Georgetown students voted in favor of adding a semesterly fee of $27.20 to tuition costs to fund reparations for the descendants of 272 slaves sold in 1838 to help pay the university's debts.
Two Georgetown University students filed a petition to invalidate the student-approved referendum to pay slavery reparations, saying the option should never have even reached the student body.
Saydlowski and Castaldi-Moller argued that since Hughes co-sponsored the referendum, he should have recused himself from overseeing the election. Instead, they wrote, one of the members of the Ethics and Oversight Committee who wasn't a cosponsors or a key opponent should have been the primary overseer.
“I co-sponsored the referendum because I helped to draft and edit the referendum's technical content, and because I believe it's important for students to be able to vote on and discuss these issues,” Hughes said. “That does not constitute a conflict of interest.” Ultimately, the referendum passed with 66 percent of the vote, well over the 25 percent needed, but the students argued that the multiple announcements about what was needed for the referendum to pass “sowed confusion.” Voters, the petition claimed, may have thought abstaining was just as useful as voting “no,” and the confusion may have suppressed the votes of those opposed to the measure.
Hughes told Newsweek the substance of the suit seemed “dubious at best.” He said the student association held multiple nonbinding referendums in the past, and the Election Commission had acted within its rights to administer the election.
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