History

In the aftermath of the summer's riots in Newark New Jersey, a memorandum to the presidents of all of the state's institutions of higher education was issued. It outlined a proposed program of special assistance to young men and women from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Lilly Commission made its report to Governor Richard Hughes, who subsequently submitted his Moral Recommitment message to the New Jersey State Legislature. The message called for the establishment of a broad range of programs to address the basic conditions the Commission had cited as contributing to the summer's unrest. Among those programs was the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF), established by legislation sponsored by then-freshman legislator Thomas Kean.

EOF set the pace for many initiatives that today are widely incorporated into college life. Among the many powerful strategies implemented by EOF are precollege articulation, basic skills testing and remediation, systematic retention efforts, peer counseling and peer tutoring, academic support courses, multicultural curricula and human relations programming, student leadership development, and outcomes-based program evaluation.