From Sellinger Lounge to Red Square to the ICC foyer, students move fluidly around much of campus. It feels natural to wander across Village B courtyard, cut onto Healy lawn, then make a beeline for Lauinger.
But there are loose boundaries which even the most na?ve first-year students can sense. Borders are coded into our spaces?sometimes subtle, sometimes direct.
This is not to suggest any sort of anti-student conspiracy. These boundaries are simply ways to demarcate spaces, their attendant institutional cultures and their uses. Some boundaries reflect institutional power, while some simply reflect a desire for privacy. The entire campus is itself a privileged space?to a neighborhood resident unaffiliated with the University, passing through the Healy Gates may be a very awkward experience. Ultimately, the spaces in question are all as familiar and comfortable to some people and groups on campus as New South is to the average student. Similarly, the occupants of these spaces might feel the same subconscious boundaries when first exploring centers of student culture such as Vittles, Darnall or Hoyas on Thursday nights.
Here is a look at some of those spaces.
The President’s Office and Riggs Library
The Romanesque-style Healy Hall was built 1879 by Smithmeyer & Pelz, who also designed the Library of Congress. The President’s office, located on the second floor of the building’s northern end, is prodigious in both size and decor, and boasts a large and historic conferencing and dining space. This isn’t your middle school principal’s office?most Georgetown students will never see the insides of this room.
Riggs Library, a Victorian-style room on the fourth floor of Healy, was the main University library until Lauinger was constructed in 1970. Riggs was restored in 1982 and again in 1990, and is one of the few remaining cast-iron libraries in the country. According to Assistant Director of Events and Protocol Christine Glunz, foot traffic in Riggs is limited because the space is so fragile. The library is occasionally used for important gatherings and ceremonies.
The Jesuit Residence
The Jesuit residence is made up of Mulledy, Ryan and Gervase Halls. Mulledy and Gervase date back to the 1830s. Ryan was build in 1904 on the site of Old South. The buildings’ histories are marked by a series of fires, reconstructions and the slow encroachment of the Jesuits. Old South housed the 69th New York City Regiment during the Civil War and was a hospital for the Second Battle of Manassas.
Of the 70 Georgetown Jesuits, 58 live in the residence; the rest live in student residences. As Jesuits’ ages range from 39 to 99, the residence includes an assisted-living facility, explained Father McDermott, the rector.
Why is it privileged? It’s their home. The residence’s many doors are locked, and a receptionist sits at the main entrance off Dahlgren Quad. But students are frequent visitors, especially to the dining room, for some of the reportedly excellent food.
CCAS
The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies was founded in 1975. Since then, “It has established itself as the premiere source of information on issues concerning the Arab world,” according to the center’s website. It is the single largest program of its kind in the United States.
In 1995, the center moved into the space it currently occupies on the first and second floors of the ICC. The CCAS includes a receptionist desk, a lounge area, a library, a computer lab, as well as as labyrinthine series of offices and conference areas and is separated from the rest of the ICC by large wooden doors.
Investcorp, which funded the new CCAS space, is a multi-billion dollar investment service providing medium-range investment and asset management for Persian Gulf states. Investcorp mostly invests in projects in the United States and western Europe. The oil company Mobil has also contributed numerous regional artifacts, which are on display in cases in the first floor hallway.
Access to CCAS is symbolically and physically limited by the desk in the entry way, which controls entrance to spaces beyond the lounge. The aesthetic perks of working in the center area offer a sharp contrast to the spaces occupied by lower-profile departments.
The Tunnels
The tunnels are easily one of the biggest sources of rumor and urban legend on campus. As lore has it, the tunnels have been used for everything from a presidential escape route to Steward meeting space. Sadly, they are little more than a network for distributing steam, electricity and water to campus facilities. Most areas are virtually unnavigable.
“Privileged” may not be the right word to describe the tunnels. Assuming the folklore is hearsay, few nexuses of power exist here. And we hear their funding is pretty low. But the hazards, from asbestos-laden pipes to burning hot steam to horse-sized rats and a putrid stench, give it a power all its own.
