Several students raised concerns about Georgetown’s employee wage policy to University President John J. DeGioia during the president’s annual conversation with students on Jan. 13. Approximately 25 students attended the forum open to the university student body. Members of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee repeatedly asked DeGioia whether Georgetown would commit to a “living wage policy.”
“I cannot answer yes or no to that question, because there is room for disagreement over what the answer might imply,” DeGioia said.
He added that after hearing Solidarity’s recommendations over the last three years, Georgetown raised the minimum wage for its contracted employees from $6.60 to $8.50 an hour in December 2004. The university also added a full benefits package to every worker’s salary and Solidarity had approved this plan, he said.
Solidarity members said that the improvement did not mean the university had adopted an adequate living wage policy. One group member said that two parents, both working full time, each must make $14.93 an hour in order to support a family of four.
“We do think that where we are right now is appropriate,” DeGioia said. “We will continue to evaluate the situation.”
But Mike Wilson (COL ’05) said he remained dissatisfied. “Evaluation doesn’t bring people out of poverty,” he said.
Responding to recent questions regarding how Georgetown could recruit more students from underprivileged backgrounds, DeGioia said that the university could not afford to give much more financial aid.
“About 40 percent of our students receive substantial financial aid totaling $40 million a year,” DeGioia said, stressing that Georgetown continues to admit students on a need-blind basis and that all students who need financial aid do receive it.
Another student then asked DeGioia how he could justify receiving a 20 percent pay increase last year, given how pressed Georgetown is for money. DeGioia shook his head.
“I did not get a 20 percent pay increase,” he said. “You’ll see that next year I won’t make as much as I did this year.”
Rather, DeGioia attributed Georgetown’s financial aid problems to the struggling endowment and not his salary.
“We’re competing with one-fifth the resources other universities of our caliber have,” he said.
Dori McGuire (COL ’05) voiced frustration with the new security policy implemented Jan. 13 in LXR and Nevils. Last semester, residents of these buildings had to enter through the main LXR door on 35th Street and the Walsh entrance on 36th Street. Students could also leave through any door. Now, all exits except the two main ones have been converted into emergency exits and alarms were installed Jan. 13.
Todd Olson, vice president of Student Affairs, said that the policy had been put into practice to keep students safe. He said that he had noticed “disturbing trends of door propping in Nevils and LXR” and that the alarms were therefore necessary. Community councils from both complexes were involved in the decision, Olson added.
Another student asked if Georgetown was taking measures to make off-campus housing safer in the wake of the October townhouse fire on Prospect Street that killed Daniel Rigby (MSB ’05). Olson said Georgetown now only lists properties on its off-campus housing website that have “business licenses,” which ensure that basic safety standards have been met. The university has also sponsored student programming to inform students about what to look for when signing a lease, and continues to work with landlords, parents of off-campus students and the Student Association, according to Olson.
According to DeGioia, Georgetown may offer students the opportunity to get a public school teaching certificate as part of their undergraduate work as early as fall 2005. “We’re working on it,” he said, adding that he hopes to install the certificate program in response to increasing concerns about the lack of education-related degrees offered at Georgetown.
