The Honors College's Summer One Read is a selection for new students that is used to foster a community-wide discussion in preparation for the first-year courses. The selection is intended to focus on a contemporary social issue or theme that is deeply intertwined with social impact and inclusive excellence.
Through these courses, students develop traits and non-cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, empathy, collaboration, respect, problem solving, persistence, understanding, and introspection—skills that will help students learn how to transform their ideas into action so they may contribute meaningfully to society and succeed in life.
2023 Summer Reading | Scarlet and Black
This year’s summer reading features excerpts from Scarlet and Black, Volume 1: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History and Volume 3: Making Black Lives Matter at Rutgers, 1945-2020. These volumes, written and edited by Rutgers faculty, staff, and students, focus on our university’s history, uncovering how the university benefited from the slave economy and how it came to own the land it inhabits today, with a focus on student activism and the Black Lives Matter movement. The summer reading excerpts provide a historic framework for understanding how Rutgers’ history intersects with slavery and how student activism has and continues to shape Rutgers. They also explore Rutgers student, faculty, and staff experiences, understanding who is at Rutgers and the narratives that have shaped their stories and struggles over the years.
The assigned excerpts are available now for students on the Summer Reading Canvas platform, where we have organized a discussion group for them to engage with their fellow incoming students before they arrive on campus.
While the readings are available on the Canvas site, students are encouraged to purchase the Scarlet and Black series to engage more deeply in the material.
The chat rooms will be open for discussion from Monday, August 14 - Monday, September 4 (11:59pm)
Previous Readings
2019 | The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh
2018 | Enlightenment Now by Dr. Steven Pinker
2017 | Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous
2016 | Spare Parts by Joshua Davis
2015 | To Repair the World by Dr. Paul Farmer