Becoming a Modern University

The 1960s were a time of cultural change for both the Catholic Church and the United States. As both a Catholic and American university, Georgetown adapted to the changing times in transformative ways.

The Second Vatican Council, popularly known as Vatican II, declared that the Catholic Church should be part of the modern world and interact with human culture rather than remain insulated from it. Around the same time, leaders of Catholic colleges around the United States published what became known as the "Land O'Lakes Statement." It urged Catholic colleges to become fully modern research universities. It emphasized interreligious pluralism, inclusion of the laity, and academic autonomy from the Church hierarchy. The first signatory on this rather radical statement was none other than Georgetown president Gerard Campbell.

Father Campbell, president of Georgetown from 1964 to 1968, oversaw the implementation of the new post-Vatican II ideology on Georgetown's campus and led a fundamental transformation of the university's governance structure in an effort to modernize the school. With rewritten charter and bylaws, the Board of Directors was permitted to include members from other institutions and the laity. Within a few years, the Board was majority laypeople. Georgetown also declared legal autonomy from the Jesuit Community which helped allow the university to acquire more federal funds. The centuries-old Jesuit curriculum known as Ratio Studiorum was altered to include more electives, flexibility, and interdisciplinary studies. While students were no longer required to attend religious services, they were required to take a new standardized theology course entitled "Problem of God" which most Georgetown students have taken in the last half century.

The physical manifestation of this embrace of modernity can be seen in the architecture of Lauinger Library. In the 1940s, preliminary plans for a new library in a classical gothic style. However, when John Carl Warnecke was chosen to design the library, he selected a style that fit the trying times of the sixties. The library is a brutalist interpretation of Healy Hall and represents the emerging radical new ways of grappling with the past. Similar to Healy, it has a dark gray stone, sculpted undulating exterior, and two towers. Opening in 1970, the library was named after Joseph Mark Lauinger, a young Georgetown graduate killed in the Vietnam War. Students now often refer to the library simply as "Lau." The harsh and brutal Lauinger, named after a fallen student, stands in sharp contrast to the grand and ornate White-Gravenor Building. They are, in many respects, monuments to their respective time periods and trace significant change throughout Georgetown's history.

Modernizing its Catholic identity allowed Georgetown to adapt to changing cultural attitudes in American life. In the 1960s and 1970s, Georgetown started to see a rise in multiculturalism and diversity among its student body.

Historically, black students had been severely underrepresented at Catholic colleges. In the seventies, Georgetown enacted affirmative action policies to create a more racially diverse student body. In 1968, when only 40 black students attended Georgetown, leaders in the newly formed Black Student Alliance established The Black House, a residential space for discussion of race and identity. The Community Scholars Program was also founded as a system of support for students of color navigating different aspects of college life. CSP continues to support students of color over fifty years later.

Georgetown's newly reformed Board of Directors also confronted issues of gender equality. In 1968, the College - the most traditional of Georgetown's schools - decided to open 50 slots to women. Not everyone welcomed the introduction of coeducation, though - the front page of the student newspaper read, "Tradition Crumbles: College Adds Girls." Men and women were separated in the early days of coeducation. Men received "G Books" and women received "Ms. G Books" which outlined proper etiquette for a gentleman and a lady. The university constructed two dorms around this time. Harbin Hall, named after a beloved math professor, opened as a men's dorm in the 1960s and housed future U.S. president Bill Clinton soon after. Darnall Hall - named after founder John Carroll's mother, Eleanor Darnall - was intentionally named after a woman as it was to be a women's dorm. Today, both buildings are coed freshmen dorms.

The Office of Campus Ministry became Georgetown's epicenter of interreligious dialogue - a key focus of Vatican II. The percentage of students who identified as Catholic dropped from around 90% to around 65% between the sixties and the seventies. Georgetown began hiring Protestant theologians and became the first Catholic university in America to hire a rabbi. In the years since, Georgetown went on to hire the first full-time Muslim and Hindu chaplains at an American university. Georgetown now has the largest campus ministry in the United States.

GEORGETOWN TODAY

Learn more about Lauinger Library here.

Learn more about the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access here.

Learn more about the Women's Center here.

Learn more about Campus Ministry here.