Condoms, Alcohol Found on Steps of Dahlgren Chapel

The steps of Dahlgren Chapel were found littered with condom wrappers and cups of alcohol late Tuesday night.

In a letter to the editor published early Thursday morning, the upperclassmen of the women's club volleyball team accepted responsibility and apologized for the littering.

Ron Boehmer (COL '12), who was studying in Maguire Hall at the time of the incident, said he heard a group of about 20 students gathering in Dahlgren Quad around 10:30 p.m.

"I couldn’t really see what they were doing, [but] the one phrase we caught was 'Whoever gets the most condoms from one end of the Quad to the other wins,'" he said.

According to Boehmer, the students fled when a Department of Public Safety officer entered the Quad. When Boehmer left Maguire about an hour later, he found the trash around the steps of the chapel.

"It’s really sad to see this happen at a place like Georgetown," he said.

Several students arrived at the scene around 12:45 a.m. to clean up the mess. One of them summoned a DPS officer, who reported the incident.

According to DPS, the incident will be considered suspicious activity.

"I was disappointed and shocked that someone would do this," Alex Honjiyo (SFS '13), one of the students who volunteered to clean the chapel steps, said.

The Georgetown University Student Association's Department of Mission and Ministry issued a letter via Facebook Wednesday condemning the incident.

"GUSA and its Department of Mission and Ministry acknowledge and respect the diversity of opinion on campus, but do not tolerate offensive acts of vandalism against any building, organization, or member of the university," the letter read. "To deface [Dahlgren Chapel] with vandalism is disrespectful and hurtful. ... We ask that all students demonstrate respect and reverence toward all of our sacred spaces on campus."