DeGioia Addresses Campus Concerns
University President John J. DeGioia held an open forum for the community last night in the ICC Auditorium, in which he addressed issues of diversity and tolerance that have plagued the community in the recent weeks and explained concrete steps that the administration is taking to remedy the concerns and problems and fielded questions and comments from the audience.
DeGioia opened the forum, which was attended by about 100 students, faculty and administrators, by discussing recent events on campus, namely the defacement of the statues of Jan Karski and the Blessed Mother on Copley Lawn, offensive graffiti and the April Fools’ issue of The Hoya. He also expressed his pride in the community’s response to these incidents, but added that the events exposed an inherent lack of trust in the community.
“None of us would share our deepest fears in an environment that doesn’t allow for expression, and even more so in an environment that is hostile. We need to build trust,” he said. “Building a community is difficult ... A university community allows exploring of one’s own identity, but this requires a community of trust,” DeGioia said.
DeGioia briefly addressed recent events, stating that they had severely damaged the sense understanding and acceptance on campus. However, he emphasized that Georgetown must work to build a stronger community, not only to overcome the intolerance recently prevalent on campus but in order for the university to grow as a whole.
“In the end the work of connecting is the work of creating intimacy. We all seek and need communities of trust. We need to build a community in which you can trust so you can take the risk of intimacy with others.”
DeGioia also said he is committed to rebuilding this trust and strengthening the entire community, and the audience perceived as much.
“President DeGioia convincingly argued the importance of building community trust, and he had a receptive audience. There seems to be genuine desire to bring the Georgetown community together in many of the right administrators, but it’s not an easy or transient problem,” Ryan Callahan (SFS ’10), a student who attended the forum, said.
Working within this framework, DeGioia then outlined the concrete steps the administration is taking to address the issues raised. The administration, in particular Provost James O’Donnell and Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Rosemary Kilkenny, has worked with members of the community, primarily from the GUSA Student Commission for Unity, to create three working groups. These working groups are geared toward academics, which will focus on cross-cultural learning and dialogue in the curriculum and the classroom; recruitment and admissions, focusing specifically on how we can increase yield for black and Hispanic applicants; and student life, which aims to improve co-curricular approaches, improvements at New Student Orientation, Residence Life and leadership development and mentoring for student clubs.
“This set of steps is an important start for building community trust, and requires sustained commitment and imaginative engagement. It is very important and difficult work,” DeGioia said.
Calen Angert (MSB ’11), president of the Georgetown University Student Assocation, said that he was pleased to see these concrete steps being outlined.
“I’m happy these working groups are starting to get established. It’s nice to see follow-through of the issue. I was also happy that President DeGioia came out to have the townhall meeting. For those in attendance it was nice to see what the general perspective was and see what the new plans are,” Angert stated.
Following DeGioia’s comments, members of the audience asked questions and explained their continued concerns about prejudice and the ability of the administration to address these problems effectively. A recurring issue was the limited input of the broader Georgetown community into the administration’s initiatives. The working groups that have been formed are composed of faculty, administrators and staff. However, the students selected are recommended by certain leaders, leading to questions about how the average student can get involved. One faculty member in attendance questioned why the faculty had not even been informed of the forum, and how DeGioia could hope to engage the entire Georgetown community if vital parts of the campus were not told about the event.
Many of those present also expressed concern that the actions promised would not come to fruition. Students said that these issues had been raised before, and that working groups had been created, but that there had been no marked changes.
Suggestions included substantive changes to the curriculum to include classes that raise issues of diversity, more discussion of diversity through activities in residence halls and an extension of the Pluralism in Action program at New Student Orientation.
“Whether something comes out of this I think depends on how many students, faculty and administrators are willing to have difficult conversations about difficult topics and make difficult compromises,” Callahan said.
He added that the suggestions made were valuable, but the work was far from over.
“The working groups proposed may well be able to coordinate those conversations and pick those topics, but making those compromises and building a healthy community isn’t something that we can accomplish in one afternoon in ICC with a hundred-odd Hoyas,” Callahan said. “It will take long-term, earnest commitment to honest dialogue allowing for healthy disagreement.”
DeGioia welcomed all suggestions and said he was committed to making changes. However, he said that he believes core values of the university are freedom and choice, and that students must confront issues of diversity themselves.
“We wish to give you opportunities to shape your character in a range of ways, to articulate your own deepest values and commitments,” DeGioia said. “We cannot change the hearts and minds of individuals in the community, but hope to provide a framework. We want to leave freedom for you to choose, we do not wish to enforce our own ideas, but rather we want you to confront issues of diversity yourselves.”
Angert has hope that the discussion fostered and the new plans outlined by DeGioia will lead to productive developments in the campus community.
“I hope some tangible changes come out of this and that we can make this a more cohesive campus, a whole community devoted to learning, where everyone can get along and no groups feel they are marginalized,” Angert said.
Apr 21 2009 at 12:56 p.m.
1. "Working groups": A lot of talk, but ultimately useless.
2. "Dialogue in the curriculum and in the classroom": Does this mean classes in diversity? If so, it's a paternalistic waste of people's academic time, and if not, then what does it mean?
3. "Recruitment and admissions, focusing specifically on how we can increase yield for black and Hispanic applicants": Affirmative action in admissions? First of all, this already happens because admissions already considers "background." So for the most part, this sounds completely empty. But if it is a proposal to make an actually substantive change to admissions in the form of affirmative action, this is going to be incredibly controversial, and it better run past a few people—-say, I don't know, the Dean of Admissions, who has been at the University longer than Jack--if it's ever going to happen.
4. "Improve co-curricular approaches": THIS one has potential. If it means "get the black kids and the white kids to play in the same sandbox sometimes (aka: getting minority students to actually engage with what they inappropriately conceive as "white" Georgetown), then I like this one. But it shouldn't mean that every white student leader is responsible for inviting one-by-one every minority student into every club on campus. We don't need any more pandering, and neither do minority students. We're all intelligent people who know what is available. The problem is the desire on one side not to engage it.
5. "Improvements at New Student Orientation": Yeah, that's what we need. More NSO, which is planned, organized, and put on by one of the most obnoxious and exclusive groups on campus. Sorry, but it IS NS-Over, and having a singing of Kumbaya in McDonough during everyone's first week of college isn't going to fix anything. If we GET RID of Minority Student Orientation, and thereby stop telling the minority students "The Georgetown for 'you people' is different," then that makes a lot of sense. Let's introduce our white students and our minority students to THE SAME Georgetown and to each other right from the start. Again, the kids won't play in the same sandbox if you set up two sandboxes, one of which specifically called "MINORITY Student Orientation."
6. "Residence Life and leadership development and mentoring for student clubs": Most student groups are better led and more successful at achieving their goals than Residence Life is. Frankly, I wouldn't want Residence Life trying to "mentor" me in anything, and certainly not "mentor" me in how to be diverse. I'd be happy to see groups become more diverse. You know what it takes? A few minority students APPLYING TO BE IN THE GROUPS. In my day, I ran a number of things at Georgetown. And it's a simple fact: If you receive 0 applications from black students, your club is not going to look very diverse. So maybe the "mentoring" should focus on encouraging minority students to get more involved rather than on belittling the white leaders of student groups that put out open and available applications to all.
7. "Substantive changes to the curriculum to include classes that raise issues of diversity": No one will take the classes. If you make them mandatory, then I want my tuition back. I'm paying to learn about political science and literature, not...whatever the hell you're going to teach in Diversity 101.
8. "More discussion of diversity through activities in residence halls": Great, another group activity that will make everyone feel warm and cuddly for an evening. And then the next day, the Chicano kids will go back to MEChA, the Filipino students will go back to their Club Filipino, the black kids will go back to the BSA, the South Asian students will head off to their organization, and the white kids will go back to dominating every non-race-based student organization. These residence hall discussions will be less than needed unless they focus on the fact that "YES. WHITE KIDS DO WANT THEIR GROUPS TO BE DIVERSE. SO JOIN THEM." Or, I guess we can play another "stand in a circle and take one step in if you've ever seen someone called a mean name" game. But those games are childish and dumb.
9. "Extend the Pluralism in Action program at New Student Orientation": Does anyone think this is really effective? REALLY?!
At the end of the day, the problem is that from the minute minority students step on campus, they are shuttled on into Minority Student Orientation where they are exposed to all the race and ethnicity-based clubs. And that's where most spend the next 4 years. You want diversity? BE DIVERSE! There's nothing more that the white kids can do. The applications are available. The sign up sheets are out at every SAC Fair. JOIN GROUPS OR DON'T. But if you don't, then the groups won't be diverse. This isn't rocket science, and for the love of God, it doesn't require any more "working groups" and "Pluralism in Action." It requires leaders in the minority communities to say "Enough is enough with these morons at the Hoya writing whatever they want. I know how to write, and I'm going to make a part of this paper better by introducing ideas and issues that matter to me and those like me." THEN, THE HOYA IS DIVERSE! Do that with a few more major student groups, and look at that: They're diverse!
Apr 21 2009 at 2:52 p.m.
I have some questions.
Aren't the problems caused by a FEW people who are idiots and bigots, not the general student population?
Shouldn't the solution focus on finding out who they are and dealing with their behavior?
How will these 'global solutions' correct the behavior of a few people who think that their own behavior is fine?
Why are we averse to identifying and sanctioning behavior that is against the student code of conduct and human decency?
MOST Georgetown students are not causing the problem. Why should there be this global approach?
Apr 21 2009 at 2:58 p.m.
Oustanding post H. Saxa 2, refine this a bit and publish it in the Hoya!
Apr 21 2009 at 3:04 p.m.
1. The individuals that have been placed on these working groups are both students and faculty committed to the issue and deeply involved in trying to come up with solutions. I would encourage your involvement before simply rejecting the idea or a suggestion to how you would like to see these complex problems analyzed. The working groups are highly motivated and have been working quickly, and will suggest strong recommendations…something far from useless.
2. I do not think dialogue in the curriculum and in the classroom or classes that promote diversity can be viewed as a waste of academic time. Georgetown has seen several instances of intolerance on campus recently and in the past and introducing classes that expose students to cultures outside of the norm should be encouraged if the school is to produce well rounded and global citizens.
3. You fundamentally don’t understand what you are talking about here. The yield that president is speaking about is for already accepted students not for those applying. Therefore increasing the yield means increasing the number of accepted students that choose to enroll in the university. Besides, I don’t think it is bad to have Georgetown compete with similar institutions in the recruitment of unrepresented groups on campus. Although background is considered…I would say that background of all students is considered. Finally, the Dean of Admissions is on the working group therefore all of his advice will be given.
4. I think it is inappropriate the say that minority students do not engage with Georgetown. The issue is a two way street and it will take a cross section of both community’s supporting each other in a variety of ways. It simply is not so that minority students do not want to engage Georgetown. The fact is that many feel uncomfortable entering into organizations that are not inclusive. All Georgetown students need to engage and the ownership of the problem is in the hands of each individual student.
5There simply is no program called Minority Student orientation…. this is another area where I think you need to gain more information on the topic. There is no program period that has minority students separate from the rest of the population. The reality is that the experience of minority students will be different and if programs exist to give them a piece of that experience then there isn’t anything wrong with that.
6.The rest of your comments are too ridiculous to respond to or have already been addressed
Apr 21 2009 at 3:07 p.m.
I think the past couple weeks have shown that the Hoya is no longer a viable method of expressing the views of the entire student body therefore printing the inaccuracies that are in the previous article will not be effective in engaging the community you are trying to speak to.
Apr 21 2009 at 3:08 p.m.
I think the past couple weeks have shown that the Hoya is no longer a viable method of expressing the views of the entire student body therefore printing the inaccuracies that are in the previous article will not be effective in engaging the community you are trying to speak to.
Apr 21 2009 at 3:38 p.m.
When will people realize that the Hoya is a newspaper, not the voice of the student body. Does USA Today/NYT/WaPo speak for the American people?
@Hoya - since when has there been an expectation that a newspaper would ever be a viable method of expressing the views of the entire student body. That's not even remotely close to the job of a newspaper. If you take issue with the Opinion sections, then contribute.
Apr 21 2009 at 3:45 p.m.
H. Saxa 2, I think you're on to something with the "Minority Orientation" bit. I don't think there's actually a program called "Minority Orientation" but there are a ton of different events and programs that together add up to more or less fit that description.
If Dr. DeGioia really believes that NSO is an opportunity to imprint Georgetown's values and sense of community on students, he should, as H. Saxa 2 says, introduce all of our students to "the same Georgetown."
I've read a lot from minority posters about how white students find it difficult to step out of their comfort zones to join BSA or NAACP or whatnot as a justification for having mandatory programs, but it sounds like minority students are saying it's more uncomfortable for them to join the "mainstream" organizations (notwithstanding the many, many who do) and that "they shouldn't have to". If that's the case, getting rid of minority orientation events would funnel all students to events together, rather than jumpstarting the real problem at Georgetown, which is self-segregation.
Apr 21 2009 at 4:29 p.m.
Assuming this website isn't out of date, here is some kind of official acknowledgment of this Orientation. Personally, I think this website probably downplays the extent to which the separate Orientation really does split students apart right from the get-go, and I think it hurts everyone to have their "Welcome to Georgetown" be a divided one.
http://cmea.georgetown.edu/programs/studentorientation/
Apr 21 2009 at 4:50 p.m.
Hoya--
Your point on 3 is valid. I may have misunderstood the "yield" aspect of admissions.
In terms of your other points:
1.I am a current student and have no idea how or when the working groups were formed. But in general, working groups end up being do-nothing collections of people that look productive but accomplish next to nothing. Maybe these will be different, but I'm not holding my breath.
2. Explain to me how any class can incorporate diversity into the curriculum in a way that is valuable beyond just spitting platitudes about inclusiveness? If it makes sense in a class to touch on an issue, then fine. If discussing the Constitution, discuss Equal Protection and affirmative action. Debate it. Discuss. Fine. But I see no need to ram round pegs into square holes. Diversity is a matter of logistics and common sense at this school. It's not academic.
4. It is a two way street. The white kids who run student groups put out applications to the entire community. They're out in the middle of the street. If minority students don't want to meet them there by taking steps to get involved, why is the onus on the white kids to walk all the way across the street? Minority students need to take ownership if they want to stop being offended by groups that don't appropriately represent them. Maybe white kids feel "uncomfortable" about being told that they need to pander to groups that are too "uncomfortable" themselves to get involved. But that doesn't make it the fault of the white students, and it doesn't justify talking down to them or treating them like bigoted children. Student leaders are doing what they can to run their organizations effectively, and "How can I make black people comfortable?" is not and should not be priority #1, especially given the fact that 99% of white students haven't done anything to make black classmates uncomfortable in the first place.
5. Link to Minority Student Orientation: http://cmea.georgetown.edu/programs/studentorientation/.>
Apr 21 2009 at 4:51 p.m.
as a minority student, i really strongly agree with H. Saxa 2. sorry, Hoya... i don't think his (her?) comments are "ridiculous" at all. a huge problem IS self-segregation. i don't need to be singled out because my skin is a different color.
i personally have avoided the race-based clubs, though i have been to a few of these events and i have experienced first-hand (probably unlike many of the commentators on this site and even a number of the members of these "working groups") the self-segregation which is very very real.
in all of the other clubs that i'm involved with, i've never NEVER felt out of place or felt differently because of my race. ironically enough, i feel really singled out when i'm with the race-based clubs. maybe not singled out individually, but still singled out as a group.
and really, what more can other groups do? it's not like there's going to be affirmative action for the corp or for writing for the hoya. if we (and by "we" i mean minorities) want to see issues that are important to us in student newspapers that people read, then maybe we should write for them.
Apr 21 2009 at 6:38 p.m.
"University President John J. DeGioia held an open forum for the community last night in the Intercultural Center Auditorium, in which he addressed issues of diversity and tolerance that have plagued the community in the recent weeks and explained concrete steps that the administration is taking to remedy the concerns and problems and fielded questions and comments from the audience."
Dear The Hoya,
Words like "plagued" don't belong in news articles; they belong in editorials. Please relegate your biases to that section.
Apr 21 2009 at 8:21 p.m.
Mets General Manager Steve Phillips denied that the team or its minor league system was plagued by marijuana use. He was responding to an article in Newsday yesterday that said at least seven players were using marijuana, and Phillips held up the farm system as a model organization.
Dear Grove East,
That is from the New York Times.
Idiots like you don't belong at Georgetown, they belong at community college. Please relegate your ridiculous, passive-aggressive faux-clever swipes at The Hoya to things that are actually valid.
Apr 21 2009 at 8:57 p.m.
Dear james,
Want some irony? You don't even have correct grammar in the sentence where you berate the kid above you (an "idiot") for his unnecessary editorializing. Commas don't separate two complete sentences - I think they probably even teach that in community college.
Apr 21 2009 at 11:09 p.m.
all three of the above need to get a life.
Apr 21 2009 at 11:10 p.m.
The proposal is mostly to increase the YIELD for African-american/Hispanic students, not the admission rates themselves. The issue is that Georgetown does admit a good number of minority students, but the yield rates for these admitted minorities is lower than for other students (depsite such events such as Hoya Saxa weekend to get them to attend Georgetown).
Apr 22 2009 at 1:38 a.m.
I'm pretty sure you're missing Grove East's point, James. The contexts in which the words were used are clearly different. In this article, the word is being used to describe the state of things on campus, an inherently subjective assessment, whereas in your quote, the word is being used in a literal sense, i.e., Phillips was objectively and undeniably addicted to marijuana, etc.
I think GE's point was that there is some room for doubt as to whether there is really a diversity problem "plaguing" our campus. In this sense, the word choice was inappropriate, though you rightly point out that the word has some limited use in print.
Your insults, in contrast, were unnecessary and contributed nothing.
Apr 22 2009 at 2:31 a.m.
Arguing over the word plagued, whether or not its use is reflective of problems with the Hoya, is distracting. As Georgetown students we should understand what that sentence means literally, but we should also have the sense to realize it wasn't meant that way (plagued is a commonly misused word, lets get over it). Bickering about it only serves to distract us from putting our energy behind actual productive thought: Let's argue over ways in which we can FIX THE PROBLEMS. Addressing the symptoms, no matter how vigilant you are, won't cure the source of the illness.
To reiterate: Let's have constructive conversation about improving our community. YAY!
Apr 22 2009 at 1:42 p.m.
Thanks for sticking up for me. You're right: my point was that I don't think there's a "diversity" problem on our campus; as a result, I don't think it's appropriate for The Hoya to presume that our campus is "plagued" by one. It is perfectly appropriate to bicker over The Hoya's repeated interjection of personal bias into its news articles, a practice which cheapens both the paper's credibility and the dialogue these inflamatory words are meant to foster. Again, James, I think there's a place for opinion; it's called the editorial section. As noted in the previous comment, however, there's no place for childish insults.
Apr 22 2009 at 2:59 p.m.
Kristin--
I'm really happy to hear that what I said is accepted by a minority student (probably many, but you're just the one to post). I think a lot of students (black, white, and every other ethnicity) could agree on a lot if we ever had the necessary on-point discussions. But one side gets offended and indignant (often with good reason). And the other side is afraid of being called "racist." So we have a stalemate. But thanks for posting and voicing an often under-represented position.
Apr 23 2009 at 5:12 p.m.
That speech by DeGioia was Seinfeldian in its nothingness.