Georgetown will go to federal court sometime in the next few months to defend its current enrollment levels against a complaint by the Citizens Association of Georgetown, which is seeking a court order to overturn the university’s long-term construction plans.

Following a prior court battle over Georgetown’s 10-year building plan, the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment agreed last spring to allow the university to enroll 389 more students. The board also endorsed the university’s practice of averaging fall and spring enrollment totals to measure compliance with the enrollment cap, which CAG had complained created an unrealistic impression of the number of students on campus at a given time.

CAG is now asking the appeals court to overturn the BZA’s ruling and bar Georgetown from averaging its fall and spring enrollment numbers.

“If all goes our way, the court will strike down averaging fall and spring enrollments as a permissible tool for the university,” said Richard Hinds, the attorney representing CAG in the appeal.

Hinds said that, by averaging the two semesters together, the university is allowed to exceed its enrollment cap at times, forcing many students to live off campus.

“By allowing averaging to continue, the university is able to admit more students than they have beds for,” Hinds said. “They are forcing students to live in the community.”

Brett Clements (COL ’07), the sole student member of the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said that CAG and the university should be looking forward to next campus plan.

“We are already six years into this plan,” Clements said. “We should be working toward a positive compromise for the next plan rather than bickering over the old one.”

Clements also defended the practice of averaging enrollment for the fall and spring semesters and said that without the practice, the university’s revenues would be hurt because it would be forced to have a smaller enrollment since more students study abroad during the spring than the fall.

Hinds argued that while Georgetown students do consistently go abroad, they are also continually being replaced on campus by international students studying in the United States.

“We think the entire thing is a shell game,” Hinds said. “Those who leave in the spring are replaced by foreign students who come to study at Georgetown.”

Hinds also questioned whether international students spending a semester at Georgetown are considered when evaluating compliance with the enrollment cap.

“The university has not provided [our counsel] with a lot of numbers, but I remain curious if the students who come from out of the country are even counted in terms of the cap,” Hinds said.

University spokesman Erik Smulson declined to comment on the allegations.

A date for deliberation has not yet been made for the appeal, but Hinds said he hopes that the case can be heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals before it adjourns for recess this summer.

“Both parties have filed briefs,” Hinds said. “We hope that the arguments can be heard before the summer recess. Ideally, we would get a decision before the recess as well.”