Strong history

Be part of something larger than yourself

Knowing a little about our namesake and how it influences our mission will help you understand the benefits of attending RWU. Do you remember learning about Roger Williams (the man from the 17th century) in any of your history classes? Here, in our home state of Rhode Island, he’s had a major impact on our local history, but what does it mean to have a University named after him?

The legacy of Roger Williams is still at work on our campus today; we are a community that invites all voices to the conversation, which makes for vibrant classroom discussions. We value his principles of tolerance, inclusion, civic engagement, sustainability, and love of learning. Through community-based projects with real-world partners, service-learning opportunities, immersion trips, and exciting student/faculty research, you will personally play a role in continuing our namesake’s “lively experiment”. Our students help us to be a modern university setting that puts ideas into action.

Roger Williams founded the state of Rhode Island in 1663 as a haven for freedom seekers, and was well-known for his strong beliefs about the separation of church and state and his stances against confiscation of native lands.

He was chased out of his native England and then, once in America, was exiled a second time from Massachusetts due to his “dangerous opinions” about tolerance, inclusion and individual freedoms.

He is often referred to as the “forgotten founding father” by historians because, nearly a hundred years after his death, his contributions became the foundation for the Declaration of Independence.