Georgetown undergraduate students have voted overwhelmingly in favor of holding a referendum to apply a mandatory fee of $27.20 per semester to set up a slavery reparation fund, according to the Associated Press. The proposal aims to set up a so-called “Reconciliation Contribution” to “atone for the Jesuit-organized sale of 272 slaves in 1838.” The money would provide reparation to the descendants of enslaved people who were sold by the university to pay off the school’s debts, and would go to projects in underprivileged communities where some descendants live. The Georgetown University Student Association Elections Commission said 2,541 students, or 66 percent, voted for referendum. The proposal would create one of the first reparations funds at a major U.S. institution.
