Gerard J. Campbell

On December 3, 1964, Campbell was appointed the president of Georgetown University.[3] Aged 45, he assumed the office as one of the youngest presidents in the university's history, and was the first to hold a doctorate from a non-Catholic university. As a result, The Washington Post characterized him as a "new breed of Jesuit priest whose style might be described as Ivy League Catholic."[1] Campbell sought to continue the work of his predecessor, and identified three objects as the most important on his agenda: the recruitment of talented faculty to improve postgraduate education,[4] increasing the role of the university in the Washington, D.C. community, and significantly increasing fundraising.[5] On January 31, 1965, Campbell served as the homilist for the Archdiocese of Washington's Red Mass, which was attended by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, presidential aid Jack J. Valenti, Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan and Speaker of the House John W. McCormack.[6]

Campbell undertook numerous reforms of the university's governance,[5] bringing it into conformity with other American universities.[7] Upon entering into office, he amended the university's antiquated congressional charter and created expansive bylaws to officially allow the university to govern itself as it unofficially already had been. This involved a separation of the board of directors, which controlled the university, from the corporation. The latter legally owned the university and the role of the five-member body was defined as being only to appoint its own successors and members of the board of directors.[8] Reinventing the nature of the board, he greatly increased the role of the laity in the administration of the university. Campbell transformed the board from a body composed of exclusively senior Jesuit administrators at Georgetown to one that comprised laity and Jesuits unaffiliated with the university. Its role as a consultative body also gave way to one of actual governance.[9]

Fundraising began in 1965 for Lauinger Library, which opened in 1971, after Campbell's presidency.

The result of this reform of the board was that Georgetown became legally independent of the Society of Jesus. Therefore, Campbell had to obtain the permission of the Maryland provincial superior as well as the Superior General in Rome. He also secured an act of Congress to amend the charter, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966.[8] The Jesuit community at Georgetown was separately incorporated, and retained ownership of several historic buildings on campus.[10] The offices of president of the university and rector of the Jesuit community were made separate and held by different people.[11]

While Campbell's predecessor focussed particularly on improving the quality and stature of the science faculty, Campbell recruited esteemed faculty in the humanities and social sciences. The appointment of faculty became a more formalized process,[12] with the creation of a rank and tenure committee,[13] and the overall size of the faculty increased.[12] Jesuits were no longer appointed to the faculty by the Jesuit superiors, and instead competed with all other applicants for positions. At the same time, the number of Jesuit faculty increased.[14] The faculty was given a direct role in the administration of the university through the creation of a faculty senate.[5]

In January 1965, Campbell began raising money for the construction of a new library, planning of which began several years earlier. Designed by John Carl Warnecke,[15] ground was broken on Lauinger Library in 1968, and the building was completed in October 1971.[16] The new facility greatly relieved the inadequate library space on campus.[15] Alongside this expansion, Georgetown's operating budget had steadily increased.[17] Campbell began a fundraising drive to raise $26 million beginning in 1966, which would fund fellowships, scholarships, pay salaries, and build the new Georgetown University Law Center. However, the drive raised just $15 million by 1968.[1] Facing a severe deficit, the board of directors instituted strict austerity measures.[18]

In addition to governance reforms, Campbell encouraged new community service initiatives by Georgetown students throughout the District of Columbia.[1] He also signed the 1967 Land O'Lakes Statement, which redefined the mission of a modern Catholic university.[19] Facing deteriorating health and the increasing campus turmoil of the late 1960s, Campbell resigned the presidency in 1968. Those close to him observed that during his brief term, he never enjoyed being president, and preferred to return to a life of scholarship.[5] He was succeeded as president by Robert J. Henle.[20]

• Conn, James Jerome (1991). Catholic Universities in the United States and Ecclesiastical Authority. Analecta Gregoriana. Vol. 259. Rome: Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana. ISBN 88-7652-639-0. Archived from the original on July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020 – via Google Books.
• Curran, Robert Emmett (2010). A History of Georgetown University: The Rise to Prominence, 1964–1989. Vol. 3. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1589016903.
• "Memorials" (PDF). Princeton Alumni Weekly. March 6, 2013. pp. 55–60. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.