Aaron Terrazas/The Hoya President John J. DeGioia told students that continued campus construction and the university’s endowment remained at the forefront of his agenda.

Just as President George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address last week, University President John J. DeGioia offered his outlook on the state of the university during a town hall meeting last Thursday in the President’s Room.

Inadequate endowment resources and the lack of campus space are the major challenges facing the university, DeGioia said.

“We don’t have the financial resources that [the universities] that are ranked around us have,” he said. “Senior leaders [of the university] are wrestling with a set of challenges.”

While the university is ranked as one of the first 25 universities of the nation, it is ranked 70th in endowment size. DeGioia described this inadequacy of endowment resources as a “major constraint.”

Because Georgetown did not start to build its endowment until the 1980s, 50 years later than other universities, Georgetown must make up for its lack of resources with its academic excellence and the experience it provides to its students and faculty, DeGioia said.

“We played above our weight class,” he said.

DeGioia said the easiest and most immediate way for the alumni to get engaged is “to start giving what they are capable of.” He said the multi-million donor of today probably started off as a young alumnus donating $25.

The completion of the $1 billion fundraising campaign on Nov. 30 showed the depth of commitment of the alumni at a time when the “economy wasn’t ideal,” he said.

He said the university will “quietly prepare” for the next campaign for the next three or four years. He said the aim of the next fundraising campaign would be a “multiple of a billion,” because the university has got to do better. The university aims to raise about $125 million next year, DeGioia said.

DeGioia outlined two criteria for the priorities in the construction or renovation of campus buildings. One of the two is whether the adequate resources can be raised for the particular project, DeGioia told students. The other criterion is how central the project remains to the “core of mission” of the university.

A new graduate business school building, which will be built on Parking Lot T, ranks next on the wish list and DeGioia said that the business school alumni have already made significant contributions to the project.

DeGioia called the athletic facilities of the university “the worst in any of the schools we compete.” DeGioia said with the reconfiguration of the McDonough gymnasium, Georgetown would be able to host basketball games currently held in CI Center. The reconfiguration to accommodate 7,000-8,000 seats would be very expensive. He said the reconfiguration is part of the university’s master plan, but it is not possible in the short run.

DeGioia said a more demanding need of varsity athletes is more locker and training space. He said more locker and training space can be created beneath the fields, but addressing that need is very expensive, too.

According to DeGioia, part of the renovated New South area will be open to use beginning next week, and moving some activities to New South will free space for other activities on campus.

But for now, DeGioia said the campus would have to come to terms with its growth in the next two decades. “We don’t have a second campus,” he said.

He said the university does not have any property on Reservoir Road. “We’ve not been the most sophisticated real-estate investor,” he said.

DeGioia said men’s basketball Head Coach Craig Esherick deserves more time to continue to build the program.

DeGioia also described the four characteristics that make the “Georgetown identity”.

The first characteristic, according to DeGioia, is the Catholic-Jesuit tradition of the university. DeGioia said this tradition makes Georgetown more committed to social justice and voluntary service.

Offering the examples of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the upcoming Center for Jewish Civilization in building religious dialogue, he said Georgetown invited faith-based organizations to a two-day summit meeting to attack the HIV-AIDS phenomenon in Africa.

The second characteristic of the Georgetown identity, DeGioia said, is the location of the university. He gave the example of the Real State of the Union meeting last week. He said people think about the news more in-depth when their “local paper is the Washington Post.”

Georgetown’s international student and faculty body constitutes the third characteristic of its identity, DeGioia said, adding that 135 countries are represented in the student body, and Georgetown sends more people abroad than any other institution.

The final characteristic is academic excellence, according to DeGioia. He said these characteristics can be found in various institutions, but “what distinguishes [Georgetown] is the way [they] blend these together.”

DeGioia said Georgetown enables the students, regardless of their skin color, religious background or sexual orientation, to make the most of their abilities.

“We respect the students and where they come from,” he said. “We are inclusive of the differences.”