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.

any 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.

Click here to view the Hoya’s live blog of the forum.

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