Georgetown Student Referendum: Students vote in favor of increased tuition

By Evelyn Dan Epelle 

WASHINGTON – Undergraduate students at Georgetown University, Washington D.C have voted in favor of a student referendum, proposing a fund for Descendants of Slaves, in memory, and reconciliation efforts. This implies that a new student fee that would apply to all undergraduate students.

In a letter originating from the Office of the President, John J. DeGioia wrote to members of the Georgetown Community: “Universities are places where ideas are shared, community forged, knowledge pursued, and understanding deepened. At Georgetown, we have a critical role to play in society. This is a role connected to our responsibilities as an academic community and to our identity as a Catholic and Jesuit institution. We sustain a commitment to the pursuit of truth and the promotion of the common good.

Over the past four years, we have been working to respond to Georgetown’s historical relationship to the institution of slavery and engaging with members of the Descendant community of the enslaved people of the Maryland Jesuit plantations”.

Nearly 4000 undergraduate students participated in the exercise to establish reparation funds to the tune of an additional $27.20 in tuition per semester, for the descendants of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits who founded and ran Georgetown in 1838.

“Georgetown relied heavily on Jesuit plantations…by selling the majority of their slaves, they earned what would be over 3million dollars today” New York Times reported. However, there have been concerns expressed about how Georgetown proposes to manage the complexity of the grappling situation, the University has admitted that students have brought attention to deeply held convictions, which are held in high regard within the Georgetown community.

President DeGoria stressed in his letter to the community that, he will “engage key leaders in our Georgetown, Descendant, and Jesuit communities and our faculty, board, and student leadership to chart a path forward”.

The referendum passed by two-third of votes by a margin, but the university’s board of directors must approve the measure before it can take effect, given that the student-led referendum was non-binding.

Georgetown holds a history of pursuing initiatives around Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, in collaboration with Descendant and Jesuit communities, as part of its efforts to memorialize and reconcile the legacies of slavery, which helped shaped the Georgetown community and even the nation.

In 2016, the university met with Descendants of the children, women, and men enslaved on Maryland plantations and sold by the Maryland Jesuits in 1838, proposing a relationship that favors plotting a path to reconciliation. By 2017, Georgetown offered a formal apology for its participation in the evil of slavery, being joined by the Society of Jesus and the Archdiocese of Washington.

With numerous possibilities evident in the future, it is estimated that the referendum translates into nearly $400,000 in additional fees in the upcoming school year, given the University’s present undergraduate population size.

One of the students leading the referendum, a direct Descendant, expressed his thoughts on the present outcome; “It makes me feel happy that we, as students, decided to set a precedent for the betterment of people’s lives.”

The University will now decide whether to move forward with the moral imagination of the students and if so, determine the best possible way, under conditions in which it is capable.