Georgetown reparations plan for slaves sold by university draws criticism from students

On Oct. 29, John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, released a university-wide letter announcing that Georgetown would commit to raising around $400,000 a year to create a fund for reparations to the descendants of 272 slaves sold by the college in the pre-Civil War era. In a recent letter, Dr. DeGioia asked, “How do we address now, in this moment, the enduring and persistent legacies of slavery?” Georgetown’s answer is markedly different from proposals supported by Students for GU272, a student group that emerged to support the contemporary descendants of Georgetown’s 272 slaves.

The students quickly released a response to the university’s reparations proposal, criticizing the $400,000 annual commitment, an amount far less than the $1 billion goal set by the descendants themselves, because the university planned to raise the money through donations. Students say that approach would not facilitate interaction between students and descendants and “transforms the fund intended to repay a debt…into a philanthropy effort.” 

In April, two-thirds of Georgetown students voted to increase tuition per student by $27.20 to create a fund for reparations in a university-wide referendum. According to a university spokesperson, Meghan Dubyak, who spoke with America this past June, Georgetown did not plan to vote “up or down” on the reparations fund, vowing instead to “engage thoughtfully…the issues presented by the student referendum.” 

On Oct. 30, students for GU272 said in an open letter posted to the group’s Facebook page that Georgetown’s Board of Directors “has chosen to ignore student demands for implementation of the referendum.”

On Oct. 30, students for GU272 said in an open letter posted to the group’s Facebook page that Georgetown’s Board of Directors “has chosen to ignore student demands for implementation of the referendum.”

Cheryllyn Branche, president of the GU272 Descendants Association, released a statement that did not address the reparation plan detailed by the university but praised Georgetown’s student activists. “We see this [referendum] as a valuable part of a much greater response to atonement and restitution for this nation’s history of slavery,” she wrote. 

Related Stories

Georgetown students vote for student fee to pay reparations over slavery

by Catholic News Service

Georgetown students voted to pay for reparations. On Juneteenth, the debate comes to Congress

by Olga Segura

Controversy erupted at Georgetown in April 2016 following the publication of a New York Times article that detailed how in 1838, to address financial deficits faced by the college, the Maryland Province Jesuits sold 272 slaves. At a remembrance liturgy in April 2017, Dr. DeGioia and Timothy P. Kesicki, S.J., the president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, offered their apologies.

“We pray with you today because we have greatly sinned and because we are profoundly sorry,” said Father Kesicki. Dr. DeGioia addressed the inherent immorality of slavery: “Slavery remains the original evil of our Republic…. We lay this truth bare—in sorrowful apology and communal reckoning,” he said.

Dr. DeGioia’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but the Rev. Raymond B. Kemp, the special assistant to the president at Georgetown, said that raising $1 billion is “a serious problem” for Dr. DeGioia. “I think the other side of the coin is we’re still developing the full story of the descendants,” he told America, noting that a legacy of slavery pertains not only to Georgetown but to the Society of Jesus. Father Kemp described how Georgetown, in the 19th century, existed as “a piece of the Jesuit plantation.” He said that slaveholding among Catholics was widespread in Maryland. 

Cheryllyn Branche, president of the GU272 Descendants Association, released a statement that did not address the reparation plan detailed by the university but praised Georgetown’s student activists.

Once the pastor of the first black parish in Washington, D.C., Father Kemp is also concerned with the “hundreds of descendants” of slaves owned by Jesuits beyond those persons sold in 1838 by the university. “This is larger than Georgetown,” he said. “It rests with the Society of Jesus, and I say that humbly as a diocesan priest. It also rests with the Archdiocese of Baltimore and of Washington.” 

In Father Kemp’s view, the consequences of slavery still persist, specifically in Washington, D.C. “Having lived with wonderfully incredible African-American Catholics, I can’t look at the city without seeing the lasting impacts of segregation, of racism, of exploitation.”

According to Father Kemp, Dr. DeGioia hopes to organize an institute focused on studying structures of racism. Father Kemp is supportive of the students engaging with Georgetown’s past. He said that he is “inspired, astounded [and] wonderfully appreciative” of students taking initiative on the issue. “They’re owning their history,” he said. 

Commenting on the student’s reaction to the university’s reparations plan on Nov. 1, Father Kemp wrote to America: “I think it’s great to have the students engage with the descendants and the University. Let’s get it rolling.”