Georgetown University administrators are “reviewing” Georgetown University College Republicans’ (GUCR) post claiming Muslims are incompatible with a Christian vision of the United States following widespread community backlash, university officials announced March 11.
The March 8 post on X, which GUCR deleted two days later, said “Let’s Be Honest: Muslims have no place in American society.” Several GUCR members condemned the club’s post and left their messaging channel, while other community members called for the university to sanction GUCR, which receives university funding and benefits as an official student organization.
In a jointly written email to community members, three university officials condemned the post as Islamophobic and said the university is looking into the incident.
“We were recently made aware that a Georgetown student group with access to benefits posted an Islamophobic statement on social media,” the officials wrote. “Georgetown is proud of the religious diversity of our community and strongly condemns Islamophobia and hatred of any kind. We stand in solidarity with our community.”
“We are reviewing this matter through established university processes, and we take our community’s concerns seriously and condemn this language, which is deeply inconsistent with Georgetown University’s values,” the officials added.
A GUCR spokesperson previously said the post did not fully convey the organization’s position.
“We affirm the First Amendment rights of all Americans and we are called to love everyone,” a GUCR spokesperson wrote to The Hoya late Tuesday night. “Our properly articulated position is that Sharia law is incompatible with Western civilization and American society as it seeks to oppress women and persecute religious minorities. This wasn’t expressed in the original tweet which is why it was promptly deleted.”
Under Georgetown’s student organization standards, clubs receiving benefits such as GUCR are expected to uphold “respect for others” and adhere to the university’s code of student conduct and non-discrimination policies. The university code of student conduct prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of a protected category, such as religion, race or sex.
Rosemary Kilkenny, the vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer; Fr. Gregory Schenden, S.J, the director of Campus Ministry; and Eleanor J.B. Daugherty, the vice president for student affairs, sent the email to Georgetown community members less than a day after the backlash began.
Kilkenny, Schenden and Daugherty said administrators reserve the right to enforce penalties for violations of university policies.
“All students and student groups with access to benefits are required to follow University policies, including policies expressly prohibiting harassment, discrimination, intimidation and threats of harm,” the officials wrote. “Individuals and groups can be sanctioned for violations of University policies.”
