Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Students Petition for Professor’s Return

Georgetown administrators said this week that they will not renew a popular adjunct professor’s teaching contract for next fall, citing a “curricular review” for the decision.

Colman McCarthy, a professor in Georgetown’s Justice and Peace program, was asked not to teach his Literature of Peace class next semester, according to William Hahn, a dean in the College.

McCarthy, a self described pacifist and anarchist, has taught the class for the last three years. He also teaches at the Georgetown University Law School, American University and at numerous local high schools.

According to McCarthy, university officials first said that he could not return due to a lack of money. When he offered to teach for free, the university denied his proposal, he said.

But Hahn said that the decision was “was not about money.”

“Professor McCarthy is employed as an adjunct and unfortunately adjuncts do not always have a large margin of job security,” he said. “There are a wide number of reasons that classes can come and go. In this case, we decided on this after a full curricular review.”

Henry Schwarz, the director of Georgetown’s Program on Justice and Peace and a member of the program’s steering committee, declined comment on the matter Monday.

But in a letter to the Justice and Peace Advisory Board, which oversees the program, he wrote that the steering committee weighs numerous factors when deciding whether to ask adjuncts to return.

“We are obligated to provide a diversity of perspectives, voices and approaches to the study of Justice and Peace while maintaining an adequate number of required courses to meet growing student demand,” he wrote.

McCarthy has previously been criticized for not having tests and allowing students to grade themselves.

But Meghan Maxwell (COL ’07) said that McCarthy has begun having formal tests this semester and said that the course was meaningful.

“Though his classes are atypical in both workload and subject matter it does not mean that they are any less valuable in expanding students’ minds, ideas and worldviews,” she said.

Maxwell’s classmate Meghan Devaney (COL ’05) said students were banding together to protest the university’s decision. They have developed a petition, are hanging flyers around campus and next week will hold a “public class to educate others about this issue,” she said.

And while current undergraduates protest the university’s move, at least one Georgetown alumna is offering to pay cCarthy’s salary.

Grace Kelly (GRD ’85) said that she would pay the $4,000 that McCarthy makes each semester.

“This is the class that changes our world and that is something I am willing to support. I feel strongly enough that I’ll write a check [to pay for the course] for every year he wants to teach here,” she said.

For his part, McCarthy said he was upset that he would not be returning next semester.

“Fr. Richard McSorely, S.J., the late Jesuit priest who for years taught peace courses at Georgetown . once told me that if I was ever invited to teach at Georgetown that I shouldn’t get my hopes up that the administrators are really serious about peace education,” he said. “Maybe I should have listened. I did get my hopes up.”

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