They share one classroom, a state-of-the-art lounge and a completely unique experience. Despite their small numbers, the 25 first-year students at Georgetown’s new Doha, Qatar campus are working toward building a campus community.
Georgetown is the fifth American university to open its doors in Education City, where all of Doha’s foreign universities are located. Despite the presence of these other universities, Georgetown SFS-Q students are without a solid foundation, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar said.
“One thing to note is the absence of upper-classmen to guide them or lead them,” she said. “Here, you join a group that has already existed, while they are just starting everything.”
“It’s all ‘make it up as you go’,” agreed Hanouf al-Buainain (SFS-Q ‘09).
Al-Buainain, along with 14 other Qatar campus students, visited Washington, D.C. this week to learn more about Georgetown life and culture. Although they are technically Georgetown students, their college experience on and off campus bears little resemblance to the life of a typical Hoya.
Al-Buainain and her fellow students experienced the difficulties of being an inaugural class when they started a campus newspaper.
“Our printer had issues with how we were paying them. We had to print it on regular paper and glue it together,”she said.
Students have also tackled building a student government, writing their own constitution and electing officers, Al Anood al-Thani (SFS-Q ‘09) said. Plans are also in the works for a theater group and, once the school grows large enough, possibly a basketball team.
Gregg Deehan (SFS ‘04) is one of several Georgetown alumni who work on the Qatar campus as teaching assistants and student affairs officers.
“They may not know the basketball team; there is no Healy Lawn here,” Deehan said. “We’re not going to recreate the Hilltop, but we are going to recreate that abstract concept that is Georgetown.”
While the Qatar students may share the abstract concept of Georgetown, they noted major differences between their social lives and the lives of students here.
“There’s no party atmosphere there. It’s a lot like high school; there is no interaction on weekends,” Yancee Hardy (SFS-Q ‘09) said.
Hardy, a former Marine and the only American student on the Qatar campus, also noted that most students, because of Islamic law, do not drink.
Despite difficult relations between the U.S. and Arab countries, Ahmed Helal (SFS-Q ‘09) believes that most Arabs look favorably upon an American education.
Georgetown Qatar needs to focus more on giving back to the greater community, Muhamed Asceric (SFS-Q ‘09), a Bosnian Muslim student, said. Already the school is establishing a community service program, with a trip for students to restore a school in India, and local volunteer projects are in the works.
“There are a lot of things going on here besides clubs,” Asceric said.
