Turmoil spilled into the streets on Thursday at Rutgers University in Newark, as crowds of faculty, staff and students staged a walkout from classes in front of the Paul Robeson Campus Center. The protestors said they were acting in solidarity with union members from Rutgers-New Brunswick and the striking nurses from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, who have been on the picket line for 63 days.

They chanted and carried signs as members of the Rutgers Board of Governors met inside the school. The protestors said they’re fed up over several recent decisions by Rutgers’ leadership under President Jonathan Holloway, including his removal of the Newark chancellor Nancy Cantor, the planned merging of medical schools, and the handling of nurses union contract demands.

“We as nurses are looking for a safe contract, a fair contract,” said Judy Danella, a registered nurse at RWJ and president of the United Steelworkers Local 4-200 union. “It is not about the money, it is about the safe staffing for our patients. Which, if we get the safe staffing, every single nurse in this state stands to benefit from our victory.”

— Editor’s note: RWJBarnabas Health is an underwriter of NJ Spotlight News.