WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya - Student Newspaper of Georgetown University [Washington DC]
October 17, 2026
By Nora Toscano, Editor-in-Chief
The changes come immediately after The Hoya published new allegations against Fr. Alvaro Ribeiro, S.J., including that he committed sexual misconduct against at least four Georgetown students.
Content Warning: This article discusses clerical sexual misconduct and grooming. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.
Georgetown University quietly overhauled its Title IX webpage dedicated to clerical sex abuse immediately after an investigation by The Hoya revealed new allegations against Fr. Alvaro Ribeiro, S.J., and a novel information-sharing protocol between Jesuits and the university.
The updated webpage explicitly recognizes Ribeiro’s alleged misconduct, publicizes recent “formal protocols” to share Jesuit sexual-misconduct reports and removes the “ongoing work” section that The Hoya found had not been updated in years.
The Hoya’s Oct. 16 investigation was the first public report that a Jesuit priest engaged in sexual misconduct at Georgetown after being placed on leave following similar issues — which experts said was likely the result of Jesuits using an internal reporting structure and not informing university officials.
The Title IX webpage includes reporting information, support resources and educational material about the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis. Previously, the university only listed allegations against Fr. J. Donald Freeze, S.J., a former Jesuit provost who nonconsensually kissed and touched students on campus.
Ribeiro, who died in 2013, was placed on leave in 1998 after a student reported him to the Jesuits for sexual harassment, alleging that the priest offered him pornography and shook his penis in front of him. Ribeiro returned to campus in 2000 and met another student in 2001 who later alleged similar misconduct, including that Ribeiro attempted to kiss him after the student graduated.
Ribeiro later resigned after a university investigation in 2010 found that he had engaged in “the unwanted touching of students” and “other inappropriate behavior.”
In response to The Hoya’s recent reporting, a university spokesperson said university officials “condemn in the strongest possible terms any clergy abuse.”
“We are committed to ensuring that University policies are as strong as possible in supporting survivors,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya.
The new subsection recognizing Ribeiro’s alleged misconduct mentions only the 2010 Georgetown investigation and does not include any of the three other cases of alleged misconduct that The Hoya reported on Friday. Georgetown made no public statement recognizing The Hoya’s recent reporting, and did not announce the changes to the Title IX webpage.
The subsection includes a 2020 statement to The Hoya from former University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95).
“We strive to create a culture at Georgetown that encourages victims of sexual misconduct to come forward and provides the best possible resources and support,” DeGioia wrote. “Our community is built on mutual trust, respect and a commitment to caring for one another. Renewing and reaffirming this commitment is vital to our work moving forward.”
In response to The Hoya’s reporting, a university spokesperson disclosed that this April — 30 years after Ribeiro’s alleged misconduct began — Georgetown and the local Jesuit province adopted “formal protocols” requiring that clerical misconduct allegations “be appropriately shared” with the university so that they are “addressed promptly and appropriately.”
Those protocols, which were not publicized in the five months since they were established, are now included on the Title IX webpage — which provides no more detail than the spokesperson did.
In The Hoya’s Friday investigation, experts confirmed Ribeiro’s case exemplifies the wider issue across Jesuit colleges where the Society of Jesus often does not share misconduct allegations with university administrators — allowing offenders like Ribeiro to slip through the cracks.
The university also updated the status of a board of directors working group established in response to the Freeze allegations. The group was not publicized until June 2021, but the webpage now claims it was created in 2020.
Until the webpage changed, the working group was listed as part of the university’s “ongoing work” to combat and prevent clerical sex abuse.
Now, the “ongoing work” subsection is gone, and the university says the working group became a subcommittee of the board five years ago — which was previously undisclosed.
The subcommittee still does not appear on the board of directors’ webpage that lists its subcommittees.
If you have information to share with The Hoya regarding this investigation, contact us at gupriests@thehoya.com or 421 Leavey Center, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 20057.
On-campus resources include Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Team (sarp@georgetown.edu), Health Education Services (202-687-8949) and Counseling and Psychiatric Services (202-687-6985). Off-campus resources include the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-4673) and the D.C. Victim Hotline (844-443-5732).
To report sexual misconduct at Georgetown, you can contact Georgetown’s Title IX coordinator (202-687-9183) or file an online report here. Students can also seek free legal advice through the nonprofit Volare’s Title IX clinic for D.C. university survivors.
Survivors of clerical sexual misconduct can also contact the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) (877-762-7432).
Emergency contraception is available at the CVS located at 1403 Wisconsin Ave NW and through H*yas for Choice. For more information, visit sexualassault.georgetown.edu.