Georgetown University Students Organize Sit-In To Protest Building Name
BY CHRISTINA STURDIVANT
NOV 13, 2015 3:00 PM
There’s another racially-charged hashtag floating around the web. It’s #BuiltOn272 and it was created by Georgetown University students.
This morning, a group of students from the university assembled to protest the name of a campus building, Mulledy Hall. The building bears the name of a Catholic priest and former Georgetown president, Thomas Mulledy, who sold 272 slaves in 1838 to pay off university debts.
The fight for the name change goes back to August after the university announced the re-opening of the hall, a student spokesperson told DCist over an email address shared by organizers. Black student leaders were invited to speak to the President’s Chief of Staff about their concerns. A steering committee, with only one black representative was created, along with “other pacifying actions,” before the name could be changed, the spokeperson says. “After noise was brought,” two more students of color were added to the committee.
Yesterday, during a “demonstration in solidarity” with students of Mizzou, Yale, and UWC, student organizers announced to sit-in the President’s office until he yields to their demands.
A recount of yesterday’s meeting by the Georgetown Voice:
[Class of 2016 student Candace] Milner read off a list of demands from what she called a “working document,” which includes renaming McSherry Hall and the John Main Center, in addition to Mulledy Hall, installing plaques on unmarked graves of slaves on campus, the implementation of an annual program to mark slavery’s legacy at Georgetown, revision of campus tours to include information about the roles of black people in Georgetown’s history, mandatory training for professors on identity and diversity, and the creation of an “endowment to recruit black identifying professors.”
As of 3:16 p.m., today, there were nearly 50 students gathered. “We started a spreadsheet for 30 minute intervals all day for the next week, intending to continue it until our demands are met,” the student representative says.
This comes a day after Howard University received a threat against black students.
NOV 13, 2015 3:00 PM
There’s another racially-charged hashtag floating around the web. It’s #BuiltOn272 and it was created by Georgetown University students.
This morning, a group of students from the university assembled to protest the name of a campus building, Mulledy Hall. The building bears the name of a Catholic priest and former Georgetown president, Thomas Mulledy, who sold 272 slaves in 1838 to pay off university debts.
The fight for the name change goes back to August after the university announced the re-opening of the hall, a student spokesperson told DCist over an email address shared by organizers. Black student leaders were invited to speak to the President’s Chief of Staff about their concerns. A steering committee, with only one black representative was created, along with “other pacifying actions,” before the name could be changed, the spokeperson says. “After noise was brought,” two more students of color were added to the committee.
Yesterday, during a “demonstration in solidarity” with students of Mizzou, Yale, and UWC, student organizers announced to sit-in the President’s office until he yields to their demands.
A recount of yesterday’s meeting by the Georgetown Voice:
[Class of 2016 student Candace] Milner read off a list of demands from what she called a “working document,” which includes renaming McSherry Hall and the John Main Center, in addition to Mulledy Hall, installing plaques on unmarked graves of slaves on campus, the implementation of an annual program to mark slavery’s legacy at Georgetown, revision of campus tours to include information about the roles of black people in Georgetown’s history, mandatory training for professors on identity and diversity, and the creation of an “endowment to recruit black identifying professors.”
As of 3:16 p.m., today, there were nearly 50 students gathered. “We started a spreadsheet for 30 minute intervals all day for the next week, intending to continue it until our demands are met,” the student representative says.
This comes a day after Howard University received a threat against black students.
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