The Progressive Career Fair has been rescheduled for April 11, after being postponed by Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez in February.
The Progressive Career Fair, originally sponsored by GU Pride and Hyas for Choice, was to feature employers such as Amnesty International, Catholics for Free Choice and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Although the career fair had been approved by the Student Activities Commission and a room had been reserved by organizers, administrators voiced their concerns that the fair conflicted with Catholic teachings. Organizers were then asked to postpone the fair the night before it was scheduled to take place until further discussion was held.
GU Pride is a University-recognized organization that receives benefits. Hyas for Choice, on the other hand, is not recognized by the University.
Gonzalez said that he did not find out about the Progressive Career Fair until the afternoon before the day it was scheduled. “I didn’t know who was invited and what organizations were coming,”he said.
“I feel good about the postponement because I felt we needed to clarify the issues. I was committed to helping students understand University policy so that they could have another event prior to finals and the end of the school year,” Gonzalez said.
Since he made the decision on Feb. 21, Gonzalez said that he asked the MBNA Career Center to research what the policies of other Jesuit and Catholic schools are in dealing with student-run career fairs.
Other Jesuit schools do not allow organizations counter to Catholic teachings to present on their campuses, Gonzalez said.
“Other universities really do control all career functions on a campus,” he said.
The reason why the Progressive Career Fair is allowed to take place at Georgetown is because student organizations are protected by the University’s speech and expression policy, according to Gonzalez.
“For MBNA Career Center events, we do not allow organizations that are historically counter to Church teachings,” Gonzalez said. “We do not extend invitations to organizations that are against Catholic teachings, but we also have a speech and expression policy that is very liberal and enables organizations to have different views and expressions.”
According to the University’s Speech and Expression policy, “[a]n individual member or group of members of the academic community may invite any person to address the community.”
The Speech and Expression Committee, composed of four faculty members and four undergraduate students, reviewed Gonzalez’ decision and made recommendations on how the situation should be handled.
Gonzalez acknowledged that the committee’s recommendations affected his decision to allow the career fair to be rescheduled.
“The Speech and Expression Committee was influential, and I did listen to them,” he said.
According to Gonzalez, he advised the students involved in organizing the career fair to work with the MBNA Career Center during their preparation process.
“I recommended to the students to coordinate with the Career Center to avoid misunderstandings,” Gonzalez said.
He emphasized to students that they must clarify to employers that the invitations to the career fair are not from the University, but by student organizations. Publicity of the career fair must also state that the event is not University-sponsored, Gonzalez said.
After the decision to postpone the fair, various student groups joined Hyas for Choice and GU Pride in protesting Gonzalez’ decision.
The Georgetown University Progressive Coalition, a group composed of members such as College Democrats and Georgetown Solidarity Committee, signed on to co-sponsor the fair. Other clubs such as the Jewish Student Association, the Vietnamese Student Association and the Young Arab Leaders Alliance offered support as well.
Acccording to GSC Board Member Mike Wilson (CAS ‘05), the original organizers decided to write a letter to Gonzalez, Provost Dorothy Brown and University President John J. DeGioia, voicing their dissatisfaction with the decision and asking for an apology. The letter was signed by 17 student groups and 43 professors.
“When other student groups heard that the fair had been cancelled, they didn’t agree with the administrators’ decision and expressed that to us. They wanted to send the message that free speech is important on campus,” Hyas for Choice Board Member Kristina Petronko (CAS ‘02) said.
Members of the Progressive Coalition, including representatives from GSC, H*yas for Choice, GU Pride and the College Democrats met the week before Easter break to discuss rescheduling the fair.
“Dr. Gonzalez has no right to cancel such an event which clearly fits within the protections of the University’s speech policies. Everyone wanted to reschedule since the day it was cancelled; that part was obvious,” GSC President Nick Lasowski (CAS ‘03) said.
Petronko and GU Pride Co-President and Voice staff member Joe McFadden met with Gonzalez on Tuesday to discuss rescheduling the fair.
“Gonzalez was supportive of the fair. He stressed that we were allowed to have it due to the University’s free speech policy,” Petronko said.
According to Petronko, Gonzalez said that if the fair was a University-sponsored event, many of the organizations that are coming would not have been invited.
Thirty organizations were invited to the original fair. Between 50 and 60 employers?including Choice USA, NOW Legal Defense and Human Rights Watch? have been invited to the rescheduled fair, said Wilson.
The fair has been rescheduled for April 11, but the location has yet to be determined.
