Last week, Georgetown University President John DeGioia announced that Georgetown would offer preferential admissions treatment to the descendant of any slave the Maryland Jesuits (who founded Georgetown) either owned or sold when the school discontinued the practice in 1838.
But for those Georgetown intended to help, the gesture is apparently insufficient.
The admissions change comes as part of a year-long effort to figure out how best Georgetown can make up for having profited off one of the largest human transactions in American history: the sale of 272 slaves, owned by Georgetown’s founding Jesuit order, to a plantation in Louisiana.
But 350 of those descendants say it’s not enough simply to allow them into Georgetown—the school must make $1 billion available in scholarships, and not just scholarships to Georgetown. To anywhere.
The group, called GU272 (after the 272 slaves), said that the admission change was a nice touch, but it’s nowhere near what they consider enough.
“There’s value in that but still schooling has to be paid for,” Harper Royal, head of GU272, told the Georgetown Hoya. “And we really want to through the foundation provide for the educational aspirations of descendants, regardless of whether they choose Georgetown or any other institution that might better fit their needs.”
The school says its contribution is to “heal racism” in our society, but Royal said the plan amounted to no more than an “important first step.” The school will also establish a program for the study of slavery and build a monument to the slaves who helped build Georgetown’s campus.
Georgetown does say, however, that its “Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation” is an ongoing project and that it’s happy to “start a conversation” about what potential students may need in a “long-term framework.” So, perhaps, the protesters will, eventually, get their way.