“This school must be great if you have the money. If you don’t, it must be horrible.” Chris Matthews, known for his outbursts, blurted this out not twenty minutes into the live taping of his program Hardball at Georgetown last Wednesday. During a commercial break while the microphone was off, Matthews leaned over to his two panelists and told told them what he really thought.
What’s interesting is that Matthews felt bold enough to make his rash assessment in such a short time. Matthews came to Georgetown on his Hardball College Tour, during which he has visited campuses across the nation, and this is what he had to say about us. Perhaps he was influenced by Gaston Hall, which he said was “the most beautiful room I’ve ever been in my life.” Or maybe it was the actions of students or the University representatives who greeted him that hinted at an air of class discrepancy. Perhaps we were just wearing too many items of name-brand clothing.
Is Matthews right? Should we even care if his representation was true or false? Those questions are important to us but perhaps we should first consider the rarity of outside critique on our campus.
Our obsession with our ranking is strange when we realize just how self-focused we are. Our own leader, University President John J. DeGioia (rhymes with Hoya) has never left the hilltop. He’s seen Georgetown from every possible angle—except a very important one, the outside. Like Matthews DeGioia, has been around. But even his diverse experiences in higher education have taken place within the walls of Georgetown. It’s nice to have a leader who bleeds Hoya Blue. It’s also nice to have a leader who can make an institution the best he can by incorporating a new vision, rather than one that has been in place for decades.
Members of the Georgetown community have made several attempts to improve Georgetown. The Third Century campaign, which draws to a close this spring, aims to raise $1 billion in order to bolster our meager endowment. This fall’s first Traditions Day sought to establish a unified vision of Georgetown and its history for all students. But is this an example of the University maintaining the status quo and trying to live up to the images of other Universities, or is it seeking to grow and develop into a unique institution?
According to the Hardball College Tour website they planned to “get outside the Beltway and get the pulse of the nation’s next generation of leaders.” I hope they realize that they only got half of that by coming to Georgetown.
It is a good thing when speakers come in from outside to critique Georgetown; we should bring more of them to campus. Getting speakers who buck the trend is what we should look for. Georgetown could use some criticism; we get enough compliments during parent’s weekend.
“Georgetown Forever” is an admirable goal, but that can’t happen without a hard listen to those who look from the outside in.
