GU Students Welcome Peñalver, Call for Administrative Change

Georgetown University students welcomed the prospect of administrative change after the board of directors announced Eduardo Peñalver will serve as the 49th president of the university beginning July 1, 2026.

Peñalver, who will succeed President Emeritus John J. Degioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95), will become Georgetown’s first non-interim Latino president and second lay president when he takes office July 1, 2026. Peñalver is currently the president of Seattle University, another private Jesuit University, and was previously the dean of Cornell Law School.

Ethan Henshaw (CAS ’26) — president of the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), Georgetown’s student government — said he looked forward to the potential of a new university president.

“I’m excited to see them naming a new president,” Henshaw told The Hoya. “I think it comes with a whole lot of opportunity — someone to look at the university with fresh eyes who’s never been here before, and who comes from a pretty good background.”

“Perhaps his newness to the university will be an opportunity to improve the campus and university for students,” Henshaw added.

CC Mesa (SFS ’26) said she resonated with Peñalver and his heritage in a way she hadn’t anticipated prior to the announcement.

“It’s very important to me as a Cuban American,” Mesa told The Hoya. “I don’t really know a ton of other Cubans on this campus, and so for him to not only be of Cuban descent but to be a first-generation American like I am — the child of someone who fled in the early ’60s — that is a kind of representation I never expected from the president.”

A number of students called on Peñalver to make financial accessibility and fair admissions a top priority.

Tina Solki (SFS, MSB ’26) said concerns about community members’ financial and emotional wellbeing amid ongoing budget constraints likely factored into the university’s selection of Peñalver. 

“In all the materials the university has put out that Peñalver is going to be our new president, they’ve really emphasized his capacity to fundraise and his previous accomplishments on that front, and I think that was very intentional,” Solki told The Hoya. “I think the university is aware that students are under immense levels of financial strain — both on a material front but also an emotional front.”

Henshaw — a member of Hoyas Against Legacy Admissions, a student organization advocating for the end of legacy preference at Georgetown — said he is optimistic about Peñalver using his background in higher education to affect change in Georgetown’s financial aid policies. 

“I know that while he was the dean of the Law School at Cornell, he oversaw a great increase in financial aid, and I’d love to see that here as well,” Henshaw said. 

“I hope that he’s willing to take a real look at the admission system and reform in such a way that students from all backgrounds get in based on their skills and their talents, and not based on their wealth and their connections,” Henshaw added. 

Peñalver will enter Georgetown amid multiple prominent student movements advocating for workers’ rights, including students advocating for shuttle bus drivers’ access to benefits and a newly formed union bargaining a contract between the university and resident assistants (RAs).

Izzy Wagener (SFS ’26) — the chairperson of the Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC), the RA union — said she has felt distance from administrators throughout the bargaining process and hopes Peñalver will work to close this distance. 

“I think there’s definitely this separation between the people at this university that are decision makers and wield power and students and activists who want to see greater recognition of labor rights and other social issues on campus,” Wagener told the Hoya. “So I would love to see a president that is willing to sit down with students on these issues.”

“If there are new labor movements and new students or other workers on campus that are hoping to unionize, I hope that he supports their efforts and bargains in good faith,” Wagener added.

Elinor Clark (CAS ’27) — a member of the Georgetown Coalition for Workers Rights (GCWR), a labor advocacy organization that has most recently called on the university to stop its plans to subcontract shuttle bus drivers — said Peñalver’s relationships with these organizing groups will be particularly important. 

“First and foremost, he needs to start Georgetown back on the track of supporting workers and students,” Clark told The Hoya. “I’m hoping that, because he’s coming in with a fresh perspective, he’ll be willing to listen to students and listen to workers in a way that this interim administration has not been doing.”

Peñalver’s appointment also comes amid national debates surrounding higher education, federal overreach and academic freedom. In March, the Georgetown University Law Center gained national attention after the former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., threatened not to hire Law Center students unless the school changed its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, leading then-Dean William Treanor to write a letter defending the Law Center’s First Amendment rights. 

Henshaw said it is essential for Peñalver to strike a balance between defending the university from federal intimidation and ensuring federal grants are not put at risk. 

“While he was at Seattle University, I know he put out some statements speaking up for academic freedom, speaking up for students on campus, mentioning that he was still going to be doing ROTC scholarships for transgender students, for example,” Henshaw said. “I think that’s the leadership we need, one who’s willing to say what’s right and stand up, not just a grand stand or to get himself in the news, but to really let students know that he’s there for them and that he cares, and also just not to let the Trump administration walk all over Georgetown.”

Lukas Pitman (SFS ’27), the president of the Georgetown Bipartisan Coalition, said he hopes Peñalver will foster an inclusive political environment on campus 

“When I’ve read about Peñalver so far, when he was dean of Cornell Law School, he very much tried to toe the line between upholding freedom to speak between different groups and then at the same time, ensuring that people are able to argue respectfully about different conversations,” Pittman told The Hoya. “So here at Georgetown, my biggest hope from Peñalver, specifically with bipartisanship, is that he continues that trend of ensuring that people are able to speak openly about their own beliefs, have those conversations, but at the same time that there is healthy dialogue between people of different beliefs and backgrounds.”

Solki said Peñalver’s appointment offers opportunities for student relationships with university administration to positively shift. 

“I wonder, with this period of transition, if there’s a way for students to change the status quo and for the new administration, for the new president, to be extremely receptive to changing the status quo of how the administration interacts with students,” Solki said.