 Despite the religious nature of the early college, the first classes were held at a tavern called the Sign of the Red Lion.When the Revolutionary War broke out and taverns were suspected by the British as being hotbeds of rebel activity, the college abandoned the tavern and held classes in private homes.According to research from Scarlet and Black, "Rutgers depended on slaves to build its campuses and serve its students and faculty; it depended on the sale of black people to fund its very existence."