Members of the Living Wage Coalition are demanding an apology from Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety after an encounter between a group of student protestors and a DPS officer outside Healy Hall on Friday.
The group marched on Healy following their protest in Red Square against University policies toward its subcontracted workers and to demand a living wage policy.
The Living Wage Coalition was created this semester to unite students and faculty from different organizations across campus.
“Georgetown Solidarity has been working on the living wage campaign since 2001, but it got too big for just one group,” Ginny Leavell (CAS ‘05), a member of the Coalition, said.
According to Leavell, the altercation occurred outside the main entrance of Healy Hall, where they had intended to post a list of their demands.
“A DPS officer was standing in front of the door and refused to allow us to post our demands on the door,” she said. “When we suggested that we peacefully enter the building to present the list to President DeGioia, he said he would not allow entry to a group of demonstrators.
“It was ridiculous, since DPS cannot stop individual students from entering school buildings.”
After being denied entry to Healy, students entered the building through an unguarded door and delivered copies of their demands to DeGioia’s office, despite the earlier disagreement.
Assistant Director for DPS Doris Bey defended the officer’s actions.
“The officers have certain regulations that they must follow in situations involving demonstrators, and they acted accordingly,” she said. “We try to ensure the rights of the student protestors and the rights of members of the university community in the building.”
According to Rachel Murray (SFS ‘07), the Coalition’s spokesperson, members of the Living Wage Coalition sent their complaints to the Center for Student Programs, which redirected them to DPS Director Darryl Harrison.
“The administration has been very apologetic, and DPS has agreed to apologize to the students, although will not do so publicly, as well as review their policies in this case,” Murray said. “We’ve looked over the policy; there’s nothing there that says they can do that.”
