Georgetown University will offer preferred admission to descendants of slaves forced to labor for the school as part of the university's effort to atone for its slaveholding past.

The school will give descendants preferred admissions treatment on par with children of alumni.

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"There is a moral, as well as a practical, imperative that defines this moment—that shapes the responsibility we all share: how do we address now, in this moment, the enduring and persistent legacy of slavery?" Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia wrote in a statement on the school's website. "I believe the most appropriate ways for us to redress the participation of our predecessors in the institution of slavery is to address the manifestations of the legacy of slavery in our time."

John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, makes remarks during an event in Gaston Hall.Credit: om Williams/CQ Roll Call

The university sold 272 slaves in 1838 to pay off debt and save the school from financial trouble.

Georgetown administrators are also planning a number of changes and additions to the school as part of its effort to address and make amends for its slaveholding legacy.

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The plans, which DeGioia outlined online, include a new Institute for the Study of Slavery and Its Legacies, a formal apology for the school's relationship with slavery, and a memorial dedicated to slaves from whom the university "benefitted."

School officials also plan to rename a building after Isaac Hall, an enslaved man sold by Georgetown in 1838. And plans are in the works to name a hall after Anne Marie Becraft, a free black woman who in 1827 started a school educating black girls in Georgetown.

At the end of his letter, DeGioia said this is just the start for Georgetown.

"This moment is an opening, a beginning, an invitation for us — and each of us is welcomed to engage, to offer perspectives, to reflect, and to understand anew the responsibilities that we have to one another," he wrote.

Whether those responsibilities will be realized remains to be seen. As was mentioned by The New York Times, the success of the admissions effort will depend heavily on whether the school is able to locate and recruit the descendants at the center of this effort.

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