Living Wage Campaign Heats Up

The Living Wage Coalition demonstrated against the university’s hiring and wage policies for contracted workers, holding rallies in Red Square and bursting into a meeting of the university’s Board of Directors.

Several students forced their way into a Feb. 9 meeting of Georgetown’s Board of Directors, demanding higher wages for contracted workers. They were escorted by a Department of Public Safety officer but were allowed to speak to the Board.

The Living Wage Coalition also made a formal presentation to the Advisory Committee on Business Practices, appealing directly to Senior Vice President Spiros Dimolitsas.

The campaign vowed to continue its protests if administrators did not meet its demands.

Tuition Fees Hiked by 6.2 Percent

The Board of Directors voted to raise undergraduate tuition by 6.2 percent for the 2005-06 academic year, bringing the total cost of attendance to nearly $45,000.

In addition, graduate students’ tuition was raised 7 percent to $29,455.

The university identified financial aid and increasing the competitiveness of faculty salaries as the main reasons for the tuition hike, in addition to the costs of rising overhead expenses and new facilities.

Although College Board statistics showed Georgetown’s tuition hikes to be in line with those at other private, four-year universities, the university’s total cost of attendance remained higher than the national average.

The cost of attending Georgetown has risen by more than 29 percent since the 2000-01 academic year.

Rajan, Wright Carry GUSA Election

Pravin Rajan (SFS ’07) was elected president of GUSA, beating his closest competitors by nearly 10 percentage points in a decisive victory.

Rajan and running mate Nate Wright (COL ’06) won 36.3 percent of the vote, beating runners-up Happy Johnson (COL ’07) and Vikram Agrawal (SFS ’07), who garnered 26.5 percent of the vote.

A total of 2,271 students, or 36 percent of the student body, voted in the election. This was 20 votes lower than last year’s election and around 500 votes lower than the turnout for the 2003 election.

The only electoral discrepancy came when voting results were published in The Georgetown Voice before the official announcement by the Election Commission. No disciplinary action was ultimately taken. After short deliberation, the Commission decided to approve the final tally.

Board Reorganizes, Reforms GUMC

The Board of Directors unanimously approved a cost-elimination plan for the financially troubled Medical Center, restructuring it into four administrative units with the goal of returning to fiscal solvency by 2007.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies, the Medical School, the Lombardi Cancer, and an unnamed Biomedical Graduate Research Institute will make up the reorganized Medical Center.

Several non-tenured faculty and staff will lose their positions as some offices and research labs are closed, and tuition for medical school students will rise by an unspecified amount, as part of the restructuring plan, university officials said.

The new plan proposes to add $13.5 million each year to the edical Center’s net margin, eliminating the center’s operating deficit in 2007.

The university hopes to establish itself in the expanding field of biomedical research with the new BGRI.

Prior attempts to rein in the center’s deficits have fallen short of expectations. The university projected to save $12.75 million through the layoffs of 65 employees last summer, but only achieved $7.9 million in savings.