is a private, co-educational
Roman Catholic College in the
United States . Located in
Jersey City ,
New Jersey , it was founded in
1872 by the
Society Of Jesus . Today, Saint Peter's College is one of 28 member institutions of the
Association Of Jesuit Colleges And Universities . Saint Peter's College offers over 33 majors to more than 3,200
Undergraduate and 500
Graduate students. Its college
Mascot is the
Peacock (the women's sports teams are called the
Peahen s), and its sports teams play in the
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference .
The school is located on a 15 acre (61,000 m²) campus 2 mi (3 km) west of
New York City . Evening and weekend classes are offered in Jersey City,
Englewood Cliffs , and
South Amboy .
The college was chartered in
1872 and enrolled its first students in
1878 at Warren Street,
Jersey City , on the present site of the
St. Peter's Preparatory High School . In September
1918 , the college was closed, along with several other Jesuit colleges and high schools, because of declining enrollment in the face of
World War I . Although the war ended only two months after its closing, and despite clamoring from alumni, it took until
1930 to re-open the college. The college was temporarily located on Newark Avenue, before moving in
1936 to its current location on Hudson (now
Kennedy ) Boulevard, between Montgomery Street and Glenwood Avenue.
Civil rights have had a long tradition at the college. It was first desegregated in 1936, when the college admitted its first black student. The college granted an honorary
Doctor Of Divinity degree to
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965, and the next year it became co-educational.
The college has made an effort to reach out into the New Jersey suburbs, with a satellite campus at
Englewood Cliffs opened in 1975 and an extention at
South Amboy 's McCarrick High School opened in 2003.
Recent years have seen much construction for the college. In
1975 , the college constructed the Yanitelli Recreational Life Center, a sports complex. Beginning with the
1983 acquisition of its first residence hall, the college has converted four apartment buildings to dormitory use, and constructed two brand new dormitories. Gannon Hall, the science building and one of the first structures on campus, underwent an $8.2 million renovation, bringing it up to state-of-the-art standards. In
2004 , the long-awaited pedestrian bridge over Kennedy Boulevard linked the East Campus and the West Campus. As of
2006 , the college is embarking on a $50 million capital campaign, designed to raise funds for a new student center.
The college fields 17 athletic teams. The men's teams are known as the
Peacocks , and the women's teams are the Peahens; Saint Peter's is the only
NCAA Division I institution with this mascot. Owing to the school's urban location, the
Football team plays its games at
Caven Point Stadium, and the
Baseball ,
Softball and
Soccer teams play at Joseph J. Jaroschak Field, in
Lincoln Park . All other teams play at the
The Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Recreational Life Center , located on campus.
Basketball has long been the most popular sport at the college. Under legendary coach Don Kennedy, the men's team defeated
Duke University in the
1968 NIT Tournament quarterfinals. In recent years the basketball program has seen a resurgence, owing much to the success of
Keydren "Kee-Kee" Clark '05. In 2004 and 2005, Clark led the nation in points scored per game, becoming just the eighth player to repeat as NCAA Division I scoring champion. On
March 4 ,
2006 , Clark became only the seventh NCAA player to score more than 3,000 points in his career; on the next day, he passed
Hersey Hawkins to become the sixth-leading scorer of all time. At the time of his final game on
March 6 , Clark held the NCAA all-time record for 3-point shots, with 435. A second fourth-year student and a forward on the basketball team, George Jefferson, died on
June 21 ,
2005 , due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition.
As mentioned above, Saint Peter's College is the only
NCAA Division I institution whose mascot is the
Peacock . This choice was made for several reasons. Primarily, the land on which Saint Peter's now stands was once owned by a man named Michael Pauw, whose last name means "peacock" in
Dutch . Second, a section of Jersey City (albeit not encompassing Saint Peter's) is named Pavonia, in reference to the
Latinized form of Pauw's name.
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In pagan and Christian mythology, the peacock is considered to be a symbol of rebirth, much like the
Phoenix . For Saint Peter's, it is a reference to the closing and reopening of the college in the early 20th century.
At one point in the 1960s, live peacocks roamed the campus. Many institutions within the college derive their name from the peacock:
- The school newspaper is titled the ''Pauw Wow''.
- The literary magazine is titled the ''Pavo''.
- The dramatic society calls itself ''Argus Eyes'', in reference to Argus "Panoptes" , who, according to Greek Mythology , had his 100 eyes preserved by Hera in the tail of the peacock.
- One of the major dining facilities is named the Pavonia Room.
