is dropping, their sales are down all over the world, and their brand is increasingly becoming toxic. It turns out that illegal power grabs from unelected billionaires are very unpopular and hurt your business. So my advice to other people considering these protests is: keep going, it’s working.” 

The feeling that their efforts were working was not lost on the protestors, as the sounds of supportive honking and cheers could be heard all along Route 70 while the line of protesters stretched blocks past the Cherry Hill Tesla dealership. “The energy at these protests is infectious. I think people are scared and worried about the future, and when they come to this protest, they begin to believe again that this fight is winnable and worth it.” Adam Sheridan said.

However, he also pointed out that not all passersby were so supportive: 

“A car with Trump stickers on it slowed down and threw a cup of ice water out the window, which struck [a fellow CRI leader]’s daughter and another woman in the face. We have also had several incidents of drivers making Nazi salutes at us as they drive by. Both of my grandfathers were World War 2 veterans. It is incredible to me that the evil movement they fought against has now gained a foothold in America.”

 Police have maintained a presence at each of the Tesla Takedowns thus far, ensuring that they remain in the realm of peaceful protest. Neither Tesla employees or Cherry Hill Township have offered any statements on the protests. The peaceful aspect of the Tesla Takedowns is increasingly important as news stories about dramatic firebombings of Tesla dealerships begin to make their way onto front pages. Sheridan opined: 

“I have noticed TV journalists and the elite press are suddenly fixated on sporadic acts of vandalism at Tesla dealerships. This strikes me as the product of a coordinated public relations campaign by Tesla to distract the public from the real issue: anyone who buys a Tesla, willingly or not, is supporting a company led by a CEO who likes to give Nazi salutes. Our protests have been entirely peaceful and we take pains to make sure there is no vandalism.”

While the group has an established presence in the here and now, Sheridan also talked about the importance of plans for the future: “We have tons of ideas. There’s lots of companies out there who are bending the knee to Trump right now, but we think it’s extremely important to focus our efforts on one specific goal, and Tesla is the focus currently. In the future, though, any company that supports Trump and his white nationalist agenda might find themselves as our next target.”

“We think the future of America must be multiracial and multigenerational. As a chapter, we stand for a diverse and welcoming America that gives everyone the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. CRI has always championed causes like universal health care, universal basic income programs, progressive taxation to make the wealthy pay their fair share, and investments in America to build a clean energy future. We have always been partners to labor unions and workers rights and we stand for humane immigration policies that honor our history as a nation of immigrants.”

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Camden Grassroots Coalition Fighting Corruption & Standing For Community

Camden is a historic city with protests and activism in its blood. Through its history, it has largely been defined by a populace that pride themselves on perseverance so much that the city’s unofficial motto – “In a dream, I saw a city invincible” – is displayed or referenced in locations as varied as signs in the windows of apartments to the City Hall itself. 

This resilience in the face of what some might call bad luck or what others might call a systemic failure is due in part to the city’s grassroots activists that provide aid and interface with the political leadership as needed. Among this community of helpers, the Camden We Choose coalition is a very well known quantity. Among other services, they have a yearly Thanksgiving food drive and have partnered with the New Jersey Working Families political party on their endeavors. 

Camden We Choose and its network of grassroots organizations are in part overseen by Ronsha Dickerson, an advocate for many causes that concern the people of Camden that might feel overlooked or forgotten by the city’s larger ambitions as a recovering Delaware River power. In addition to helping lead the coalition, Ronsha also delivers aid to the people of Camden in her day to day job as a doula.

“Another part of work that I do is I founded the first African American owned doula association: Community Doulas of South Jersey is a birth support group that supports a pregnant person through pre-pregnancy, to post-partum… a black woman having a baby is three times more likely to pass away than any other race, it is our job as doulas to make sure that no one births alone” Dickerson explained.

Among CWC coalition’s concerns, first and foremost, comes education. After Governor Chris Christie moved the Camden School District and its board directly under the power of the New Jersey state government and away from municipality-elected members in 2013, Dickerson and members of what would become the CWC coalition mobilized and forced a vote to return power back to the city school board. 

“One of the things that we’ve won as a coalition was we fought for the return of an elected school board in Camden. When that right was taken away…this is the noose that fell around Camden Education’s neck. It wasn’t perfect before, but it had autonomy. We could elect our board, hire teachers, set budgets, this Urban Hope act was enacted with the problem of: our schools are old, our buildings are aged, our system isn’t working, and under that pretense we saw the power being taken from families and teachers and going to the elected officials…”

“ …The state sponsored superintendent doesn’t have to answer to the board, they don’t have to answer to families. They answer only to the state, and there are no checks and balances and they don’t go through anyone local to Camden. That is dangerous.” she said when asked to describe the motivations that drove her organization to take up the cause.

Dickerson and her comrades, fighting the better-funded parties in city and state legislature, took the decision to New Jersey’s appellate court where it was decided that Camden still had the right to vote for its own school board.

The controversial decision to shutter the Camden City Police Department in favor of a Camden County police force was another one that Camden We Choose spoke out against.

“That’s the schools dismantled, and now the police dismantled… We have students from this city leaving, attending Ivy League schools, that want to come back and raise families, and there’s nothing here to attract them. Nothing but dilapidation and high taxes. I wouldn’t come either. We have been warning the city for years not to turn a blind eye to what is going on.”

Many commuters and lifelong residents alike might be inclined to say Camden is in a struggle against urban decay, and Dickerson has strong opinions on how to move forward: people power and representation from the bottom up.

 “Here’s the thing about Camden city and the boogeyman Norcross family: Camden residents just want a simple life. We don’t want handouts… We want jobs, a supermarket, decent schools. We know what we need…. All we want is for Camden residents to show you what we can do. Let us have a decent representative in office. Let’s have a decent school board… When you break a community by stealing its security, its economics, its way to get fresh food, it suffers. The media and powers that be say that Camden is doing great, but ask the residents and they’ll tell you what it really is like.”

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It’s enough of a premise to make a lot of college students turn their heads: a club at school, and maybe even some classes, designed around video games. That’s what Professor Jim Brown of the English department thought last year when the Camden County Community College eSports team approached him with a proposal. CCC had a program called Associates in eSports Production and were curious to see if a similar program could be set up at Rutgers Camden for transfer students. 

“Although we did have a digital design studio, of which I’m the director, we did not have any comparable program here at RUC. So of course I was interested in helping to get that off the ground, both for their students and for ours,” Brown said regarding the idea to have a similar program at Rutgers Camden.

From there, Professor Brown hit the ground running and took the steps to get the program started. He was partway through the process of getting approval to teach the course when he decided to found a club to accompany the course. So far, only four students have enlisted in the program and it currently stands without an eBoard. Without the required student participation the club cannot receive formal recognition from the university as a Student Organization or receive any of the expected resources. 

When asked about the difficulties in recruiting, Brown had the following to say, “the main stressor right now is finding enough people, for sure. Whenever students hear about a video game based club they jump at the chance, but so far we aren’t seeing a lot of progress in turning that into actual attendance. Most of the time we can just about field a team for, say, a 3v3 game of Rocket League, but not much bigger than that.”

There was a Super Smash Bros. Club affiliated with RUC before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is no longer active. 

“They [the Super Smash Bros. Club] were active, man. They had daily drills and practices,” Brown noted of the predecessors to his current endeavor.

Despite the association most people might have with the word “eSports”, such as grimacing young experts locked in at expensive PC stations showing off dizzyingly high-level play, Professor Brown has said emphatically that it is not the expectation for the club.

“So, the first question out of everyone’s mouths, or one of the first ones inevitably is – ‘Do I have to be that good?’ and no! Absolutely not! We’re looking for anyone at any skill level who just wants to enjoy video games in a social setting. We’re not asking you to be an expert, just that you be game to try it out. This is about building something here, a community.”

In fact, when Professor Brown led the unofficial club and its four members to their first competition at the inaugural Garden State eSports Cup last semester, what resulted was a crushing defeat.

“[laughs] Yeah, we got destroyed! The game was Rocket League, and all the other schools, Stockton, Brookdale, CCC, they all had active programs with years of experience, jerseys, everything. They were all very good, seasoned players, but above all they were very nice and in the end we all laughed, played games, ate pizza, and had fun!”

Brown emphasized that the end goal of the club was about socializing with fellow players and having fun. Video games have a long record of serving as community building, as arcades became bustling social centers in the 80s when gaming exploded into one of the most profitable and accessible artistic mediums in history. 

“Y’know, like you say with the laundromat Street Fighter machine becoming the town square for some kids, it really did get that social. I was looking for a way to break it down to my parents. They were born in the 50’s, and I realized their equivalent was pinball. It really spoke to them that every generation has this, like, social play element. For me it was the actual arcades, and maybe for people now it’s things like Xbox Live or whatever. Even an outdoor game like kickball, it’s in the same vein of play as people logging onto Overwatch or something”

It is in this social tradition that Professor Brown wants to build the eSports club, and the proposed Associates in eSports Production will handle the more academic side of the phenomenon.

“In much the same way students here can choose to major in film, not just passively sitting and watching movies but really dissecting the artform – writing, choreography, camera work, mastering the craft – I want an eSports program that will do the same for video games. I think some faculty hear ‘video games’ and assume I want the students to [laughs] just show up and play games with me and go home, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We want to investigate eSports as a cultural phenomenon. What is eSports? What was it in the past, what is it now, what will it look like in the future? What’s the history behind this thriving industry, and what’s its cultural context? There’s already decades of good academic tradition – journals, articles, university programs – surrounding video games and interactive entertainment. There’s a very strong future for gaming in academia and I feel we shouldn’t leave that stone unturned.”

Professor Brown encourages students interested in playing video games with their peers to look into the fledgling eSports club, and those interested in studying them to look out for the Intro to eSports Course when it comes time to enroll in spring 2025 classes. As for his personal favorite games? Some very unexpected but appropriately academic answers:

“The Portal games are great, I’ve beaten them multiple times over with my 12 year old and it’s fun every time. The puzzles are fun, the narrative is good too – it’s all well done.”

Professor Jim Brown oversees RUC students competing at the Stockton Rocket League Tournament hosted by GSE in Spring 2024

Professor Brown and another RUC Student smile for the camera behind the scenes of the Stockton Rocket League Tournament

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