August 27, 2006

Georgetown U. Bans Outside Protestant Groups From Campus

Georgetown University has barred Protestant ministries run by outside groups from conducting activities on its campus, The Hoya reported last week. Groups composed solely of students will not be affected by the move, the student-run newspaper said.

Six outside groups, including the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, both national organizations, were informed of the decision in a letter this month from the Rev. Constance C. Wheeler, a Protestant chaplain at Georgetown. The move followed a restructuring of the Roman Catholic university’s Office of Campus Ministry.

Leaders and student members of the affected groups told The Washington Post that there had been “a growing lack of trust” between Georgetown officials, especially over the issue of whether the organizations proselytize. A Georgetown official, however, said the move was intended to create a stronger Protestant presence within the campus ministry and to rely less on outside groups.

Comments

1. The official response to the banning of InterVarsity and Chi Alpha from the Georgetown U. campus is a perfect example of Orwellian newspeak. Both of these ministries are classic mainstream Evangelical campus ministries, and to suggest that their banning from the campus can in any way “create a stronger Protestant presence within the campus ministry” is the height of absurdity. How does squelching “protest” make Protestant presence stronger? Isn’t “streamlined Protestantism” as oxymoronic a statement as we have yet heard? It might be more accurate to say that the goal is to make the Protestant presence symbolic and innocuous. This kind of move is a grave offense to religious freedom and to the essence of American constitutional principles. It is also likely evidence of the weakness of the scholarly and intellectual security of the university as a whole. Shame on Georgetown.

   — Joseph Castleberry    Aug 28, 09:08 AM    #

2. Although I fully agree with your statements, I also believe that Georgetown, a private institution, has the right to be as ignorant and exclusionary as it wants to be. If you don’t like it, don’t asociate yourself with the institution.

   — GS    Aug 28, 04:22 PM    #

3. Georgetown doesn’t stand for high octane Catholicism either (even though it’s a Catholic school). “Orwellian newspeak” is a sweet way to put it. I’ll raise you one and call the Protestant parsonette’s speecht “dissembling.” Also, it shouldn’t surprise you that a bunch of liberal Jesuits would have a woman run interference for them.

   — Sally Bowles    Aug 28, 04:49 PM    #

4. Let’s not lose perspective here. Evangelical students can still meet and evangelize their fellow Catholic students on the campus of the oldest Catholic university in America. Georgetown is simply saying that it’s not going to give its official stamp of approval to any outside organizations that promote such an agenda. Seems like a pretty reasonable exercise of religious freedom on Georgetown’s part to me.

   — Jack    Aug 28, 05:00 PM    #

5. P.S. Obviously I’m reading past the smoke-screen reason Georgetown gave in their letter for booting InterVarsity.

   — Jack    Aug 28, 05:17 PM    #

6. I’m an alum of the institution and frankly, I would feel better if the stated reason for the “booting” was the fact that Georgetown is -despite its repeated attempts to mask it – a Catholic institution of higher education. For some of us, religious freedom guarantees that high academic standards and an institutional commitment to the faith of its founders are complementary.

   — Joanne Florino    Aug 29, 07:11 AM    #

7. As a student leader in one of the affected groups, I would like to try and clear up a few matters.

   First, this seems to have been repeatedly painted in the press (and subsequent comments) as a battle between Catholics and Evangelicals. This is not the case. The letter was written by Protestant ministries, and while a second letter has been received which was also signed by the Jesuit head of campus ministries, it is difficult to tell from where the decision orginated. I am very hesitant to blame GU’s Catholicism. Moreover, at least in InterVarsity we have active Protestants AND Catholics in membership and on leadership.

   As for still having the ability to meet on campus, we do, but it has been restricted. We have been asked/told that we are not allowed to request rooms in which to meet, and therefore have very few places to gather. It is hindering.

   Mostly, I don’t want people to misunderstand and think we are engaged in any type of war. We are not. This was a hurtful decision, I feel it to be a wrong decision, but we are trying to learn how to continue in love and in ministry despite these changes. But there is no war. There was no major falling out which precipiated this situation, nor have we been standing on the sidewalks of campus screaming, ‘Repent!’ at passersby. I was not expecting this decision at all.

   — Stephanie Brown    Aug 29, 12:39 PM    #

8. Whether the move has been originated by the Protestants or the Catholics at Georgetown doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that a University – a bastion of academic freedom located in our nation’s capital – would see fit to limit freedom of religion for some smokescreen doublespeak reason. That they do so at the last minute just before school begins in a letter that opens—“Blessings, and may God’s peace be with you! We pray that your summers have been restorative and affirming in life and ministry”—demonstrates the height of hypocrisy.

   If this effort was initiated by the Protestant ministries, it is the responsibility of Georgetown’s higher administration to prevent them from doing this unless these groups in some way pose a clear and present danger to students.

   — Julie Rafferty    Aug 30, 11:01 AM    #

Previous: Journal Editor Quits Over Conflict of Interest
Next: Tentative Agreement Averts Faculty Strike at Ferris State U.