5 Things To Know About New Rutgers President William Tate

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers on Monday named William Tate IV as the new university president.

Here are five things to know about Tate, who will take over at the helm of New Jersey's state university on July 1, after Jonathan Holloway steps down June 30.

1. Tate, 60, comes to Rutgers from Louisiana State University, where he was president from 2021 to 2025. In the past year, LSU eliminated all diversity, equity and inclusion programming, including removing race and gender requirements from financial aid and scholarships, according to Louisiana media reports. LSU said it did this after the U.S. Department of Education, under President Trump, threatened in February that it would withhold federal funding from any American college or university that maintained DEI programs.

Under Tate, LSU said it was making a “good faith effort” to comply with the federal government's requirements.

But some media reports say Tate went too far in complying with Trump's orders: He disbanded a committee that was supposed to rename LSU buildings after controversial historical figures, and LSU also deleted more than 1,300 webpages from its university website because they continued the words “diversity,” “equity, “inclusion” and “DEI." Tate has never publicly responded to the criticism.

Since Trump re-assumed the White House, Rutgers has scaled back on some DEI programs, but has not eliminated DEI entirely.

2. He started his career as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rutgers has described Tate as a "renowned social scientist," but his work is not widely known. After serving as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he then taught at Texas Christian University before moving into academic administration, first as a provost at Washington University in St. Louis. He then went on to serve as vice president at the University of South Carolina before moving on to Louisiana State University.

3. Tate signed a five-year contract to run RU and he will be paid $1.1 million a year. Tate will also be entitled to incentive compensation, where he will receive an additional $352,000 (32 percent of his base salary) the first year if he meets certain goals. That will then drop to 10 percent bonus in all following years. Rutgers has not said what the certain goals are that Tate must reach, but he will be responsible for attracting large-money donors to Rutgers.

While Tate is now Rutgers' highest paid president, his pay is just slightly above what outgoing Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway made: Holloway was paid $888,540 a year in base salary, with bonus pay of $214,106 yearly, for a total of more than $1.1 million a year.

Tate's contract also states he will be paid an additional $375,000 per each year of his contract, in what is called "deferred compensation." That total ($1.875 million, $375K x five years) will be paid at the end of his fifth year at Rutgers, or if he has to depart early, dies or is injured and can no longer perform the job.

4. Tate was raised in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. “There is a lot in common between the grit, resilience and toughness required to negotiate Bronzeville and here in the great state of New Jersey. So I’m ready,” Tate told the New Jersey Monitor this week.

5. Tate is married with two children. His wife is Kim Cash Tate, a former lawyer who worked as a partner in litigation with a large Midwest law firm. She is now an author of Christian books, a Christian motivational speaker and a singer-songwriter who writes and sings Christian music. You can hear her songs on her YouTube channel. Tate has said he was raised Catholic and his wife is Protestant. The couple has two adult children.

Here Are The Terms Of New Rutgers President's Contract (Tuesday)

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