A $50,000 donation from alumna Tiffany Yu (B’10) has laid the groundwork for a new endowment to support disability-related initiatives at Georgetown University, including disability-focused courses, guest speakers, research projects, and more.
Yu’s goal is to ensure “that both alumni and students feel committed to having a permanent place within the ecosystem of campus that continues to invest in disability initiatives in perpetuity,” the entrepreneur and disability rights advocate told The Hoya.
Gwyneth Murphy (SFS’23), Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) accessibility coordinator and Accessibility Policy Team member, said the new endowment reflects months of collaboration among students, alumni, and administrators—and builds on prior efforts by advocates such as faculty member Lydia X. Z. Brown (C’15).
Nesreen Shahrour (NHS’23), chair of the GUSA Accessibility Policy Team, said Yu’s gift to the university sparked “a feeling of hopefulness” that the Georgetown community “can enact change here on campus and can improve culture for students with disabilities here.”
In addition to launching the new endowment, Murphy, Yu, Shahrour, and other campus advocates hope to build on the momentum to eventually establish a Disability Cultural Center serving members of the disabled community.