Georgetown University could become the first college in the nation to mandate a fee to benefit descendants of slaves sold by the university nearly 200 years ago after a student referendum passed by almost a 2-to-1 margin.
The school’s undergraduates voted Thursday on the referendum, which would increase tuition by $27.20 per semester to create a fund benefiting descendants of the 272 slaves sold to pay off the Georgetown Jesuits’ debt — a move that saved the university financially.
“The Jesuits sold my family and 40 other families so you could be here,” sophomore Melisande Short-Colomb, a Georgetown student, said during a town hall to discuss the issue last week.
Short-Colomb, age 63, is one of four students currently attending the university under an admissions policy that considers the descendants of the 272 slaves as “legacy” students.
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{Matzav.com}
Nice! They are not paying their own tuition bill, so sure, raise it. However, if you ask their parents, you’ll get a different outcome.
Sick sick upside down world. How can any of these alleged “victims” prove that their families were sold into slavery. What does the University plan on doing with this money? Will they do what Jesse Jackson did and give it to his son and other personal family members?
since no one has numbers tatooed on his/her arm, how is anyone able to determine who is a descendent? is it determined by color of kin? that is so racist. obama’s mother was white and his father was from kenya
Not sure I understand. This university had slaves (when it was allowed by the law) and was in debt, so they sold their slaves to get cash. If they had not been sold to new owners, these people would have remained slaves of the university.
The problem is not whether they sold the slaves, it is that they had slaves in the first place, it seems to me.
Then again what is to be expected from the Jesuits? After some pope objected to slavery, they argued that people with dark skin do not have a soul and thus can be bought and sold like cattle.
> “The Jesuits sold my family and 40 other families so you could be here,” sophomore Melisande Short-Colomb, a Georgetown student, said during a town hall to discuss the issue last week.
> Short-Colomb, age 63, is one of four students currently attending the university under an admissions policy that considers the descendants of the 272 slaves as “legacy” students.
From the little quoted here, it seems that those sold into slavery were sold so that the descendants of those who were sold could later attend the university.
Of interest is the following from Wikipedia:
> Georgetown’s notable alumni include U.S. President Bill Clinton … In 2005, Georgetown received a $20 million gift from a Saudi businessman, theretofore the second-largest donation ever to the university, to promote the study of Islam and the Muslim world