Last week Georgetown University inaugurated its new School of Foreign Service campus in Education City in Doha, Qatar. The SFS-Q project is a tremendous investment made by both Georgetown and the Qatari government, yet it presents a number of logistical and educational challenges.

Amongst the greatest of these challenges is recreating the SFS experience in a foreign country. The SFS needs to maintain the high standards that are kept on the main campus while adjusting to the particular circumstances of Education City. This leads to a discussion of how Georgetown’s mission statement is relevant in the Middle East. What values should Georgetown continue to propagate through its new campus?

First and foremost Georgetown should persist in its commitment to social justice. The university has committed itself to preserving an economically and socially diverse student body, maintained relationships with the inner city poor and pursued greater worker rights. These efforts should continue in the Persian Gulf, which is known for economic inequality, racism and discrimination.

Most Gulf countries are “service societies” in which the population is roughly divided into two categories: citizens and residents. Citizens are indigenous peoples who regularly receive large stipends from the government, while residents are brought in from abroad to help run the country.

There is no concept of a “naturalized citizen.” A “foreigner” may have been born in the Gulf, lived in the country for several years and speak Arabic fluently, but still not be eligible for citizenship. This naturally leads to a tremendous economic disparity between many citizens who live in palaces and drive luxury cars and residents who reside in ghettos and go to work in overcrowded school buses.

Many of these resident laborers are behind the construction of Education City. Georgetown should not be silent about its commitment to the universal values of human equality and equal opportunity that are found both in Western and Islamic traditions.

The university should also continue to develop its efforts toward cultural dialogue and religious tolerance. Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding have both played pioneering roles in fostering greater understanding between the Arab and Muslim worlds and the West. They should both be given greater roles at the SFS-Q campus.

Administrators have taken a leading step in reaching out to the uslim community on the main campus by hiring a Muslim chaplain and fostering a strong relationship with the Muslim Students Association. SFS-Q, however, does not provide many basic spiritual resources, such as chaplains and adequate prayer facilities, which are found on the main campus. Educating the “whole person” should continue to be a priority for Georgetown in Education City.

Additionally, SFS-Q administrators should work to provide classes that will give their students the cultural and language skills to be effective leaders in their particular societies. More elective classes should be offered in the native languages of SFS-Q students – Arabic, for example. Not all of the SFS-Q students speak Arabic, nor are they all Arabs, but it essential that students learn about their culture and history in their own vernacular.

Students should not become alienated from their heritage by studying their own societies from an outsider perspective. Rather SFS-Q students are contributors who have the potential to make a tremendous difference in their societies. By holding classes solely in English, Georgetown may be indirectly creating an elite student body that will not have the cultural and language skills to communicate effectively with its own peoples.

Georgetown’s presence in the Middle East is a unique opportunity for it to spread its essential mission statement of social justice, religious tolerance, leadership and service. It is this mission statement that gives Georgetown its unique identity and has allowed the university to reach international prestige. It is also one of the reasons why Georgetown was invited to Education City.

By holding onto its core values, Georgetown will not only help SFS-Q students contribute to their own societies but will help create an international community of peace and understanding.

Younus Mirza graduated with a joint bachelor’s and master’s degree from the School of Foreign Service in 2005 and is currently studying in Doha at the University of Qatar.