1945
Rutgers is declared the state university by the legislature.

With the end of World War II, President Clothier announces that the University "will accommodate all qualified veterans...for whom it is possible to provide." The influx of GIs swells enrollment from 750 in September 1945 to 4,200 in September 1947 and sets the stage for an explosive expansion in facilities.

To improve the "moral tone" of members, the administration places housemothers in all fraternity houses.

1946
In October, a contingent of Rutgers men slip onto the Princeton campus and again try to steal the famed cannon. This attempt is even more disastrous than the first. They attach one end of a length of heavy chain to the cannon and the other to their Ford. Surprised by Princeton men and the constabulatory, they gun the engine of the Ford so viciously that the car is torn in half. The Rutgers army manages to escape, but with neither car nor cannon.

Rutgers University and the University of Newark merge.