Jane McAuliffe, the Dean of Georgetown College, deserves congratulations on her imminent ascension to the presidency of Bryn Mawr College. While Georgetown will be less without her, we should be mindful of the opportunity we have in filling her shoes: a new dean is a chance for new ideas, new energy and another step forward for the University. And, though it ought to go without saying, students need to be involved in the process of selecting McAuliffe’s successor.
The new dean of Georgetown College will be chosen by a search committee led by Provost James O’Donnell. If Georgetown has learned one lesson from several recent behind-the-scenes policy changes, it should be that the committee must include student representation. Students are University stakeholders too, and deserve to be treated as such.
Dean McAuliffe’s accomplishments were numerous: creating the first year advising system and seminars, expanding the curriculum to include new majors and minors, fundraising for the Performing Arts Center, working on inter-religious dialogue and starting work on a new Science Center.
She also made herself regularly available to students at dinners hosted in her home. But, as with most people, her true test occurred during the only blight on her record.
In 2003, McAuliffe suggested that Cardinal Francis Arinze, an influential Nigerian prelate and, like McAuliffe herself, an expert in Muslim-Christian relations, speak at the College’s commencement ceremony. Cardinal Arinze shocked many students by including attacks on homosexuality and divorce in his otherwise uneventful speech. In the wake of the controversy, McAuliffe commendably met with students and professors, and sent a campus-wide letter affirming Georgetown’s commitment to diversity.
Our new dean must be, like McAuliffe, unafraid to engage with the University community and work hand-in-hand with students to improve the college experience. The new dean must be committed to improving advising, registration and campus facilities (especially for the sciences), as well as respecting the school’s Jesuit identity. Can a dynamic candidate, with the necessary academic credentials, be found on our campus? Perhaps not, though Assistant Provost Randall Bass comes to mind. Wherever the new dean hails from, though, student voices are vital to selecting someone who will influence Georgetown years to come.
