Social Justice Report
A self-study was undertaken in 1999 to document the place and importance of justice issues in the scholarship, teaching, and service of the Georgetown faculty. This summary is indebted to a longer draft report, prepared by the Justice Task Force, which was occasioned by a call to all Jesuit Colleges and Universities to examine the place of justice issues on Jesuit campuses.(1) The earlier report provided a foundation for continued reflection on the unique features of Georgetown’s understanding and incorporation of justice issues. Since the completion of that report, Georgetown has made substantial progress in its commitment to the integration of justice issues within its academic mission through the creation of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service (January 2001). The focus is on the particularities of justice research, pedagogy, and service at the university and the edited version offered recommendations for strengthening them so that they can realize their full potential for academic excellence.
In its Mission Statement, Georgetown University, "a Catholic and Jesuit, student-centered research university," emphasizes its "commitment to justice and the common good." The mission of Georgetown as an institution of higher learning stresses of course its commitment to excellence with respect to the academic trinity of teaching, scholarship, and service. As a Jesuit institution, each of these elements takes on a particular character in light of the justice mission of the Society of Jesus. Georgetown’s teaching mission is based in part on the respect and reverence for each individual captured in the Jesuit credo of cura personalis-- "educating the whole person" for the purpose of developing men and women for others. Through scholarship, Georgetown is to seek the truth (advance the frontiers of knowledge) in such a way that it accepts responsibility for the physical, social, and moral well-being of all creation. Through service, the university–as part of a larger, defining process by which the knowledge produced through research and teaching can be tested, refined, and modified–can act positively to care for and empower those in need, with a preferential option for the poor, and create a community through which the development of each of its members is fully supported. The edited report examined the nature and extent to which Georgetown University's teaching, research and service activities do in fact fulfill the justice mission of the Society of Jesus and our own university mission of educating students “to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life, and to live generously in service to others." The report concluded with recommendations about how the university might do so even more effectively.
In the study of faculty research and teaching, the survey documented a good deal of support for the view that one of the key components of Georgetown’s identity is the emphasis on social justice, on educating students to develop ethical and spiritual ideals that support the common good. During conversations about the university’s identity in recent years, a number of recommendations focused on justice issues and enhancing students’ ethical, spiritual, and moral development. For example, the proposals set forth by the Task Force on Georgetown's Catholic and Jesuit Identity were intended to achieve the following objectives:
- seek to retain a focus on educating men and women with ethical and spiritual purpose;
- cultivate the ethos of civic engagement for the purpose of serving the least advantaged;
- pursuit of social justice, and the common good;
- engage Catholic thought across a wide range of disciplines and interdisciplinary exchange; and
- govern its own operations to realize the ideal of social justice and the common good. (2)
With examples like this in mind, we want to express our gratitude to our colleagues across the university, not only for their help in preparing the study of Georgetown’s justice mission but also for their long-term commitment to realizing and critically examining that mission.
The dissemination of the self-study to the Georgetown community has three objectives:
- to ensure that any justice initiatives underway at Georgetown that should be included in the report have not been overlooked;
- to promote further discussion of the justice mission of Georgetown, with a specific focus on considering the multiple frameworks that inspire justice commitments among Georgetown faculty, students and staff; and
- to strengthen the justice initiatives already in place and promote the development of further such activities.
Notes:
(1) The report provides more extensive data, explains methodology, and appends relevant tables and documents; they are available on request (kmw22@georgetown.edu). An edited version of the self-study, conducted by members of the Justice Task Force and endorsed by the Working Group on the Jesuit Justice Mission, reflected and acknowledged the efforts of all those members of the original Task Force whose research and analyses have assisted the work. The members of the Justice Task Force and the Working Group on the Jesuit Justice Mission are listed in Appendix I of that edited version.
(2) R. Bruce Douglass and Elaine Romanelli, "Task Force on Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit Identity Final Report and Recommendations." (Summarized from p. 3)
