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Rutgers faces a moment analogous to one of my favorite movies. As a child, my grandmother shared her passion for watching Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life with my brothers and me. My wife and I continued the tradition with our children. Since coming to Rutgers, I have learned that the movie was based on a story written by one of our graduates, Philip Van Doren Stern.
In the movie, the protagonist George Bailey comes to believe that his life is a failure. A lost bank deposit leaves his life’s work as a banker and community change agent at risk of financial insolvency. Bailey despairs that the sacrifices he made on behalf of his neighbors amounted to nothing. He gives in to his despair. Only when Clarence, an angel, shows George what the community would look like without him does he finally see how his life touched countless others.
Like the movie’s plot, Rutgers has experienced lost federal grants and great uncertainty related to the reimbursement cost of conducting federally funded research. We are not alone in these losses. Despair abounds! Should we give up? Journey with me on a “Clarence moment” and imagine what would happen if research at Rutgers did not exist.
Without the benefit of Rutgers’ funded research, New Jersey would lose its NCI-Designated Cancer Center, which serves over 100,000 patients annually with evidence produced at Rutgers and other similarly funded academic medical centers and research organizations. Over 2 million patient visits to Rutgers Health physicians are served by evidence-based practices. Subtract new evidence. Families would lose access to cutting-edge clinical trials. There would be no physician scientists trained here, and the pioneering research that moves us closer to cures for Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, mental illness, or any other disease would not exist. Drug and vaccine development ceases. Engineered manufacturing processes for pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals end. Novel energy storage technology development halts. Communities’ access to outstanding research that informs extension services related to our land, sea, and space grant status is suspended.
Without Rutgers research, the very soul of inquiry would dim. Social sciences, education, science, engineering, and nursing would lose an institution that cultivates disciplined thinking about early childhood education, youth mental health, disease prevention, transportation, polling and politics, and water management. Business would lose a driver of innovation that fuels the state’s economy. Entire fields that shape culture, commerce, and civic life would be diminished.
Consider the ripple effects on our alumni. Hundreds of thousands of living Rutgers graduates—spread across every profession and continent—carry the mark of this university. Their Rutgers experiences, shaped by faculty research, would have been diminished. Our graduates’ success stories trace back to evidence-based lessons learned in Rutgers classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and clinical settings. If Rutgers had never been a research-driven institution, that vast network of alumni—leaders, entrepreneurs, caregivers, and public servants—would have been shortchanged.
Clarence tells George Bailey, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” Imagine a society where the “hole” left by Rutgers swallows up positive health outcomes, social mobility, and civic progress. The loss is sobering, but it is also clarifying.
Rutgers’ value is not simply in sentiment—it is measurable. Our university contributes more than $5 billion annually to New Jersey’s economy, sustains jobs in every corner of the state, and drives innovation with over 800 active technology licenses. This is the Rutgers Edge: the combination of research, innovation, education, and service that ripples across all 21 counties of New Jersey and beyond, pushing us to the edge of new possibilities.
In the film’s closing moments, George realizes his fate rests not in one lost bank deposit but in the strength of community. “Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.”
Rutgers, too, has friends—our alumni, our patients, our students, and the communities that rely on us. Together, if Rutgers friends support the university, our future will reflect the university’s motto: “Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West.” From Rutgers, a wonderful light will shine brightly.
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