The Proposal

The following proposal, which outlines the ideology behind "25 Days," stems from a conversation amongst Hoyas involved in the Patrick Healy Fellows following the many controversial and divisive occurrences of this semester. The founding members of the Steering Committee did not like the direction Georgetown's student life was going. The goal of "25 Days," as you may read below, is to build bridges amongst student groups who may not normally interact.

25 Days of Service

Since the beginning of the academic year, the underlying social fabric of Georgetown has become increasingly divided. With misunderstanding and misguided anger over the stricter alcohol enforcement and culminating with this past week’s outrage over insensitivity to minorities on campus, Georgetown University is not the place today which we enrolled in two and three years ago.
As such, we seek to develop a program in which all of Georgetown works together for a common goal. There are few such opportunities – apart from Men’s Basketball – in which every Hoya is cheering for the same side. Such is the effect of diversity. What we propose are twenty-five days of service, where Georgetown students from every student group have an equal opportunity to become men and women for others.
While service is a fundamental part of many student organizations, “25 Days of Service” will bring all of them together. Any organization wishing to participate will be welcome, and will work with other groups which may have different focuses and should have different memberships. The result will be diverse groups of Georgetown students, working on-campus, around Georgetown, or in D.C. for a common purpose.
We propose a 10-member planning committee representing various classes and populations of Georgetown students. The planning committee’s first priority is to legitimize “25 Days” through recognition by CSP, CSJ, SAC and GUSA. Second, “25 Days” will contact every student group on campus, determine if they are interested, and aid them in brainstorming the service idea for which their group will be responsible. “25 Days” should take place February 1-25, giving us enough time to start “25 Days” and to properly plan and incorporate all the service ideas.
Though the service projects will not begin until next semester, the effect of bringing the groups together will begin in the next few weeks. Board members of every organization will have the opportunity to meet, interact, and work with board members of other organizations. Most importantly, these connections will be maintained through this semester and into the next, where the ideas conceived by Georgetown students will produce tangible effects on the University, the Community, and the City.