Dean of Georgetown Law says interim U.S. attorney’s DEI threat attacks its Catholic mission

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The dean of Georgetown University’s law school said the Jesuit institution will not alter its curriculum formed in Catholic teaching despite a threat from the District of Columbia’s acting top prosecutor.

In its first weeks, the second Trump administration has sought to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, sometimes referred to as DEI, within federal agencies.

As an apparent part of that effort to end such programs even outside of the federal government, acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin reportedly told Georgetown Law School in a Feb. 17 letter he would blacklist its students from employment in his office unless it scrubbed such programs from its curriculum.

“At this time, you should know that no applicant for our fellows program, our summer internship, or employment in our office who is a student or affliated with a law school or university that continues to teach and utilize DEI will be considered,” Martin’s letter said.

In response, Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor told Martin in a March 6 letter, “Your letter informs me that your office will deny our students and graduates government employment opportunities until you, as Interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, approve of our curriculum.”

“Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution,” Treanor wrote.

“As a Catholic and Jesuit institution, Georgetown University was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding,” Treanor said. “For us at Georgetown, this principle is a moral and educational imperative. It is a principle that defines our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit institution.”

He added, “Georgetown University also prohibits discrimination and harassment in its programs and activities and takes seriously its obligations to comply with all federal and local laws.”

Treanor called upon Martin, a graduate of the Jesuit-run St. Louis University School of Law who once served as the director of the St. Louis Archdiocese’s human rights office, to confirm “that any Georgetown-affiliated candidates for employment with your office will receive full and fair consideration.”

Massimo Faggioli, a professor of historical theology at Villanova University and author of “Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States,” published in 2021, argued in a piece for Commonweal that Martin’s move could present broader problems for Catholic institutions seeking to live out some of the church’s teachings in their work. 

“I think ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ is one way to interpret Pope Francis’ concept of the church as a ‘field hospital,'” Faggioli told OSV News in reference to an oft-repeated line from the pontiff that much like “a field hospital after battle,” the church must “heal the wounds.”

“There are different ways to interpret that ‘field hospital,’ but that concept is a good lens to understand the clash with the Trump’s administration idea of education and of religious freedom,” Faggioli said. said. 

The U.S. attorney’s office for D.C., which employs hundreds of lawyers and staff, has been seen as an entry point for lawyers who seek roles in the federal government.

Martin, whom President Donald Trump tapped to head the office Jan. 20 and formally nominated to fill the post Feb. 17, has yet to be confirmed by the full Senate.

This story was updated at 2:10 p.m.

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