We, the undersigned faculty and students at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (SFS), state in this public letter our serious concern with and firm rejection of the University’s plan – currently under consideration – to rename the Walsh School of Foreign Service to honor a past faculty member, the late Madeleine K. Albright.

Madeleine Albright taught students for many years and we recognize her mentorship, dedication, and service to many SFS students and to the School as a whole.  As US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright supported some of the US government’s most devastating interventions in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and South Eastern Europe. The catastrophic impacts on civilian populations continue to be borne down to the present day. When asked many years later to comment on the half a million Iraqi children who died as a consequence of the drastic sanctions imposed on Iraq during her tenure, Madeleine Albright’s answer was ‘the price was worth it.’ These facts are well known among the SFS faculty, students, and alumni, and suggest that a renaming would be met with considerable unease and opposition in the School. 

As a global institution committed to the common good, the University stands by values of social justice, equity, and human rights. By moving ahead with this project, the University would honor a name associated with gross human rights violations, however great a teacher and mentor Madeleine Albright was during her years at Georgetown University. Across our School and beyond, students and academics continue to experience and be affected by the traumas associated with these policies. We also miss out on a historic opportunity to rename the School of Foreign Service, in consultation with faculty, students, and alumni, in a way that communicates our global commitment to the rights, lives, and perspectives of all countries, not just the United States.

As professors and students affiliated with the Walsh School of Foreign Service, we ask the University’s leadership to hear our deep concerns and renounce the project to rename the school in Madeleine Albright’s name, and instead open a dialogue with faculty, students, and alumni to consider other ways of acknowledging her contributions to SFS.