Owning the Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Georgetown University Shines
Over the past several months, Georgetown University and its President, Jack DeJioia, have admitted and taken action -- extraordinary action -- with respect to a dark part of their past: they have owned that reality that their institution owned and sold slaves.
The current events on campus give meaning to Truman's desk sign: The Buck Stops Here. And, there is much we can learn within education and all of the disciplines about taking ownership of a past that isn't upright or stellar. And, we can learn from Georgetown about how to reflect on that bad story, how to incorporate that story within the present, how to repent for that story meaningfully and with honesty and how make some good out of bad from that story.
Would that other institutions could do the same -- without being sued first or receiving bad press first or burying things under rugs only to have them revealed later. Doing is right is cheaper too than teams of lawyers writing scathing reports that go public. Many a PR nightmare for institutions and individuals could be avoided were leaders and their organizations to give real meaning to the phrase: The Buck Stops Here. No historical omissions. No excuses. No justifications. No false praise.
Georgetown's ongoing effort to make new history stands in sharp contrast to the decades of "omission," "silence" and "rug pushing under" that has emerged related to the Choate Rosemary Hall School in Connecticut. Abuse of students was ignored. And, shame on people in authority for being unwilling to speak up and out. They obfuscated. They knew and chose not to reveal. Recent articles have noted the unbelievable efforts to ignore truth. And, the problem does not rest, as one article suggests, on the need for an improved legal regime.
The legal regime may well be flawed but what was really flawed was the moral code and more principles that guided the adults in charge of students. What were these adults thinking? Even little children know that eventually truth emerges and we are way better off being truthful earlier rather than later. Apologies, mea culpas, payments are not the answer to wrongs. The answer is to own them --- for real, with integrity and all deliberate speed.
So, my suggestion today to leaders: look at Georgetown and Jack DeJioia. Look hard. Think about what they have done and they are doing -- their commitment to owning their past and creating a new future. And, consider how they are giving profound and transportable meaning to the words Truman had on his desk: The Buck Stops Here.
What another example or two: Penn State. UNC. St. Paul's School.
There are many out there -- still silent -- for whom the comparison of Georgetown and Choate Rosemary Hall can and should message loudly, clearly, vibrantly. Morality and decency and respect demand that we consider the outstanding example Georgetown is setting and the shambles of the effort displayed by Choate Rosemary Hall. It's not too late to own one's bad past in ways that do the present and future proud.