Social Justice & Diversity

Cura Personalis, Latin for care for the whole person, underpins all of the work that we do at Georgetown and at the Center. This includes our on-going work to address entrenched social inequities including structural racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, ableism, and class discrimination.

The European region that we study spans nations and groups that each have their own particular histories of patriarchy, colonialism, fascism, authoritarianism, and persecution of migrants, sexual and religious minorities. Many of them have developed ways of working through past and present violence. We believe that there is much that the transatlantic partners can learn from each other if we want to build a more inclusive and equitable world.  This endeavor is predicated on honestly reckoning with shameful histories and their bearing on the present.

Even as we aim to educate students to be transatlantic leaders in a world riven with enduring injustices, we acknowledge that we can only do so if we also redress discrimination and marginalization in the way we do business in our home institution. Georgetown University has taken steps to address its own implication in the enslavement of Black people; more work will be necessary to confront the history of the indigenous owners of the land on which it is located. We are making strides in creating accessible learning environments for disabled and neurodiverse students, and the university is committed to religious pluralism. But tackling class differences in an elite institution and overcoming sexism and homophobia in a university rooted in an all-male religious tradition pose structural challenges. As we work through these issues together at Georgetown University and the Center, we subscribe to cultural norms that emphasize both freedom of expression and respect for differences.

We are convinced that excellence demands diversity. Learning does not happen without engaging with ideas beyond our own life experiences and networks (be they based on race, gender, class, nationality, political ideology or other identities). Historically, European Studies scholarship has been dominated by a very narrow strand of voices. In reading the landmark works, as well as appreciating what they offer, we strive to interrogate these perspectives and ask what is being left out. In the classroom we also practice listening and learning from and valuing all of the ways we differ from each other, something that is both important in itself and a key core competence of professional success in our world today. 

The BMW Center is buoyed by the School of Foreign Service’s commitment to global antiracism and to confronting and overcoming bias in our institutional culture. The SFS Vice Dean on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion directs efforts to ensure that all graduate programs promote diversity and inclusion and equip global leaders for a pluralistic world. Read more about the University Leadership Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in International Affairs Education’s work here. The University considers acts of hate and bias unacceptable and antithetical to its commitment to an inclusive and respectful community. Through the Bias Reporting System, Georgetown is able to track and review bias-related incidents. Reporting the incident may lead to an investigation, following which the University can hold the accused accountable for their acts. For more information see, https://biasreporting.georgetown.edu/.

Over the past years, our center has taken a number of concrete measures to ensure that our community offers an inclusive environment for learning and intellectual exchange. These range from conducting a climate survey of students and alumni, and organized public events about questions of gender, antisemitism, and racial justice. Moreover, we are committed to recruiting diverse cohorts, including students from underrepresented communities; to step up these efforts we have made standardized tests optional for all applicants, reached out to prospective students from historically Black and Hispanic-service colleges and universities, and reviewed our admissions process for implicit bias. In addition, we conduct an annual syllabus review to ensure that topics and authors reflect the diversity of the world for which we want to prepare our students, and to ensure that intellectual inquiry takes place in an environment that is respectful of differences. We will continue to work closely with our students, alumni, and partners to identify and address systemic and institutional inequities. We work hard to make sure that any form of racism, including antisemitism and Islamophobia, have no home at our Center or on our campus. 

As we learn and work together here at the Center, we hold dear our core mission to promote human dignity and social justice at the University, in the transatlantic community, and the world.