JESUIT HERITAGE WEEK Faculty Discuss Women In GU Jesuit Education By Josh Bangcroft Special to The Hoya
As part of Jesuit Heritage Week, a panel of university faculty reflected yesterday on different aspects of “Women in Jesuit Education.”
The panelists, including University Provost Dorothy Brown, Georgetown College Dean Jane McAuliffe, English Professor Joan Holmer and Catholic Studies and Spanish Professor Barbara Mujica, agreed that the Jesuit values of faith, tolerance and scholarship have made Georgetown uniquely able to realize the contributions of women to Jesuit education.
Addressing an audience of about 30 members of the Georgetown community in ICC Auditorium, Brown said she believed that a commitment to excellence, a desire for a cohesive university community and a degree of courage represent “values that connect women as valuable partners in Jesuit education.” Brown also cited a formal Jesuit principle to “commit the Society . to regard solidarity with women as integral to our mission,” adopted in 1995.
Brown related the experience of being interviewed early in her career at Georgetown for a survey of “women administrators at Catholic colleges.” She was surprised to find that her own experience with a tolerant atmosphere at Georgetown was not an aberration among the anonymous survey of different Catholic colleges, especially among Jesuit institutions.
McAuliffe also highlighted the Jesuit desire to grow in faith and understanding through exposure to the religious experiences and cultural backgrounds of others, especially within a university setting. She described how her Catholic, single-sex education showed her how education at its best was an “emulation” of those who lived according to the principles they advocated. She also said she believed that the Jesuits at Georgetown displayed the same devotion in their lives.
Holmer described her appreciation of the freedom inherent in Jesuit heritage. She emphasized broad academic freedoms to “indulge intellectual exploration,” including exploring religious interests – an area she said she believed was often discouraged at other universities. She also spoke of a “freedom of conscience,” or the accepted individuality of each person, as well as the freedom to explore faith. Holmer also lauded the “founding inspiration of Georgetown” as a “culture of virtue,” carried on by the knowledge and wisdom of Jesuits throughout its history.
Mujica described her experience of the Jesuit tradition of faith exploration in a personal way. An Ignatian Retreat experience led ujica to become Catholic while at Georgetown, she said. As a professor of Catholic Studies, she said she felt that the figures she had previously studied were now “personally relevant” because she approached her subject both as an academic subject and an experience of faith and continued to scrutinize that faith in the Jesuit tradition.
All four panelists agreed that the foundation of the tolerant atmosphere they felt at Georgetown came from the Jesuit commitment to living by the values they taught. Even though tolerance for women and other groups was important and explicitly stated as a Jesuit principle, Holmer echoed each panelist when she said that “nothing speaks louder than an example of lives well lived inside and outside of the classroom.”
The panel was co-sponsored by Georgetown College, the Women’s Studies Program and the Women’s Center. It took place as part of Georgetown’s Second Annual Jesuit Heritage Week, which celebrates Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity.