HAL@ Rutgers-Newark

Home for the HAL Hub

HAL’s Host Institutions serve as the national flagship, central convener, and communications hub for our translocal coalition. Currently, Rutgers University-Newark houses the HAL Hub within Express Newark and provides funding and resources for activities and operations.

The HAL Hub Office

Our office space, located at 54 Halsey Street #422 in Express Newark, Newark, NJ, is open and available for students like you.

Our shared conference room is a great place to study or unwind.  We’re proud to be a partner with RU-N’s Pantry+, serving as an Emergency Food Box Hub. If you’re a Rutgers student facing a food emergency and can’t make it to the pantry, don’t hesitate to stop by our office.  We’re here to support you in every way we can.

Whether you’re seeking internships, interested in taking one of our engaging courses, or considering becoming a student worker, our doors are open to you.

For more information or to get involved, reach out to our Administrative and Communications Coordinator, Thyquel Halley, at tmh204@newark.rutgers.edu or give us a call at 973-353-0790.

Check out the campus page

Initiatives

Free School

The HAL Free School is a learning space that has grown out of the Rutgers University-Newark course “Newark Community Activism.”  Grounded in the values of collaboration and shared responsibility, local organizers create and facilitate workshops that reflect their communities’ needs, knowledges, histories, and visions for the future. Each session brings together university students and local residents to learn directly from each other, challenging what a university classroom can and should be. Together we’ve learned how to map our personal support system, how to stay grounded when going through interpersonal conflict, how to identify the toxic chemicals in our soil, how to make seed bombs to fill empty lots with beautiful flowers, and more! Our Free School is what the participants make of it, with each iteration growing on the last. And the best part is anyone can adapt our model for their community and school.
Teacher standing and facing students, sitting outside.

Free School Events

A large group of people gathered outside in an urban area

Classes & Internships

Spring and Fall 2025

Newark Community Activism: Mutual Aid Storytelling & Sharing

Prof. Leora Fuller

Thursdays 2:30-5:20pm

Course Number: 21:050:520:01

Learn about mutual aid! Connect with local NJ organizers! Make creative storytelling projects!

In this nontraditional learning space organized by the Humanities Action Lab, we will explore radically different ways of moving through our lives based upon the experiences of mutual aid practitioners, environmental justice organizers, and Indigenous people. Students will develop their storytelling and gathering skills, work directly with mutual aid organizers in Newark and in communities across the country, and make creative shareable resources that will support ongoing mutual aid efforts in these places. Together we’ll tell stories about ourselves and the people we’re connected to; building affinity and organizing towards material change in our lives.

Portraits of Climate Inequalities

Prof. Kryssa Schemmerling

Course number: 21:089:281

This class collaborates with the Humanities Action Lab, (a national public humanities consortium that includes over 25 universities) The materials from this class will be considered to be a part of an international touring exhibition and website that addresses local stories about environmental justice and climate change and stories of organizing around access to clean water for Newark Residents. The class will focus on documentary video techniques and the personal exploration of people who have been affected by climate change and environmental justice in their everyday lives.

Through a wide variety of non-fiction storytelling methods, including interview-based, experimental, and intimate 1st person stories, the students will conceive, produce, and present their video portrait ideas to be considered for the HAL exhibition.

While this course will cover the basic techniques of recording pictures, sound, and editing, the primary focus will be on personal storytelling through the use of non-fiction filmmaking. Taking advantage of today’s high-tech, low-cost filmmaking tools, such as iPhone, and laptop and iPhone editing software, students will be able to work in small crews to produce their video portraits. This will also afford them an intimacy with the people they are filming and interviewing, which will be reflected in their work through authentic conversations between filmmakers and their subjects.

Empowering Change Through Collective Action

As the national home of the Humanities Action Lab, Rutgers University-Newark drives forward collaborative projects that amplify voices, spark dialogue, and foster justice across communities.

How We Work