“As a community and as individuals, we cannot do our best work if we refuse to take ownership of such a critical part of our history,’’ he said. “We must acknowledge it.” 
 
 When Dr. DeGioia invited questions from the audience, a man in a gray suit took the microphone. “My name is Joe Stewart,’’ he said, “and I am a descendant of the 272.” 
 
 Mr. Stewart, a retired corporate executive and an organizer of a group of more than 300 descendants, expressed gratitude to the university’s working group on slavery and to Dr. DeGioia for their efforts. But he said that descendants, who had not been included as members of the committee, must be involved in decision making on these initiatives moving forward. 
 
 “Our attitude is nothing about us, without us,’’ said Mr. Stewart, who was flanked by five other descendants. 
 
 The two buildings being renamed by university officials originally paid tribute to the Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the 1838 sale. Now one will be called Isaac Hall to commemorate the life of Isaac Hawkins, one of the slaves shipped to Louisiana in 1838, and the other Anne Marie Becraft Hall, in honor of a 19th-century educator who founded a school for black girls in Washington. 
 
 Dr. DeGioia assembled his working group of scholars, administrators, students and alumni last September, asking them to consider how the university should address its history. Their work took on greater urgency in November in the wake of student demonstrations. In April, The New York Times published an article tracing the life of one of the slaves, Cornelius Hawkins, and his modern-day descendants. Cornelius was the grandson of Isaac Hawkins. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to the descendants of slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits as part of its effort to atone for profiting from the sale of enslaved people. 
 
 Georgetown president John DeGioia told news outlets that the university in Washington will implement the admissions preferences. He says Georgetown will need to identify and reach out to descendants of slaves and recruit them to the university. 
 
 On Thursday morning, a university committee released a report that also called on its leaders to offer a formal apology for the university's participation in the slave trade. 
 
 In 1838, two priests who served as president of the university orchestrated the sale of 272 people to pay off debts at the school. The slaves were sent from Maryland to plantations in Louisiana.
– Georgetown University will give admissions preference to the descendants of slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits as part of its effort to atone for profiting from the sale of enslaved people, the AP reports. Georgetown President John DeGioia told news outlets that the university in Washington, DC, will implement the admissions preferences, noting Georgetown will need to identify and reach out to descendants of slaves and recruit them. Per the New York Times, although the subject of scholarships for slave descendants was broached by the school committee that's been working on how to deal with Georgetown's history with slavery, the committee ultimately didn't recommend financial assistance in this first wave of initiatives. A university committee released a report Thursday that also called on its leaders to offer a formal apology for the university's participation in the slave trade. In 1838, two priests who served as president of the university orchestrated the sale of 272 people to pay off debts at the school. The slaves were sent from Maryland to plantations in Louisiana. Per the Times—which notes historians are calling this move "unprecedented"—DeGioia also will lay out plans to launch a slavery studies institute, rename two buildings after an African-American slave and an African-American educator, and put up a memorial for slaves who toiled to benefit the university, including those sold in 1838. "It goes farther than just about any institution," an MIT professor tells the Times. "It's taking steps that a lot of universities have been reluctant to take." (Harvard is also bogged down by connections to slavery.)