Fall 2008 - Rutgers Alumni Association

From her eighth-floor office along the
Delaware River, the state’s top ranking
law enforcement officer peers out over the
City of Trenton. To the side of her desk is
a small Foosball table, and on the walls
is a veritable gallery of honors, diplomas
and plaques that seem to pay tribute to
the hard work and dedication that have
defined her career. A visitor’s eye is also
drawn to a replica of the Scales of Justice
— a constant reminder of what Anne
Milgram RC ’92 has pledged to uphold.
For Anne Milgram,
Rutgers is an Open
and Shut Case
BY BRIAN TOBIN RC ’96
Anne Milgram RC ’92 is the
Attorney General of the State of
New Jersey, which in one sense is
not all that surprising. “I come
from a family of educators – my mother,
grandmother and sister – and police officers
– my grandfather and great-grandfather
were chiefs of police in South Amboy,’’ she
says, “so public service was always part
of my life.”
So was Rutgers, where her mother was a
professor and her sister was a student, and
Anne was thrilled at the chance to attend so
many of the school’s football and basketball
games. When it came time for her to pick a
college, the lure of the family’s alma mater
and the benefits of an in-state school proved
irresistible.
Anne’s leadership skills quickly bubbled
to the surface at Rutgers College, where
she served as class president all four years.
“We were able to do a lot of good things,
including raising funds for our class,” she
recalls. But ironically, she adds, “the greatest
accomplishment of my tenure was actually
eliminating the need for fundraising by
future classes.”
The facts are these: Up until Anne and
her officers fought for change, each undergraduate
class was required to hold fundraisers
so they could operate. Always thinking
ahead, Anne suggested that a campus-wide
fee similar to the one for the Public Interest
Research Group (PIRG) be applied to each
student. The university bought into the
idea, and to this day the “student activity
fee” initiated by Anne and her team is the
accepted way of ensuring money for undergraduate
class activities at Rutgers.
Building on the
Rutgers Experience
After four productive years on the Banks,
Anne graduated summa cum laude with a
degree in English and Political Science. She
was also a member of the Cap and Skull
Anne with her mom, Gail Milgram, at Rutgers
graduation June 1992
6 1766 MAGAZINE