CALL FOR IDEAS: Deadline March 24, 2015

“It is Not Enough to Refrain from Injustice”

Georgetown University

Theme

In the wake of national events and conversations, President DeGioia noted in his December 10, 2014 email to the Georgetown University community that we as a society are wrestling with a “persistent legacy of segregation, discrimination, inequality: of injustice.” He added, quoting Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., that “to be just, it is not enough to refrain from injustice” and subsequently called for the community to “engage in the work of rebuilding the commonweal.” President DeGioia has asked us “to identify concrete projects through which, together, we can build for the common good—projects that will enable us to rebuild trust in one another and to justify belief in the principles on which our American democracy was founded.” At the 2015 Doyle Engaging Difference Symposium, we will hold a conversation about student ideas that take up this challenge.

Call for Ideas

We are calling for student ideas about projects, events, and transformative initiatives that might contribute to “rebuilding the commonweal.” Submissions might address ideas about some of the following:

• Concretely, how ought Georgetown University or its particular constituencies respond to President DeGioia’s call? What projects should we create or modify?
• How does Georgetown’s identity as a Jesuit, Catholic university in the liberal arts tradition inform our responses?
• How does our history, economic and social organization, or overall position and privilege intersect with the “persistent legacy of injustice” we now face as a society?
• What options and obligations do students have? In what ways are we and can we be more than passive inheritors of a legacy of injustice?
• What more can Georgetown do as an elite university to further democratic principles and social justice in our 21st century society and global community?
• Theoretically, what criteria exist to determine the ethical validity and impact of potential new “projects”?
• What role can Georgetown University play in a broader DC community conversation around these issues?

Process

All submissions should include a narrative of 4-6 pages that incorporates research and/or evidence to support the proposal and the theme of “engaging difference” as a successful tool to address injustice on campus and/or in the community. In addition, participants are welcome to include video, multimedia, or digital materials in support of the proposal. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to DoyleProgram@georgetown.edu no later than March 24, 2015. All submissions will be reviewed by a committee of Georgetown alumni, faculty, and staff who will select the most promising ideas. The authors of these selected works will be offered an award of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), or $100 (third place) and invited to address this year’s Doyle Symposium on April 10, 2015 at Georgetown University.

About the Doyle Engaging Difference Symposium

The annual Doyle Symposium is part of the university-wide Doyle Engaging Difference Program which encourages Georgetown students and faculty to consider the value of difference and to engage it through enhanced learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. This program is a campus-wide collaboration between the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) and Georgetown College. To learn more, please visit doyle.georgetown.edu.