Fact Sheet: Georgetown University Access

On August 21, 2006, InterVarsity staff at Georgetown University received a letter sent out by email announcing the disaffiliation of InterVarsity and five other ministries previously affiliated with Georgetown through the university’s Protestant Ministry office.

On August 14, we had received an email invitation from the Protestant Program Coordinator to an Affiliated Ministries meeting on August 17. Staff were scheduled to be out of state on the 17th and requested a meeting after returning. We received no further communication until the 21st, when the disaffiliation notice arrived. We were told by affiliated ministry staff who attended the meeting that they requested discussion with the chaplains, but were informed that the decision had already been made and that no further discussion was necessary. We stopped by the Protestant Ministry office the following week and received the same answer.

The original letter stated that the reason for terminating the relationship was Protestant Ministry’s decision to “move in another direction” for the upcoming school year. This was later articulated by a university spokesman as a decision to “build the ministry from within.” Then, in a widely circulated letter dated September 6th, Fr. Timothy Godfrey, Director of Campus Ministry, stated that “Campus Ministry has experienced ongoing difficulties in communication and cooperation with these outside organizations.” Both on and off the record, the university seems to have shifted from its original stated reasons for terminating the relationship to an accusation about the affiliated ministries’ lack of cooperation.

InterVarsity has followed Georgetown University policies

As InterVarsity staff serving the Georgetown campus, we believe that we have fulfilled all aspects of the Affiliated Ministries Covenant and the Protestant Community Code of Expectations. In particular:

We have respected the diversity of religious traditions represented at Georgetown.
We have not engaged in proselytism, defined by the covenant as “using coercion or pressure to enlist or influence people.”
We have clearly identified ourselves in all publicity, and have adhered to the policies we received concerning posters and other forms of publicity.
We have had InterVarsity staff presence at all Affiliated Ministries meetings as well as joint Protestant worship services, with the exception of two occasions when we were out of town.
We have made many attempts to collaborate closely with the university’s chaplaincy.
We have encouraged students to attend both Protestant and Catholic worship services and programs on campus.

Communication with Protestant Ministry has been difficult

InterVarsity had a positive relationship with the Office of Campus Ministry at Georgetown for at least a decade prior to 2003-04 when personnel changed in the Protestant Ministry office. Since then there have been many problems in communication and coordination with this office. Over the past two years, members of the Protestant chaplaincy have ignored or rejected our repeated requests to talk about ways that we could work together, and to meet informally to get to know each other as staff and as ministries. We also believe that the Protestant Ministry office has failed to uphold certain parts of the covenant agreement established with the Affiliated Ministries.

Protestant Ministry requested yearly calendars as well as a two-week notice on any requests or other items needing their attention. We complied, but they rarely gave the same courtesy, usually giving well less than two weeks notice of meetings or other communication requiring our response.
Many of our email and phone messages requesting to meet with or addressing questions to the Protestant Program Coordinator were never answered (at least 15 unanswered emails and phone messages over the last two years).
Protestant Ministry seemed overwhelmed with administrative duties and was frequently unable to reserve meeting rooms and audio-visual equipment for student events. We have documented evidence of our timely requests for these resources, which were privileges granted to Affiliated Ministries as part of the Covenant agreement.
A lack of action by Protestant Ministry regarding reserved rooms frequently prevented students from being able to advertise their events on campus, because their delay prevented us from meeting deadlines for approval of flyers.
Although they had a full calendar of InterVarsity events, Protestant chaplains never took the opportunity to attend and become better acquainted with this fellowship and the students involved.
True partnership would have meant giving the various groups involved some degree of ownership. When we offered to help plan and attend a joint ecumenical service, we were rebuffed.
Protestant Ministry never invited us to represent our faith traditions at campus-wide inter-faith dialogue meetings.
Meetings hosted by Protestant Ministry were characterized by unilateral lecturing and condescension, not partnership and dialogue. The very thing Georgetown University says it prizes is what the chaplains failed to achieve or even initiate with Affiliated Ministers.

At a meeting with affiliated ministry staff and students in April 2006, the Protestant chaplains were hostile and accusatory. They would not listen respectfully to our perspectives and those of students involved in these ministries. Undergrad staff spoke with Rev. Wheeler afterward. She complained that we had never come to her office like one of the staff workers who had been here several years before us; we responded that we had never been invited and then we asked if we could come visit. She asked us to email her about getting together; we did. But we received no reply.

What is the current status of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on campus?

The August 21st letter from Protestant Ministry stated that “your ministries will no longer be allowed to hold any activity or presence (i.e. bible studies, retreats with Georgetown students, Mid-week worship services, fellowship events, move-in assistance, SAC Fair, etc.) on campus.”

A subsequent letter from the Director of Campus Ministry dated September 6th asserted that “Campus Ministry’s decision does not restrict the rights of students to participate either on or off campus in the religious organizations of their choice. Students retain the right to invite religious organizations on campus for prayer and fellowship. However, at this time, these formerly affiliated groups do not function under the auspices of Campus Ministry.”

Students have been told that they may use the InterVarsity name, reserve classrooms, and publicize on campus. Although this is helpful in the immediate, it is not the answer that they are looking for, because it marginalizes them in relationship to the university and restricts access to benefits enjoyed by other student groups (such as non-classroom meeting space and recognition on the university website). InterVarsity students and staff have been in dialogue with Campus Ministry in an attempt to resolve the issue, but have received a resounding “no” to the question of re-affiliation.

Students find the university’s characterization of InterVarsity as an “outside ministry” to be odd, given its continuity as a student-led group on this campus for the better part of three decades. GUIVCF has existed as an active community in good relationship with the Protestant Chaplaincy at Georgetown since the 1970’s, and in 1996 it became a student chapter of the national InterVarsity movement.

In addition, InterVarsity does not seem to fit under the umbrella of Protestant Ministry; we have never been exclusively a Protestant group, as we involve students from the Catholic and Orthodox traditions as well as other students seeking to learn more about Jesus Christ.

We want to be treated as any other autonomous student organization, able to hold (social, worship, and service) events, to have a unique voice and engage in dialogue in the greater university community, and to work with Georgetown’s Campus Ministry in seeking greater Christian unity on campus. Georgetown has announced the formation of an advisory committee to review the situation, which will contain a representative of InterVarsity. InterVarsity is requesting temporary reinstatement with access to benefits while the study committee process takes place. We believe this is the first step to restoring fairness to formerly affiliated ministries on the Georgetown University campus.