Georgetown students resoundingly vote to pay a reparations fee every semester

A solid majority of Georgetown University students are actually asking to pay more each semester.

On Thursday, 66.1 percent of the school's student body voted in favor of a $27.20 semesterly fee that would be redirected to the descendants of slaves sold to financially sustain the university nearly two centuries ago. The school doesn't have to implement the fee, but in addition to the strong majority enthusiasm for the measure, the vote boasts the highest recorded student voter turnout in Georgetown's history.

Georgetown was founded in 1789, and by 1838, the school was mired in debt. The Maryland Society of Jesuits overseeing the school's operations sold 272 slaves, now known as the GU272, to raise the modern equivalent of $500,000 and keep Georgetown afloat. That event sparked the creation of the student-run GU272 Advocacy Team, which started working with Georgetown's student government in October to craft a reparations proposal.

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If implemented, the semesterly fee would raise an estimated $400,000 per year to be "allocated for charitable purposes directly benefiting the descendants of the GU272 and other persons once enslaved by the Maryland Jesuits," the proposal states. That money might go toward "funding K-12 education, establishing college scholarships and purchasing school supplies," campus newspaper The Hoya writes.

The university has released a statement acknowledging the vote, but didn't mention where it stands on the non-binding proposal. The school's board of directors will have to vote in favor of the fee for it to be implemented. Read more at The Hoya.