Georgetown Students Vote to Pay Reparations to Descendants of School’s Slaves By Jack Crowe
Georgetown Students Vote to Pay Reparations to Descendants of School’s Slaves
Georgetown University student government passed a referendum Thursday night that, if approved by the administration, would create a reparations fund to compensate the descendants of slaves who were sold to keep the university open.
A campus group called the GU272 Advocacy Team (in a nod to the 272 slaves the school sold in 1838 to pay off its outstanding debts) created the referendum, which calls for the implementation of a $27.70 per-semester fee to create a reconciliation fund that would be overseen by a board comprised of students and slave descendants.
The group estimates the fund would raise more than $400,000 annually to “be allocated for charitable purposes directly benefiting the descendants of the GU272 and other persons once enslaved by the Maryland Jesuits,” according to the bill, which was obtained by CNN.
“The vestiges of slavery are still so evident, and so many of the African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved are still so disenfranchised,” GU272 member Eliza Dunni Phillips told CNN. “It’s not enough to say sorry. Georgetown has to put their money where their mouth is and invest into the descendant community.”
Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs at Georgetown, stressed the university’s commitment to atoning for its past sins but stopped short of endorsing the student’s plan in a statement released Thursday.
“Since 2015, Georgetown has been working to address its historical relationship to slavery and will continue to do so,” the statement read. “Georgetown has taken initial steps to seek reconciliation, beginning with offering a formal apology to Descendants; renaming two buildings, including one for Isaac Hawkins, the first person named in the 1838 sale; and offering Descendants the same consideration in admissions that it gives members of the Georgetown community.”
The provision of reparations to the descendants of slaves has emerged as a significant issue among the Democratic primary field. Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and others have come out in support of legislation that would create a federal commission to study the issue.
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