View source for History of Georgetown University

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Dahlgren quad in winter.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart|Dahlgren Chapel]] on the campus]]
[[File:Stained glass seal.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Stained glass image of the Georgetown seal used from 1844 to 1977<ref>{{cite web |url= http://traditions.georgetown.edu/seal/ |title= The Georgetown Seal |publisher= [[Georgetown University]] |date= February 18, 2010 |access-date= March 4, 2010 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100609041925/http://traditions.georgetown.edu/seal/ |archive-date= June 9, 2010 }}</ref>|alt=A half dark blue, half light blue circle with the words Collegium Georgiopolitanum 1789 inscribed around the edge in gold with a gold federal eagle in the center holding a cross and a globe in its talons, and a scroll with the motto Utraque Unum in its beak. Sixteen gold stars are arranged around the eagle, and a gold instrument above it.]]
The '''history of Georgetown University''' spans nearly 400 years, from the early European settlement of America to the present day. [[Georgetown University]] has grown with both its city, [[Washington, D.C.]], and the [[United States]], each of which date their founding to the period from 1788 to 1790. Georgetown's origins are in the establishment of the [[Maryland colony]] in the seventeenth century. [[John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore)|Bishop John Carroll]] established the school at its present location by the [[Potomac River]] after the [[American Revolution]] allowed for free religious practice.

The role of the [[Society of Jesus]] in the school's operation has evolved from that of founders and financiers to faculty and advisers. Their focus on liberal studies and [[religious pluralism]] have helped to give the school its identity. Georgetown was also affected by its times, including the [[American Civil War]], which disrupted the growing school and significantly changed its student body. [[Presidents of Georgetown University|University presidents]] like [[Patrick Francis Healy]] modernized the institution into an active research university with several graduate and undergraduate schools, and oversaw the expansion of educational opportunities on campus, around the city, and abroad.

==Founding==
[[File:White Gravenor doorway.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Above the door of White-Gravenor Hall are the dates 1634 and 1789. Further up are five seals, which mark the three prior incarnations of Jesuit schools in Maryland, the year [[John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore)|John Carroll]] attended [[Bohemia Manor High School]] and the present school in Georgetown.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://ajcudigital.org/cdm-alias/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/gtown&CISOPTR=11&REC=5 |title= Main entrance to the White-Gravenor Building at Georgetown University |publisher= [[Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities]] |access-date= March 4, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110724230930/http://ajcudigital.org/cdm-alias/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Fgtown&CISOPTR=11&REC=5 |archive-date= July 24, 2011 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>|alt=An arched stone doorway with five carved seals above it.]]

The history of Georgetown University traces back to two formative events, in 1634 and 1789. Until 1851, the school used 1788, the start of construction on the Old South building, as its founding date. In that year a copy-edit in the college catalog began mislabeling the construction as beginning in 1789. This was discovered in preparation for the centennial celebration in 1889, at which point, rather than correct the annual, the date of Georgetown's foundation was fixed to the date January 23, 1789.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=7}}</ref>

===First establishments===
On November 22, 1633 [[Jesuit]]s [[Andrew White (Missionary)|Andrew White]], [[John Altham Gravenor]], and Thomas Gervase set sail on ''[[The Ark (ship)|The Ark]]'' for [[British America|English America]] under the leadership and financing of the [[Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]], [[Leonard Calvert]].<ref name=nevils>{{harvnb|Nevils|1934|pp=1–25}}</ref> Their landing on March 25, 1634, on [[St. Clement's Island]] marks the birth of the [[History of Maryland#Colonial Maryland|Maryland colony]], this anniversary now celebrated as [[Maryland Day]]. These Jesuits were joined in 1637 by [[Thomas Copley]] and [[Ferdinand Poulton]], and together established a missionary fort next to a series of native dwellings near [[St. Mary's City, Maryland|St. Mary's City]] on land purchased from the local [[Yaocomico]] tribe, which they paid for with hatchets, axes, hoes, and cloth.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/03/22/maryland-colonial-site-discovered/ |title= Archaeologists find earliest colonial site in Maryland after nearly 90-year search |newspaper= The Washington Post |first= Michael E. |last= Ruane |date= March 22, 2021 |access-date= March 22, 2021}}</ref><ref name=ce>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06083b.htm |title= Philip Fisher |first= Edward P. |last= Spillane |year= 1909 |encyclopedia= [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |publisher= Robert Appleton Company |access-date= March 6, 2007}}</ref>

Inquiring about patronage for a school at this site, Poulton wrote to [[Vincenzo Carafa]], the [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]] in Rome under [[Pope Urban VIII]], who on September 15, 1640, approved the institution of a school in principle.<ref>{{harvnb|Burns|1908|p=90}}</ref> That year they moved to a permanent building at Calverton Manor on in the [[Wicomico River (Potomac River)|Wicomico River]]. This early establishment was burnt in 1645 as part of the [[English Civil War]], and the remaining Jesuits were brought to trial by [[the Crown]]. The new Protestant administration had their school outlawed, though it was functioning by 1648, when Thomas Copley managed to return there.<ref name=ce/>

Newtown Manor, also known as "Bretton's Neck", near modern-day [[Leonardtown, Maryland]], become available to the Jesuits in 1677. This house served as the Jesuit schoolhouse until 1704 when its existence was alerted to the colonial authorities. The school afterward conducted itself periodically and in secrecy at the new Jesuit colony of [[St. Francis Xavier Church (Warwick, Maryland)|Bohemia Manor]]. [[John Carroll (bishop)|Bishop John Carroll]] attended this school from 1745 until 1748.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case3.htm |title= The Bohemia Manor Academy |access-date= March 6, 2007}} [http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/bicmain.htm Bicentennial Exhibit]</ref> Carroll then left for studies in Europe. He joined the Jesuits in 1753, and was ordained in 1769, but in 1774 [[Pope Clement XIV]] ordered the suppression of the Jesuit order, forcing Carroll to return to Maryland.<ref name=bulletin/> This put Carroll in the right place at the right time, when the [[American Revolution]] pushed out the British administration, opening up new possibilities for scholastic expansion.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

===Georgetown Heights===
[[File:John Carroll Gilbert Stuart.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[John Carroll (bishop)|Bishop John Carroll]] founded Georgetown University, and was the nation's first Catholic bishop|alt=A painting of an elderly, balding, priest wearing a gray robe and a large cross necklace sits, facing left, in front of a brown curtain and bookshelf.]]
After returning in 1774 to live on the [[Rock Creek Park|Rock Creek]] in Maryland, Carroll established [[St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church (Silver Spring, Maryland)|Saint John the Evangelist Church]], in [[Silver Spring, Maryland]]. In 1776, his cousin, [[Charles Carroll of Carrollton|Charles Carroll]], a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], invited John to join him, [[Samuel Chase]], and [[Benjamin Franklin]] in traveling to [[Quebec]] and attempt to persuade the [[French Canadian]] population to join the revolution. The mission was unsuccessful, but John Carroll's association with Benjamin Franklin proved useful. In 1784, Franklin, as [[United States Ambassador to France|ambassador to France]], recommended Carroll to the papal [[nuncio]] in [[Paris]] as the head of the Catholic Church in America, and on June 9, 1784, Carroll was anointed ''Superior of Missions in the United States of North America''. On November 6, 1789, Carroll's authority was confirmed after being elected by the clergy as the first [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore|Bishop of Baltimore]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.archbalt.org/about-us/the-archdiocese/our-history/people/carroll.cfm |title= Most Rev. John Carroll |publisher= Archdiocese of Baltimore |year= 2004 |access-date= September 7, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111011085051/http://archbalt.org/about-us/the-archdiocese/our-history/people/carroll.cfm |archive-date= October 11, 2011 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>

Beginning in 1783, Carroll convened meetings of area clergy, mostly ex-Jesuits, at [[Sacred Heart Church (Bowie, Maryland)|Sacred Heart Church]] at [[White Marsh Manor]], outside [[Annapolis, Maryland]]. This body, known as the General Chapters, resolved on November 13, 1786, that "a school be erected for the education of youth" and that the location for the school would be in [[Georgetown, Washington, D.C.|Georgetown]].<ref>{{harvnb|Easby-Smith|1907|pp=22–24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacredheartbowie.org/history.php |title=Parish History |website=Sacred Heart Church |access-date=March 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927180801/http://www.sacredheartbowie.org/history.php |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref> The site was influenced by Carroll's experience with Jesuit colleges in Europe, which were located in urban centers.<ref>{{harvnb|Curran|1993|p=20}}</ref> Port towns were used by Jesuits because of their missionary focus. By March 1787, they formed a fund raising committee, and Carroll solicited formal proposals for an "academy, at George-town, Patowmack-River, Maryland."<ref name=timeline/> The [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia's]] borders wouldn't be defined until the passage and implementation of the [[Residence Act]] in 1790.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Residence.html |title= Residence Act |publisher= [[Library of Congress]] |date= January 7, 2010 |access-date= March 8, 2010}}</ref>

===Georgetown Academy===
On April 24, 1787, Georgetown landowner John Threlkeld donated a plot of land to Carroll, which was ultimately where he founded [[Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Washington, D.C.)|Holy Trinity Church]].<ref>{{harvnb|Warner|1994|pp=3–5}}</ref> In April 1788, construction began at a larger neighboring plot on Georgetown's first building, later called "Old South", leading Carroll to write "We shall begin the building of our Academy this summer. On this Academy are built all my hopes of permanency and success of our holy religion in the United States."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://guide.georgetown.edu/slideshows/slides/show11_slide3.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080103023244/http://guide.georgetown.edu/slideshows/slides/show11_slide3.html |archive-date= January 3, 2008 |title= The first University building |access-date = February 26, 2007}}</ref> On January 23, 1789, John Carroll, [[Robert Molyneux]] and [[:Wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/John Ashton|John Ashton]] completed the purchase from Threlkeld and William Deakins, Jr. for "seventy five pounds current money" of the acre and a half on which construction had already started.<ref name=timeline/> This land became the core of Georgetown's campus. As a result, the university celebrates this date as its founding.<ref name=about>{{cite web |url= http://www.georgetown.edu/home/about.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080214115026/http://www.georgetown.edu/home/about.html |archive-date= February 14, 2008 |title= About Georgetown |website= [[Georgetown University]] |year= 2007 |access-date= April 19, 2007}}</ref>

Carroll had difficulty filling the position of [[List of Presidents of Georgetown University|president of the Academy]], with many candidates declining the job before [[Robert Plunkett]] first took the office in 1791, though he only served 18 months. He oversaw the division of the Academy into "[[Georgetown College (Georgetown University)|college]]", "[[Georgetown Preparatory School|preparatory]]", and "elementary", with the youngest starting at age eight. Jean-Edouard de Mondésir became the first teacher in late October 1791, and the first student, [[William Gaston]], was enrolled on November 22, 1791.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case5.htm |title= William Gaston and Georgetown |date= November 11, 2000 |access-date= July 3, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060902195008/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case5.htm |archive-date= September 2, 2006 |url-status= dead }} [http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/bicmain.htm Bicentennial Exhibit]</ref> Classes commenced on January 2, 1792, with around 69 students attending in its first year.<ref>{{harvnb|Curran|1993|pp=33–34, 397}}</ref> Georgetown's second building, [[Old North Building|Old North]], which survives to this day, began construction in 1794. At three times the size of Old South, it greatly increased the number of classrooms and sleeping space on campus.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|pp=13–14}}</ref> Upon the building's completion under President Rev. [[William Matthews (priest)|William Matthews]], [[George Washington]] visited and spoke from the porch, a position since reserved for [[President of the United States|U.S. Presidents]].

==Early growth==
[[File:Leonard Neale.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Leonard Neale|Archbishop Leonard Neale]] overlooking Georgetown College in 1798|alt=A painting of a priest with thin brown hair facing his left in front of a parted curtain that reveals a series of buildings in the background.]]
[[File:Georgetown 1829.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The college as it appeared in 1829, featuring the [[Old North Building|Old North]] and Old South buildings and a handball alley.|alt=A black and white drawing of two colonial style buildings, one two stories, the other three, perched on a hill.]]
In its early years, Georgetown suffered from considerable financial strain, relying on private sources of funding and the limited profits from local plantations had been donated to the Jesuits by wealthy landowners.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=12}}</ref> Some of these included enslaved African-American workers.<ref name=nytslaves>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/georgetown-university-search-for-slave-descendants.html |title= Georgetown Faces Its Role in the Slave Trade and the Task of Making Amends |first= Rachel L. |last= Swarns |date= April 16, 2016 |newspaper= The New York Times |access-date= April 16, 2016}}</ref> By September 1792, tuition had to be increased for the first time.<ref name=timeline/>

In 1796, [[Louis William Valentine DuBourg]] arrived and became president. DuBourg brought with him a collection of books from his own collection and others from [[St. Mary's Seminary and University|St. Mary's Seminary]], the Baltimore [[Society of Saint-Sulpice]], and these books formed the nucleus of Georgetown's library.<ref name=library>{{cite web |url= http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/libhist.htm |title= Special Collections at Georgetown: A Brief History |date= November 11, 2000 |access-date= September 11, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070807104624/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/libhist.htm |archive-date= August 7, 2007 |url-status= dead }} [http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll Georgetown Universities Libraries Special Collections]</ref> On January 1, 1798, DuBourg released the first prospectus to advertise the college abroad, but also drove the school into debt by hiring numerous new faculty, including fencing teachers, and by buying silver and a school piano.<ref name=case5>{{cite web |url= http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case5.htm |title= The Early Years |department= Georgetown University Libraries |date= November 11, 2000 |access-date= October 16, 2009 |archive-date= September 2, 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060902195008/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case5.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref> The first board of directors organized in 1797, and quickly became unhappy about DuBourg's spending and preference for French faculty, particularly during the [[Quasi-War]]. The board forced him to resign in December 1798.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/sulpicia.htm |title= The French Sulpicians |first= George M. |last= Barringer |date= November 11, 2000 |access-date= September 11, 2007 |archive-date= August 7, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070807092930/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/sulpicia.htm |url-status= dead }} [http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll Georgetown Universities Libraries Special Collections]</ref>

Beginning in 1798, [[Leonard Neale]] and his brother [[Francis Neale|Francis]] oversaw the growth of the university as presidents for a combined eleven years. At Carroll's request, Neale was also appointed [[coadjutor bishop]] by [[Pope Pius VI]] in 1800. In 1799 Neale invited three sisters of the [[Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary]] to open a monastery at Georgetown. On June 24, 1799, the young [[Georgetown Visitation Monastery]] under Mother [[Teresa Lalor]] began a Saturday school for young women.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.visi.org/about_visitation/historytraditions.aspx |title= History & Traditions |publisher= [[Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School]] |access-date= May 4, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090304123249/http://www.visi.org/about_visitation/historytraditions.aspx |archive-date= March 4, 2009 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref> This developed into an academy, now [[Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School]], in 1802. Leonard Neale served as president of Georgetown until 1806, when he was succeeded by [[Robert Molyneux]], who died in 1808. Leonard Neale's brother, Francis Neale, became president of Georgetown College in 1809.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10728d.htm |title= Leonard Neale |first= J. Preston W |last= McNeal |year= 1911 |encyclopedia= [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |publisher= Robert Appleton Company |access-date= April 26, 2007}}</ref>

When the [[suppression of the Society of Jesus]] in Maryland ended in 1805, several former Jesuits rejoined, including Leonard Neale. Carroll commenced a series of agreements to ensure Jesuit involvement in the school. Carroll, however, never rejoined the society. In 1806 the school began a [[novitiate]] for Jesuit recruits moving from [[Russia]], which had harbored the society during the suppression.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Gorman|1895|p=281}}</ref>

Carroll did not seek civil recognition for Georgetown after the suppression of the international society ended in 1814. Instead of a state charter, he went to the federal government, then [[District of Columbia home rule|directly in charge]] of the District of Columbia. William Gaston, then a [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]], sponsored the legislation for a [[congressional charter]], which passed the [[13th United States Congress|Thirteenth Congress]]. Georgetown received the first federal [[university charter]] on March 1, 1815, signed into law by President [[James Madison]].<ref name=charter>{{cite web |url= http://guide.georgetown.edu/slideshows/slides/show11_slide5.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080103020623/http://guide.georgetown.edu/slideshows/slides/show11_slide5.html |archive-date= January 3, 2008 |title= The Federal Charter |publisher= [[Georgetown University]] |access-date= March 6, 2007}}</ref> This allowed Georgetown to grant academic degrees, and the college's first two recipients, a pair of brothers from [[New York City]] named Charles and George Dinnies, were awarded the degree of [[Bachelor of Arts]] in 1817.<ref name=charter/> Graduate degrees were first awarded in 1821,<ref name=timeline/> and other Jesuit schools conferred degrees under Georgetown's charter for many years afterward.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=20}}</ref> In 1833, the [[Holy See]] empowered Georgetown to confer degrees in [[philosophy]] and [[theology]].<ref name=p28/>

Founder John Carroll died December 3, 1815, at age 80, and in his will he left Georgetown $400.00, which marked the beginning of Georgetown's endowment.<ref name=library/> In 1830, construction of an infirmary in the new Gervase Building brought the first hospital beds to Georgetown.

In 1838, the Maryland Jesuits [[1838 Jesuit slave sale|sold 272 slaves]] from a Jesuit-owned tobacco plantation in Maryland to a plantation in [[Maringouin, Louisiana]]; a small portion of the funds from that sale were used to repay debts from recent college expansion.<ref name="nytslaves" /><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/georgetown-university-to-rename-two-buildings-that-reflect-schools-ties-to-slavery/2015/11/15/e36edd32-8bb7-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html |title= Georgetown University to rename two buildings that reflect school's ties to slavery |first= Katherine |last= Shaver |date= November 15, 2015 |newspaper= Washington Post |access-date= April 16, 2016}}</ref> Upon completion of the sale, the Maryland Jesuits ended their time as slaveholders.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/schloesser/jesuitmoderns/w01/resources/MURPHY_Jesuit-slave.pdf |first=Thomas |last=Murphy, SJ |title=Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland, 1717–1838 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |page=4 |isbn=978-0815340522 |access-date=2017-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527181734/http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/schloesser/jesuitmoderns/w01/resources/MURPHY_Jesuit-slave.pdf |archive-date=2016-05-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> One of the organizers, a former president of the university, [[Thomas F. Mulledy|Thomas Mulledy]] was later disciplined in Rome by the Society of Jesus for ignoring their order to keep families of slaves intact in any sale.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://wamu.org/news/15/11/17/the_hidden_history_of_slavery_funding_georgetown_university |title= The Hidden History Of How Slavery Funded Georgetown University |first= Michael |last= Pope |date= November 17, 2015 |work= WAMU |access-date= April 16, 2016}}</ref> The slaves were shipped to the Deep South in the [[Slave trade in the United States|domestic slave trade]], sold primarily to two sugar cane plantations.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Swarns|first1=Rachel|title=272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. What Does It Owe Their Descendants?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/georgetown-university-search-for-slave-descendants.html|access-date=April 17, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 17, 2016}}</ref> Some of the money was used to found two Catholic high schools in [[New York City]] and [[Philadelphia]], as the Jesuits believed there was a demand for urban ministry to serve the increasing number of immigrants from Europe, including [[Roman Catholicism in Ireland|Catholics from Ireland]].<ref>[http://georgetownvoice.com/2007/02/08/the-jesuits-slaves/ Kathryn Brand, "The Jesuits' Slaves"], ''The Georgetown Voice,'' 8 February 2007, accessed 25 April 2016</ref>

On June 10, 1844, the growing school was reincorporated by Congress under the name ''[[President and Directors of Georgetown College|The President and Directors of Georgetown College]]''. [[Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory|Georgetown's Observatory]], completed in 1844, was used in 1846 to determine the latitude and longitude of Washington, D.C., which was the first such calculation for the nation's capital.<ref name=p28>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=28}}</ref> In 1849, four Catholic doctors frustrated with what they felt were discriminatory practices at neighboring [[George Washington University|Columbian College]] petitioned Georgetown President James Ryder to found a medical program.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=35}}</ref> A building for this purpose was purchased at 12th and F Streets, and the [[Georgetown University School of Medicine|School of Medicine]] was founded in 1850, holding its first classes the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://som.georgetown.edu/docs/History.pdf |department=[[Georgetown University School of Medicine]] |title=History |date=March 23, 2008 |access-date=March 24, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104031715/http://som.georgetown.edu/docs/History.pdf |archive-date=November 4, 2009 }}</ref>

===Early student life===
[[File:Georgetown University enrollment 1791-1888.png|thumb|upright=1|Graph of student enrollment 1791—1888|alt=A line graph of years from 1791 to 1888 with three subjects, the first in blue representing the Academy and College rises up from 69 in 1791 to 333 at its peak in 1857 followed by sudden drop and leveling around 200. The second, in red, represents the Medical School and begins in 1851 quickly peaking at 127 and then falling again while the third, in yellow, represents the law school which begins in 1871 and steadily rises to 168.]]
From its beginning, Georgetown was not intended to be exclusively Catholic, and over its first ten years, nearly one-fifth of students were Protestant. A fifth of students were also from the [[Caribbean]]. By 1830, [[Jews|Jewish]] students were known to be attending. European immigrants and [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic War]] refugees also made up significant parts of the early student body.<ref name=bulletin/> School rules were harshly enforced. Leonard Neale, a strict moralist, regulated students' movements such that founder John Carrol accused him of running Georgetown "on the principles of a convent."<ref name=case5/> There were three student organized rebellions against the Georgetown administration in the [[antebellum era|antebellum]] period. The most notable of these occurred in January 1850, against the administration of James A. Ryder over the school food. Students damaged the dormitories and took charge of a local hotel.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case6.htm |title= The Academy becomes a College |date= November 11, 2000 |access-date= September 11, 2007 |archive-date= July 20, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080720042429/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case6.htm |url-status= dead }} [http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll Georgetown Universities Libraries Special Collections]</ref>

The first student society, the [[Sodality of Our Lady]], was founded in 1810 as a religious devotional group.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=25}}</ref> A strict revision of school rules in 1829 forbade personal conversations or particular associations.<ref name=case5/> Despite this the [[Philodemic Society]] was founded in 1830 as the school's debating and literary society, the oldest of its kind in America and the oldest secular group at Georgetown. Other debating societies were founded in its model, or in opposition to it in later years, such as the short lived Philisorian Society and the Philonomosian Society, which lasted from 1839 until 1935.<ref name=library/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/archives.htm |title= Georgetown Special Collections: University Archive |date= October 6, 2004 |access-date= September 11, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070808033024/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/archives.htm |archive-date= August 8, 2007 |url-status= dead }} [http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll Georgetown Universities Libraries Special Collections]</ref> The College Cadets were officially organized in 1836, becoming the oldest military unit native to the District of Columbia.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url= http://rotc.georgetown.edu/about/history/ |title= Battalion History |publisher= The HOYA Battalion |date= August 4, 2010 |access-date= December 13, 2010}}</ref> The Dramatic Association of Georgetown College, renamed the [[Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society]] after [[World War I]], was founded in 1852, and is itself the oldest surviving student dramatic society in America.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.thehoya.com/eg/campus/theatre/maskandbauble.cfm |title= Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society |work= [[The Hoya]] |first= Erin |last= Brown |date= Spring 2004 |access-date= 2007-07-19 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040606185853/http://www.thehoya.com/eg/campus/theatre/maskandbauble.cfm |archive-date=2004-06-06 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=24}}</ref> The first [[Christmas tree]] was introduced to campus in December 1857.<ref name=shea190>{{harvnb|Shea|1891|p=190}}</ref>

==Civil War==
[[File:Georgetown 1861.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Union Army]] soldiers across the [[Potomac River]] from Georgetown University in 1861|alt=Eleven soldiers idly lining the shore of a river. On the opposite bank, connected by a bridge, are short buildings along the river and on top of a hill.]]
[[File:DEHerold.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Georgetown student [[David Herold]] at [[Washington Navy Yard]] after his arrest for his role in the [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]|alt=A young man looking sour and facing right. He is dressed in a jacket, bow tie, and wide-brimmed hat, and his shirt is partially unbuttoned.]]
[[American Civil War|The Civil War]] was an important and tragic time for the university. Beginning on December 11, 1859, the [[Philodemic Society]] debated whether or not the southern states should secede. The debate lasted weeks, and after the society affirmed secession, a brawl ensued, and debates were canceled for the rest of 1860.<ref name=goundrey/> Fist fights on campus between northern and southern students soon became common. Beginning in 1861, many students left their studies to join the war. 925 students ultimately enlisted with the [[Confederate Army]] and 216 with the [[Union Army]]; between them 106 died in the war. Enrollment dropped from 313 students in 1859 to only 17 late in 1861.<ref name=bulletin/> By 1862, Georgetown only had 120 total students, about ten percent of what it was just a few years earlier.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06458a.htm |title= Georgetown University |encyclopedia= [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |year= 1909 |publisher= Robert Appleton Company |first= E.I. |last= Devitt |access-date= July 10, 2007}}</ref> Only seven students graduated in 1869, down from over 300 a decade prior.

Responding to lack of adequate hospital beds and housing for soldiers needed to protect the District, the Union commandeered University buildings, and by the time of President [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s May 1861 visit to campus, 1,400 Union Army troops were stationed in temporary quarters there.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=36}}</ref> Of these 1,300 were from the [[69th Infantry Regiment (New York)|69th Infantry Regiment]], which established itself in Maguire Hall from May 4, 1861, to June when the unit was replaced by the [[79th New York Volunteer Infantry]]. The occupation ended in July when the unit left to fight in the [[First Battle of Bull Run]], but the university remained home to soldiers as an infirmary for the remainder of the war.<ref name=goundrey>{{cite web |url= http://www.thehoya.com/features/012304/features2.cfm |title= Georgetown: Fighting for Survival |first= Mary |last= Goundrey |work= [[The Hoya]] |date= January 23, 2004 |access-date= September 6, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224834/http://www.thehoya.com/features/012304/features2.cfm |archive-date= September 26, 2007}}</ref>

Georgetown would later be connected to the [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]. Several of [[John Wilkes Booth]]'s conspirators had associations to Georgetown: [[David Herold]], who accompanied Booth in his escape, attended the school between 1855 and 1858 and received a certificate in pharmacology in 1860, while [[Samuel Arnold (Lincoln conspirator)|Samuel Arnold]], who conspired with Booth to kidnap Lincoln, attended in the mid-1840s, and Dr. [[Samuel Mudd]], who set Booth's broken ankle following the assassination, studied medicine between 1851 and 1854.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=37}}</ref> [[Charles H. Liebermann]], one of the founders of the [[Georgetown University School of Medicine|medical school]], was among the doctors who treated Lincoln the night he died.<ref>{{harvnb|Curran|1993|pp=246–248}}</ref>

The years after the war drastically changed Georgetown College, making it both more northern and more Catholic.<ref name=bulletin/> Increasingly larger percentages of the student body came from northern cities, and were Catholic immigrants or their descendants. Before the war, the student body had been primarily Southern and Protestant.<ref name=timeline/> This dynamic is expressed in Georgetown's official school colors. In 1876, Georgetown College Boat Club, the school's rowing team, adopted colors symbolizing changed times: blue, from the [[uniform of the Union Army]], and gray, from the [[uniforms of the Confederate States military forces]], as their team colors in order to signify the peaceful unity between students from the North and those from the South. Students at [[Georgetown Visitation]] wove the first blue and gray uniforms for the team.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/colors.htm |title= Georgetown Traditions: The Blue & Gray |publisher= HoyaSaxa.com |access-date= April 26, 2007 |date= August 17, 2005}}</ref> Georgetown's motto ''Utraque Unum'', "both into one", though used before the war, helped capture the postwar unity spirit.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://president.georgetown.edu/sections/speeches/53353.html |title= Georgetown College Commencement 2008 |first= John J. |last= DeGioia |department= Georgetown University Office of the President |date= May 17, 2008 |access-date= February 10, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100609064119/http://president.georgetown.edu/sections/speeches/53353.html |archive-date= June 9, 2010 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>

==Expansion==
[[File:Georgetownuniv1874.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The university in 1874]]
[[File:Patrick Francis Healy.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Patrick Francis Healy]] is considered the "second founder" of Georgetown University.|alt=The upper-body of a middle-aged male looking slightly to his right. He wears the black robe and white collar of a Catholic priest]]
[[File:Georgetown Law 1910s.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Georgetown University Law Center|Georgetown Law]] moved to 506 E Street, Northeast in 1891, and the sign from this building is preserved at the law school's current campus on [[Capitol Hill]].|alt=A rectangular, Victorian-style brick building with several trees and three cars from circa 1920 in front]]
In 1874, [[Patrick Francis Healy]] became president of Georgetown University. He is now known as the first African-American president of a predominantly white university, but at the time he was generally taken to be Irish American (his father was from Ireland and he had been educated in largely white institutions, including [[Boston College]] and in France).<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|Wilder|2009|p=229}}</ref> Healy's influence on Georgetown was so far-reaching that he is often referred to as the school's "second founder". He modernized the curriculum by requiring courses in the sciences, particularly chemistry and physics. Healy and his successors sought to bind the professional schools into a university, and concentrate on [[higher education]].<ref name=bulletin/> The most visible result of Healy's presidency was the construction of a large building begun in 1877 and first used in 1881, later named [[Healy Hall]] in his honor.

A [[Georgetown University Law Center|school of law]] was approved by the board of directors in March 1870, and graduated its first students in 1872.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.law.georgetown.edu/tour/history.html |title= A Little History |department= [[Georgetown University Law Center]] |date= October 11, 2007 |access-date= March 5, 2010 |archive-date= June 11, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100611203603/http://www.law.georgetown.edu/tour/history.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 1884 the "Law Department" moved to 6th and F Streets, N.W., not far from the Medical School, and then again in 1891 to 506 E Street, N.W.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.law.georgetown.edu/ccp/notes.html |title= The Law Center's Third and Fourth Home |department= [[Georgetown University Law Center]] |date= June 17, 2003 |first= Wally |last= Mlyniec |access-date= March 5, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070703113625/http://www.law.georgetown.edu/ccp/notes.html |archive-date= July 3, 2007 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref> In 1870, Georgetown raised the raise the minimum age of enrollment at [[Georgetown Preparatory School]] from eight to twelve. This was raised again in 1894 to thirteen. As part of the focus on higher education, Georgetown Preparatory School relocated from campus in 1919 to nearby [[North Bethesda, Maryland]]. It fully separated from the university in 1927.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://contentdm.lndlibrary.org/u?/gtown,13 |title=Third Grammar Class, Second Section, on the steps of Healy Hall at Georgetown University |access-date=September 6, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928142211/http://contentdm.lndlibrary.org/u?%2Fgtown%2C13 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }} [http://www.lndlibrary.org/ Loyola Notre Dame Library]</ref> [[Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School]] has remained attached to the university campus, and while independently run, the two occasionally share facilities.

Numerous new schools were founded during the twentieth century. The [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service|School of Foreign Service]] (SFS) was founded in 1919 by [[Edmund A. Walsh]] to prepare students for leadership in foreign commerce and diplomacy.<ref name= bulletin/> Its creation was inspired by the French ''[[grande école]]'' [[Sciences Po]].<ref name=":72">{{Cite book |last1=Vincent |first1=Gérard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDNYDwAAQBAJ |title=Sciences po: Histoire d'une réussite |last2=Dethomas |first2=Anne-Marie |date=1987 |isbn=978-2-259-26077-0 |pages=200 |language=fr |trans-title=Sciences Po: Story of Success |access-date=June 21, 2023 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Following World War I, the U.S. Army created the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)]] and the Georgetown Corps of Cadets was reorganized into the Hoya Battalion.<ref name=":0" /> The Institute of Languages and Linguistics (ILL - later renamed School of Languages and Linguistics - SLL) was organized in 1949<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/554711|title=Leon Dostert, Director of Georgetown University's Institute of Languages and Linguistics|website=repository.library.georgetown.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-22}}</ref> and the School of Business was created out of the SFS in 1957.{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} New developments also came to [[Georgetown University School of Medicine|School of Medicine]]. In 1898, [[Georgetown University Hospital]] was first established on campus. Georgetown obtained the Washington Dental College in 1901, and integrated it with the medical school.<ref name=bulletin>{{cite web|url=http://www12.georgetown.edu/undergrad/bulletin/guhistory.html |title=Georgetown: A Brief History |first=Robert Emmett |last=Curran |publisher=Georgetown University |date=July 7, 2007 |access-date=September 6, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524191008/http://www12.georgetown.edu/undergrad/bulletin/guhistory.html |archive-date=May 24, 2007 }} [http://www12.georgetown.edu/undergrad/bulletin/index.html Undergraduate Bulletin]</ref> In 1903, Georgetown University began an undergraduate medical program with the [[School of Nursing and Health Studies|School of Nursing]]. A new Medical-Dental Building on Reservoir Road was completed in 1930 and classes then moved to the main campus. In 1951 the [[Georgetown University School of Dentistry|School of Dentistry]] separated from the School of Medicine as an independent unit of Georgetown University.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://alumni.georgetown.edu/default.aspx?Page=DentalHistory2 |title= Dental History Page 2 |publisher= Georgetown University Alumni Association |access-date= September 6, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100613213004/https://alumni.georgetown.edu/default.aspx?Page=DentalHistory2 |archive-date= June 13, 2010 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>

On October 4, 1966, Congress passed a bill that recognized the school's name as "Georgetown University" for the first time.<ref name=timeline>{{cite web |url= http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/timeline.htm |title= A Georgetown time-line |date= November 11, 2000 |access-date= September 6, 2007 |archive-date= August 7, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070807040129/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/timeline.htm |url-status= dead }} [http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll Georgetown University Libraries Special Collections]</ref> The 1844 bill in effect until then had referred only to "Georgetown College", which at that point was known as the [[Georgetown College (Georgetown University)|College of Arts and Sciences]] and was just one branch of the university. In 1970 [[Lauinger Library]] was also completed, bringing space for a rapidly growing library collection.<ref name=library/> In 1971, following the completion of the Bernard P. McDonough Hall, the law school moved to its present location at 1st and F Streets at 600 New Jersey Avenue.

==Across borders==
[[File:Ronald Reagan with John Thompson, Patrick Ewing (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1|Basketball coach [[John Thompson (basketball)|John Thompson]] and [[Patrick Ewing]] meet [[Ronald Reagan]] after winning the [[1984 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|1984 NCAA national basketball championship]].|alt=Two tall African-American men, one in a suit, one in a gray basketball uniform, stand behind a shorter elderly white male in an ornate room, with each man holding a basketball.]]
The 1950s and 60s saw major changes in administration as well as in the student body.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://guide.thehoya.com/node/61 |title= In an Age of Protest, A Changing Georgetown Found Its Niche |work= [[The Hoya]] |first= Marissa |last= Amendolia |date= February 19, 2009 |access-date= February 19, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090916073009/http://guide.thehoya.com/node/61 |archive-date= September 16, 2009 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref> Female students have been admitted to the School of Medicine since 1880, to the School of Nursing since its founding, to the [[Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences|Graduate School]] since 1943,<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|pp=91}}</ref> and to the School of Foreign Service since 1944.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.georgetown.edu/about/history/ | title=History | access-date= August 6, 2013 |publisher= Georgetown University |year= 2013}}</ref> While most of the university was made available to women on a limited basis by 1952, it wasn't until the College of Arts and Sciences welcomed its first female students in the 1969–1970 [[academic year]] that Georgetown became fully [[coeducation]]al.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://guide.georgetown.edu/slideshows/slides/show11_slide17.html |title= Georgetown University history: Co-Ed |access-date= July 17, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080103023223/http://guide.georgetown.edu/slideshows/slides/show11_slide17.html |archive-date= January 3, 2008 }} [http://www.georgetown.edu/home/about.html About Georgetown] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214115026/http://www.georgetown.edu/home/about.html |date=2008-02-14 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/areen-outlines-womens-role/ |title= Areen Outlines Women's Role |date= April 1, 2003 |access-date= July 17, 2007 |work= [[The Hoya]] |first= Nick |last= Timiraos}}</ref>

President [[Lawrence C. Gorman]] phased out [[racial segregation]], with Samuel Halsey Jr. becoming the first Black undergraduate in 1950.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/first-black-undergraduate-dies/ |title= First Black Undergraduate Dies |work= [[The Hoya]] |first= Elizabeth |last= Garbitelli |date= March 16, 2012 |access-date= March 20, 2012}}</ref> The Black Student Alliance was formed in 1968, and in 1969 Georgetown named the first Black member of the board of directors since [[Patrick Francis Healy]].<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|pp=109}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/145097292.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jul+25%2C+1970&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post%2C+Times+Herald++%281959-1973%29&edition=&startpage=B4&desc=3+Named+to+Board+of+Georgetown+U. |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110604170058/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/145097292.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jul+25,+1970&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post,+Times+Herald++(1959-1973)&edition=&startpage=B4&desc=3+Named+to+Board+of+Georgetown+U. |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 4, 2011 |title= 3 Named to Board of Georgetown U. |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |date= July 25, 1970 |access-date= March 9, 2010}}</ref>

Freshmen hazing rituals, long tolerated by the administration, were banned in 1962 after one student brought suit against the school for injuries he sustained.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|pp=101, 104}}</ref>

Modern Georgetown is largely a product of substantial changes during the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/80th/news8.htm |title= Today's Georgetown Takes Shape |date= January 21, 2000 |access-date= July 18, 2007 |first= Ian A. |last= Palko |work= [[The Hoya]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070926225211/http://www.thehoya.com/news/80th/news8.htm |archive-date= September 26, 2007}}</ref> In 1982, the School of Foreign Service moved into its new home in the [[Edward B. Bunn S.J. Intercultural Center]].<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|pp=122}}</ref> The [[1984 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament]] championship by [[Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball|Georgetown's men's basketball team]] helped make Georgetown University a household name with stars such as [[Patrick Ewing]] and [[Dikembe Mutombo]] under Coach [[John Thompson (basketball)|John Thompson]]. Georgetown ended its bicentennial year of 1989 by electing [[Leo J. O'Donovan]] as president. He subsequently launched the Third Century Campaign to build the school's endowment.<ref name="degioia">{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/degioia-named-next-gu-president-2/ |title= DeGioia Named Next GU President |first= Tim |last= Sullivan |work= [[The Hoya]] |date= February 16, 2001 |access-date= July 17, 2007 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In December 2003, Georgetown completed the campaign, joining twenty other universities worldwide to raise at least {{nowrap|$1 billion}} in a single fund drive. The campaign supported financial aid, academic chair endowment, and new capital projects.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/georgetown-finishes-1-billion-campaign/ |title= Georgetown Finishes $1 Billion Campaign |first= Nick |last= Timiraos |work= [[The Hoya]] |date= January 16, 2004 |access-date= March 5, 2010}}</ref>

In 1987, the university decided to close the School of Dentistry following the class of 1990 for financial reasons, as the number of dental students dropped nationwide.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=81}}</ref> Supplies and equipment from the school were sent to [[Pontifical Xavierian University]] in [[Bogotá]], Colombia.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://alumni.georgetown.edu/default.aspx?Page=DentalHistory4 |title= Dental History Page 4 |access-date= September 6, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100613213544/https://alumni.georgetown.edu/default.aspx?Page=DentalHistory4 |archive-date= June 13, 2010 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }} [http://alumni.georgetown.edu/ Georgetown University Alumni Association]</ref> In 1994, the School of Languages and Linguistics was folded into [[Georgetown College (Georgetown University)|the college]], and is now the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. On October 7, 1998, the School of Business was renamed the [[McDonough School of Business]] in honor of alumnus Robert Emmett McDonough and in 2009, it moved into the newly constructed Rafik B. Hariri Building.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/gsb-takes-new-name/ |title= GSB Takes New Name |work= [[The Hoya]] |first= Emily |last= Lyons |date= October 9, 1998 |access-date= October 26, 2009}}</ref> In 1999 the School of Nursing added three other health related majors and appended its name to become the [[School of Nursing and Health Studies]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=2938 |title= Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies Appoints New Director of Development |date= July 30, 2003 |access-date= April 26, 2007 |first= Lindsey |last= Spindle |publisher= Georgetown University |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070321040441/http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=2938 |archive-date= March 21, 2007 }} [http://gumc.georgetown.edu/communications Office of Communications]</ref>

[[File:John J. DeGioia at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda 2008.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[John J. DeGioia]], Georgetown's first lay president, made intercultural dialogue an active focus.|alt=A balding white male seated behind a microphone wearing a typical suit and red tie. Behind him is a white wall with logos for the World Economic Forum.]]
[[John J. DeGioia]], Georgetown's first lay president, led the school from 2001 to 2024. DeGioia continued its financial modernization and sought to "expand opportunities for intercultural and interreligious dialogue."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://president.georgetown.edu/sections/biography/ |title=Biography |date=February 2005 |publisher=Georgetown University |access-date=October 26, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210185537/http://president.georgetown.edu/sections/biography/ |archive-date=February 10, 2009 }} [http://president.georgetown.edu/ Office of the President]</ref> In October 2002, Georgetown University began studying the feasibility of opening a campus of the [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service]] in [[Qatar]], when the non-profit [[Qatar Foundation]] first proposed the idea. The [[Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar|School of Foreign Service in Qatar]] opened in 2005 along with four other U.S. universities in the [[Education City, Qatar|Education City]] development. That same year, Georgetown began hosting a two-week workshop at [[Fudan University]]'s School of International Relations and Public Affairs in [[Shanghai]], China. This later developed into a more formal connection when Georgetown opened a liaison office at Fudan on January 12, 2008, to further collaboration.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/georgetown-opens-liaison-office-at-fudan-university/ |title= Georgetown Opens Liaison Office at Fudan University |first1= Connie |last1= Parham |first2= Yoshi |last2= Myers |date= January 18, 2008 |access-date= March 9, 2010 |work= [[The Hoya]]}}</ref>

DeGioia also founded the annual Building Bridges Seminar in 2001, which brings global religious leaders together, and is part Georgetown's effort to promote religious pluralism.<ref name=ir/> In 1974, [[Woodstock College]] was refounded as the [[Woodstock Theological Center]] on Georgetown's campus. The [[Center for Contemporary Arab Studies]] was opened on September 3, 1975, with grants from [[Oman]], the [[United Arab Emirates]], [[Egypt]], and [[Mobil Oil]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tillman|1994|pp=61–62}}</ref> In 1993 the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding was opened and after a $20 million grant from [[House of Saud|Saudi Prince]] [[Al-Waleed bin Talal]] in 2005, the center was renamed the "[[Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding]]".<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/news/saudi-prince-gives-gu-20m/ |title= Saudi Prince Gives GU $20M |first= Steve |last= Rafferty |date= 2006-01-13 |work= [[The Hoya]] |access-date= 2007-07-21}}</ref> The [[Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs]] was begun as an initiative in 2004, and after a grant from William R. Berkley, was launched as an independent organization in 2006.<ref name=ir>{{cite web |url= http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/?DocumentID=12052 |title= Georgetown Advancing Interreligious Understanding |work= [[Georgetown University]] |access-date= March 10, 2010 |date= April 2, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100611024040/http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/?DocumentID=12052 |archive-date= June 11, 2010 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref> Additionally, The [[Center for International and Regional Studies]] opened in 2005 at the new Qatar campus.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=April2006&file=Local_News2006041324119.xml |title=Georgetown University marks inauguration of Qatar campus |work=[[The Peninsula (newspaper)|The Peninsula]] |date=April 13, 2006 |access-date=March 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312033524/http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=local_news&subsection=Qatar%2BNews&month=April2006&file=Local_News2006041324119.xml |archive-date=March 12, 2007 }}</ref>

==Fictional depictions==
[[File:Exorcist Stairs.jpg|thumb|upright|The "[[Exorcist steps]]", featured in [[William Peter Blatty]]'s film ''[[The Exorcist (film)|The Exorcist]]'', are located close to campus.|alt=A long steep staircase with a stone wall on the left and a painted red brick wall on the right.]]
Georgetown, as a major world university, has been featured in many media over the years. The most prominent example is the 1971 [[horror novel]], ''[[The Exorcist (novel)|The Exorcist]]'', written by [[William Peter Blatty]], who received an English degree from Georgetown in 1950. The novel is loosely based on a series of 1949 exorcisms conducted on a fourteen-year-old boy at [[Georgetown University Hospital]], nearby [[Maryland]], and in [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. In 1973, Blatty's bestselling novel was made into a film, also titled ''[[The Exorcist (film)|The Exorcist]]''. Like the novel, the film was set at Georgetown and filmed on campus during the fall semester in 1972.<ref>{{harvnb|O'Neill|Williams|2003|p=119}}</ref> The climactic scene uses a steep staircase between Prospect Street and Canal Road, previously know popularly as the "Hitchcock Steps" for their spooky appeal. However, since the film's release they have been called the "[[Exorcist steps]]".<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/profile/exorcist-steps,1146528/critic-review.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121108230900/http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/profile/exorcist-steps,1146528/critic-review.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= November 8, 2012 |title= Exorcist steps |newspaper= [[Washington Post]] |first= Ellen |last= McCarthy |date= January 25, 2008 |access-date= October 16, 2009}}</ref>

The 1985 "[[Brat Pack (actors)|Brat Pack]]" film ''[[St. Elmo's Fire (film)|St. Elmo's Fire]]'' also revolved around a group of students who had just graduated from Georgetown. The bar that much of the film takes place in is based on The Tombs, a bar and restaurant known for its large student clientele and rowing decòr, located one block from Georgetown's front gates in a historic university owned house.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/the-tombs,792063/critic-review.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120917115518/http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/the-tombs,792063/critic-review.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= September 17, 2012 |title= The Tombs |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |first= Erin |last= Hartigan |access-date= October 16, 2009 |year= 2009}}</ref> Georgetown denied the producers the rights to film on campus, so parts of the film were shot at the nearby [[University of Maryland, College Park]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.lib.umd.edu/univarchives/macmil/letm.html |title= MAC to Millennium |work= [[University of Maryland]] Archives |date= November 24, 2008 |access-date= October 16, 2009}}</ref> Additionally, Georgetown University has been a destination for characters in films such as ''[[Above the Rim]]'', ''[[Save the Last Dance]]'', ''[[Election (1999 film)|Election]]'', and ''[[The Girl Next Door (2004 film)|The Girl Next Door]]'', as well as television shows such as ''[[The Sopranos]]'' and ''[[The West Wing]]'', which also filmed scenes on campus.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2008/03/13/thats-so-not-georgetown-college-road-trip/ |first= Vivian |last= Chen |date= March 13, 2008 |work= [[The Georgetown Voice]] |title= That's so not Georgetown: College Road Trip |access-date= October 16, 2009}}</ref> The film ''[[Memento (film)|Memento]]'' was written by [[Jonathan Nolan]], a Georgetown alumnus, and the main character's nemesis, John G., is said to be named after John Glavin, a full professor of Victorian literature and screenwriting in Georgetown's Department of English.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2002/02/07/i-memento-i-writer-visits-campus/ |date= February 7, 2002 |title= Memento writer visits campus |first= J. Scott |last= Matthews |work= [[The Georgetown Voice]] |access-date= July 5, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/meet-the-tough-professor-who-inspired-jonathan-nolan-and-john-mulaney/2017/11/30/5f94d35c-be52-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html |title= Meet the tough professor who inspired Jonathan Nolan and John Mulaney |newspaper= The Washington Post |first= Ryan |last= Bacic |date= December 3, 2017 |access-date= May 16, 2018}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Georgetown Preparatory School]]
* [[History of Washington, D.C.]]
*[[List of presidents of Georgetown University]]
* [[List of Georgetown University alumni]]
*[[1838 Jesuit slave sale]]

==References==
{{clear}}
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |first= James Aloysius |last= Burns |title= The Catholic School System in the United States |year= 1908 |publisher= [[Benziger Brothers]] |location= New York |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QQUCAAAAYAAJ}}
*{{cite book |first1= Cynthia Jacobs |last1= Carter |first2= L. Douglas |last2= Wilder |author-link2= Douglas Wilder |title= Freedom in My Heart |publisher= [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] |year= 2009 |isbn= 978-1-4262-0127-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Oc2HX7f5GL8C}}
*{{cite book |title= The Bicentennial History of Georgetown University |first= Robert Emmett |last= Curran |publisher= [[Georgetown University Press]] |location= Washington, D.C. |year= 1993 |isbn= 0-87840-485-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wTnIE1HixpYC}}
*{{cite book |title= Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, Its Founders, Benefactors, Officers, Instructors and Alumni |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DxUUAAAAIAAJ |first= James Stanislaus |last= Easby-Smith |year= 1907 |publisher= Lewis Publishing Company |location= New York |isbn= 1-150-14481-5 }}
*{{cite book|first=William Coleman|last=Nevils|title=Miniatures of Georgetown: Tercentennial Causeries|year=1934|publisher=[[Georgetown University Press]]|location=Washington, D.C. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=T9hKAAAAYAAJ |oclc=8224468}}
*{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=61GjrFgAqC4C |title= A History of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States |first= Thomas |last= O'Gorman |year= 1895 |publisher= Christian Literature Co |location= New York |isbn=1-150-14481-5}}
*{{cite book |last1= O'Neill |first1= Paul R. |first2= Paul K. |last2= Williams |title= Georgetown University |publisher = [[Arcadia Publishing]] |year= 2003 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=peQeOeO39JMC |location= Charleston, SC |isbn= 0-7385-1509-4}}
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdRAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA178|title=Memorial of the First Century of Georgetown College, D. C.: Comprising a History of Georgetown University|last=Shea|first=John Gilmary|publisher=[[Peter Fenelon Collier|P. F. Collier]]|year=1891|volume=3|location=New York|pages=178–196, 214–234|oclc=612832863|author-link=John Gilmary Shea|access-date=February 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128052138/https://books.google.com/books?id=YdRAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA178|archive-date=November 28, 2018|url-status=live|via=[[Google Books]]}}
*{{cite book |last= Tillman |first= Seth P. |title= Georgetown's School of Foreign Service: The First 75 Years |year= 1994 |publisher= [[Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service]] |location= Washington, D.C. |oclc= 32749296 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=URq5AAAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book |title= At peace with all their neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the national capital, 1787-1860 |first= William W. |last= Warner |author-link= William W. Warner |publisher= [[Georgetown University Press]] |year= 1994 |isbn= 0-87840-557-7 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=La5qFU947j4C |location= Washington, D.C.}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.georgetown.edu Georgetown University homepage]
*[http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/gtownhistory.htm Georgetown University Libraries Special Collection on Georgetown History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614194256/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/gtownhistory.htm |date=2010-06-14 }}

{{Georgetown University}}

{{good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Georgetown University}}
[[Category:Georgetown University]]
[[Category:History of colleges and universities in Washington, D.C.|Georgetown University]]