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The institute was founded April 22, 1868, by the Presbytery of Newark, in response to a challenge resulting from a constantly increasing immigration from Europe. (Kovach, 1972)
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The institute was originally located at the First German Presbyterian Church in Newark, New Jersey but was moved to the former Bloomfield Academy in 1872. They renamed this building to Seibert Hall in honor of the institute’s very first president, Reverend George Seibert.
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Under his leadership, most of the German seminaries struggled to exist because of the limited amount of funding, but Bloomfield still prospered.
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The academic department was now expanded to four years, laying special stress on classical studies, sacred and secular history, literature, and natural philosophy, including some mathematics and natural sciences. (Kovach, 1972)
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The institute began enrolling non-German students such as Hungarians, Italians, Bohemian, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Spaniards, and Portuguese.
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The academic requirements were tightened as the educational standards rose. There were additions to the faculty, buildings, and equipment. (Kovach, 1972)
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The college noticed that there is a need for more diversity. So they began accepting African-American students
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Two fraternities and one sorority was organized; a debate society was formed; a literary club started; a Glee club was formed by Ms. Roberta Bitgood; school newspaper publishing was founded and the senior class book was printed for the first time.
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The Black Organization of Students is an organization that dedicates their time to support the African-American population in Newark through community service, advocacy, and many other programs. In 1969, a couple of students from the organization went to the Conklin Hall building at Rutgers to demand the school accept more African-Americans. Some Bloomfield College students were also involved with the protesting.
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Bloomfield College was involved a significant lawsuit between their Board of Directors and 13 faculty members when it came to the idea of tenure and academic freedom.
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Bloomfield College's Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program was ranked second in the state of New Jersey. (RegisteredNursing.org, 2018)
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The Game Design program at Bloomfield College was ranked #1 in the state of New Jersey (The Princeton Review, 2019)
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Bloomfield College welcomes Dr. Marcheta P. Evans as the 17th president. She is the first woman and the first African-American to be elected as one of the institute's president. She will begin her term on June 1st.
