Jesuit spirituality, social justice priorities for Georgetown's lay president

National Catholic Reporter, July 30, 2004 by Thomas C. Fox

By nature, DeGioia, 47, is warm and informal, characteristics that appear to clash with the stately walnut wood-paneled president's office on the second floor of the Healy building overlooking the front entrance to the campus. He has an irrepressible grin that seems to say he's got something on his mind he can hardly contain to himself. Some say he's a modest and shy man. Others say he is always open to new ideas.

DeGioia graduated from Georgetown in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in English and later earned a doctorate in philosophy from Georgetown in 1995. In 1982, he began work as an assistant to Georgetown president Jesuit Fr. Timothy S. Healy. He rose through the ranks, becoming dean of student affairs in 1985 and associate vice president and chief administrative officer for Georgetown's main campus in 1992.

When Jesuit Fr. Leo O'Donovan ended his presidency at Georgetown in 2001, DeGioia seemed to have all the qualifications needed to step up, except one: He wasn't a Jesuit. Eventually a search committee unanimously chose DeGioia as the person to succeed O'Donovan. But it was not without grumbling from some Jesuits and Georgetown graduates who felt it represented a major breach with tradition. DeGioia is Georgetown's 48th president and first non-Jesuit.

Fundraising takes up much of the time of a university president--about 40 percent of DeGioia's time, he said. Georgetown University got into fundraising relatively late, in the late 1970s. As a result, its endowment is only about one-fifth the size of its peer universities'. Questions of DeGioia's ability to attract major gifts seemed to have been put to rest earlier this year when the university announced the closure of its successful $1 billion campaign.

DeGioia admits he prefers other university activities. He enjoys teaching most and manages to squeeze in a course each year. Two years ago, he taught an undergraduate seminar on human rights, analyzing the topic from the perspective of three disciplines, philosophy, literature and law. It was so popular it had to be held in the university auditorium. Last year he taught a seminar in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown titled, "Ways of Knowing: Standards of Objectivity in the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and the Humanities."

Interpersonal relations are one of DeGioia's strong points. In the Washington fishbowl, those you see and how you get along gets recorded. DeGioia says he has made an effort to work closely with Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who participated extensively in DeGioia's inauguration ceremonies.

DeGioia also works to maintain good relations with Jesuits. At least once a year he flies to Rome to visit Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, superior general of the Society of Jesus.

In DeGioia's inaugural address in October 2001, he spoke with considerable ease about the purpose of religion, which he defined as leading people "to an authentic and deeper spiritual experience." He said some might see this as conflicting with Georgetown's enlightenment tradition, fueled by "rational, disinterested, objective inquiry."