March 24, 2005: NORTON AND STUDENTS MEET WITH GEORGETOWN PRESIDENT

Washington, DC- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Georgetown University students who ended their hunger strike last night met with Georgetown President John J. DeGioia today to discuss the agreement just reached on employee wages and other labor matters. Josh Williams, President of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO also attended the meeting.

Norton, a tenured professor of law at the Georgetown Law Center, who has continued to teach one class there since coming to Congress, spoke yesterday at a student rally on the campus along with Williams and Richard Trumka, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO. She also spoke by phone with President DeGioia and indicated her concerns both about equities for workers and the university’s responsibility for the health and education of the students. Last night Norton also emailed university officials saying that she was pleased by the progress that had been made but had continuing concern because ideas that could bring closure were too slow in coming. She asked that Georgetown move toward a solution by Easter Sunday.

Norton said, “The Georgetown hunger strikers are emblematic of the new generation of student activists we saw in the 2004 presidential campaign who refuse to be sidelined on the justice issues of their time. The Georgetown students, many of them from privileged backgrounds, were not willing to receive the services of workers without being assured that they received a living wage, other benefits, and the opportunity to join a union. The university deserves credit for working with the students for three years until a solution could be reached. I am especially pleased that Georgetown has answered the calls of its strong Catholic tradition and the mandate for social justice and the elimination of poverty.”