After over two years of construction and fundraising efforts, Georgetown saw the opening of its first new campus building since the Southwest Quad’s 2003 debut when the $30.8 million Royden B. Davis, S.J., Performing Arts Center opened to the public on Nov. 12.
The center, the first building at Georgetown dedicated specifically to the arts, was inaugurated with a performance of “Our Country’s Good,” a play by Timberlake Wertenbaker. Students, faculty, administrators and alumni attended the performance, which was held in the building’s 229-seat Gonda Theater.
Wertenbaker and Hugh Hardy, the architects who designed the theater, were also in attendance, along with Theater Program Director Maya Roth, who directed the play.
“It is the first new academic building on the campus in 20 years, and will serve our students well with the campus’ interdisciplinary interests in theater, dramatic art and performance studies,” Roth told The Hoya on March 1, 2005. “This is the first time that Georgetown will have spaces specifically designed with our discipline and methodologies in mind.”
The Davis Center also included new classrooms and rehearsal spaces, as well as storage rooms and the smaller, 90-seat Devine Theater. It was built as an addition to the old Ryan Administration Building, which was renovated to become part of the new theater center.
The Davis Center’s construction, which was funded entirely by donations, also included new offices, a scene shop, dressing rooms and costume shops.
The completion of the new center also marked the first step in the realization of Georgetown’s broad 10-year development plan, which envisions a new business school building and science center on the now-vacant Lot T.
“The theater is just brilliant,” Marjory Collado (COL ’08), who played two roles in “Our Country’s Good,” said after the opening night performance.
Karen Frank, vice president for facilities and student housing, said the center’s construction was unusually complex, due to the wiring necessary for the theaters and the complete overhaul of the old Ryan Building.
“It’s a very complicated design,” Frank said. “It just takes someone who has a very creative eye to see what the potential is of some space.”
Georgetown Grants Gay Health Benefits
Administrators announced Nov. 1 that, starting in 2006, university health care benefits would be expanded to cover the same-sex partners of gay employees.
Potential beneficiaries must have a “close personal relationship” with a university employee in order to receive the new benefits. They must also reside with the employee and not have access to other group health care coverage, said Spiros Dimolitsas, senior vice president and chief administrative officer.
“[We] believe that expanding our current offerings in this way will increase access to quality health care benefits . in keeping with our commitment as a Catholic, Jesuit university to respond to the human needs of others,” Dimolitsas said.
The decision was considered controversial for some because of the university’s affiliation with the Catholic Church, which has opposed both gay marriage and the extension of many marriage-related benefits to gay couples.
Citing Safety Concerns, Marriott Rejects Conference
The Hoya reported Dec. 6 that the Georgetown Marriott Conference Center rejected a request in November to play host to a conference sponsored by The People’s Truth Forum, a conservative organization that focuses on issues of Middle Eastern terrorism, citing safety concerns.
“That was strictly a business decision on our part,” Patrick Hardy, Georgetown Marriott’s sales manager, said. “We reserve the right to turn down individuals … out of concern for the safety of hotel staff, guests and the surrounding community.”
People’s Truth Forum President Jeffrey Epstein said that he disagreed with Marriot’s decision, which he said was prompted by fears that Muslim students would be incited to violence by the conference.
“Why should anyone fear rioting from an educated student at Georgetown?” he said.
New Safety Shuttles Added
Members of the Student Safety Advisory Board announced that Georgetown will expand its SafeRides service to include new shuttle routes through Burleith and West Georgetown, after a spate of crimes hit the campus area during the first months of the semester.
“The idea behind the shuttle is that SafeRides will be a completely available system,” SSAB member Erin Barbato (COL ’06) said. “Now there’s almost no reason not to take SafeRides.”
The shuttles run between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Thursday, and from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
Barbato said the new routes will help to deter crime.
“With more presence, I think there will be less crime,” she said.
Saudi Prince Gives Georgetown $20M
The university announced Dec. 12 that His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia had donated $20 million to Georgetown for the expansion of the university’s Center for uslim-Christian Understanding. The gift was the second-largest donation in the school’s history.
Alwaleed also made an equal donation to Harvard University for the expansion of its Islamic programs.
“It is vital for the monotheistic religions to reach a common ground of understanding in the Muslim world and the West,” Alwaleed said in a press release.
Georgetown also renamed the center the His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding to honor Alwaleed’s donation.
Some groups criticized the donation in light of some of Alwaleed’s comments on U.S. policies in the Middle East. A donation he offered to New York City after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was rejected by Mayor Rudy Giuliani after Alwaleed linked the attacks to U.S. foreign policy in Israel and Palestine.
Administrators said they planned to use Alwaleed’s donation to create an endowment to support the center’s faculty and to expand its basic programs.
Congress Votes to Cut Student Loans
Despite organized protests from a number of students and higher education groups, Congress passed on Dec. 21 what critics called the largest cut in history to student loan programs.
The Senate passed a $12.7 billion cut to federal student loan programs, a bill only slightly different from the $14.3 billion cuts that the House of Representatives approved in November.
Scott Fleming, university assistant to the president for federal relations, said that the cuts could be detrimental to Georgetown students who receive government loans.
“This is an instance where we think that it’s important for the university to join with students in advocating for policies,” he said.
