The 1970s 1971 The Corp finds its roots on May 2, 1971. On the preceding day, large-scale May Day protests took place throughout Washington, D.C., ending in clashes between protesters and police. Protesters sought refuge from the Metropolitan Police Department by coming to the campus of
Georgetown University where, on May 3, Rev. Robert J. Henle, S.J, the university's president, authorized the police department to use tear gas to disperse and remove the protesters. Many students were caught in the middle of the violence. In October of that year, Student Body President Roger Cochetti and Vice President Nancy Kent determined that the only way to protect students' rights was to form a separate legal entity that would have the authority to challenge the university's actions. The student government subsequently incorporated the undergraduate students of
Georgetown University as "shareholders" in a new organization called "Students of Georgetown, Inc." in order to provide a means of filing lawsuits on behalf of students against the university.
1972 On March 6, 1972, Students of Georgetown was officially incorporated as a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia. Cochetti described the organization's goals as "to assert and protect the inherent rights of its members and the community" through the use of powers available to corporations, such as making contracts, borrowing money, and receiving property. The organization soon began using its independent status to develop and expand a number of new
businesses designed for students' needs. It is not known when the organization formally adopted the name "The Corp." Shortly thereafter, students began selling extremely low-cost
yogurt and water on the university's Healy Lawn to fund the fledgling corporation—at times to the same demonstrators whose gassing had prompted the group's formation. The program, In September 1972 the Corp assumed control of The Book Co-op—another, older student-run business. The Book Co-op is the only Corp business to actually predate the Corp. The Corp opened its first storefront called "The Record Co-op" or "Diemusbiederplatz" in the basement of
New South Hall that same month.
1973 In 1973, the Corp expanded to open three new services. In August, the Corp opened the Furniture Co-op to assist students living off-campus with the troublesome task of moving into and out of the often-cramped Georgetown Townhouses. In its first year the Furniture Co-op moved roughly 400 items. On September 6, 1973, the Corp used a $14,000 grant from the university and $3,500 gift from Student Government to open its first shuttle service. The program, Corp Shuttles, was developed to provide transportation to and from the Alban Towers, student housing located roughly from the university's main campus. The program suffered from a lack of rider support and little to no funding. With the construction of new residence halls and apartment complexes on campus, the need for the service ended, and operations were re-absorbed by the university. Today the program has expanded to become the Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS), which operates five bus circuits in the Washington Metropolitan area. In November 1973, Corp Travel was opened. The new business provided much-needed travel assistance for the growing number of students who chose to study abroad during part of their college career. Today, roughly 40% of
Georgetown University undergraduates study abroad before graduation.
1974 On January 25, 1974, the Corp finally sued Georgetown University, claiming that the university's actions on May 3, 1971, were discriminatory. Three days later, The Corp opened Vital Vittles in the basement of the New South Hall dormitory. Vital Vittles (or "Vittles") was an expanded version of the original Food Co-op. Within the decade, the university would open its first large-scale dining hall in the same space. In April 1974 the Corp sponsored the first annual Vincent Lombardi Tennis Tournament for charity. The tournament raised $6,000 in its first year and featured athletes such as Stan Smith and Jimmy Connors. The tournament lasted only three years, being discontinued in 1976 because of legal issues with the
United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA). During the summer of 1974, Corp Travel separated from the Corp for various management reasons. It re-joined the Corp in 1979. In October 1974, the Corp was denied tax-exempt status by the
Internal Revenue Service. That same month, the Corp helped start the Georgetown University Recycling Program.
1975 The year 1975 marked the first time that the Corp had been in existence since the arrival of all four contemporary undergraduate classes. As the corporation's founding generation moved on, its successors were left to face the problems associated with maintaining a large company, regaining tax-exempt status, and developing better relationships with the university it had just sued. In January 1975 the Corp restructured its upper management, deciding to institutionalize one-year terms for its officer and managers. In February, the Corp agreed to pay rent to the university in order to solve legal questions related with the tax-exempt statuses of the Corp and the university itself. The new costs strained the company's ability to operate, and that summer the Record Co-op and Vital Vittles were forced to merge into one business, nicknamed "Audio Vittles." While other parts of the Corp consolidated or were closed, the company continued to pursue new ventures. In September 1975 the Corp began Corp Concessions for athletic games. The university later canceled the concessions contract with the Corp in favor of Hoyas Unlimited, a booster club that hired work-study varsity athletes.
1976 In 1976 the Corp's board of directors voted to pay its top management for the first time.
1977 In 1977 the Corp began Summer Storage—a business that allowed students to store their belongings during the summer break. Though closed twice during the 1980s and redesigned five times, the business continues to operate today as Corp Student Storage. In November 1977 Vital Vittles began selling bongs and condoms.
1978 Barely four months after Vital Vittles began to sell them,
Georgetown University blocked the sale of condoms. In April 1978, the Corp's board of directors voted to participate in a boycott of Nestle because of allegations that Nestle was selling baby food and baby formula in third world countries made with non-potable water. Also in 1978, the Corp opened Corp Typing. Long before the mass-production of desktop printers, this service gave students the opportunity to have Corp employees type their papers for a fee. Corp Typing's sister service, Corp Copying, also opened in 1978.
1979 In 1979, the Corp moved Vital Vittles' non-food sales into the new Saxa Sundries drugstore, which opened in the basement of
Georgetown University's Copley Hall. Also in that year, the Corp was denied tax-exempt status for the second time.
The 1980s 1980 On September 23, 1980, the Corp applied for tax-exempt status for the third time.
1981 In March, the
IRS awarded the Corp tax-exempt status—refunding several years of back taxes to the corporation. Also in that year, the university canceled its contract with Corp Concessions in favor of Hoyas Unlimited. In October, the board of directors changed the pay system for the Corp's officers and managers from a salary to a wage system.
1982 In January, the board of directors restructured the Corp's management again to include three officers: executive vice president, vice president of operations and vice president of finance. Later that year the Corp opened the Alban Annex—a convenience store in the Alban Towers apartment complex similar to, but smaller than the Corp's Vital Vittles. Also in 1982 the Corp expanded the role of its marketing divisions into Corp Advertising, which provided graphic design services for university clubs. That same year, the Corp closed its Summer Storage business. It was re-opened two years later. In November, Saxa Sundries moved to the basement of Healy Hall.
1983 Throughout the 1980s the Corp struggled to redefine its relationship with its parent organization, the student government. In 1983 the Corp's board of directors renamed the position of executive vice president to president of students of Georgetown, Incorporated and officially recognized the student government president as chairman of the board of Students of Georgetown, Incorporated. This relationship placed additional strain on the Corp, which sought to uphold its independent status. By 1990, the Corp would break its ties with the student government altogether, and become a completely independent organization.
1985 In 1985, the Corp opened its new ice cream parlor, which was named The Cone Zone by a campus-wide "Name the Store" contest. The store suffered from its bad location and could not compete with Thomas Sweets' ice cream parlor only a few blocks away. It was closed by the end of 1986.
1986 In February 1986, the Corp's board of directors lifted its ban on the sale of condoms in its stores. However, the move proved to be largely symbolic as no Corp service has sold condoms since the university banned their sales in Vital Vittles in 1977.
1988, 1989 Apart from its initial creation, the single most significant event in the history of the Corp was the construction of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center. After the building's construction, the Corp transferred its main office and all of its services to the new building. The services at the time included Vital Vittles; Saxa Sundries, which was later incorporated into Vital Vittles; Corp Travel, which closed in 2000; Movie Mayhem, which was replaced with MovieMayhem.org in 2005; Corp Typing (a resume and term paper typing service that closed in the early '90s); and Corp Advertising, which was closed and internalized as the Corp Marketing Department in 1997.
The 1990s In the 1990s, the Corp formally severed all of its ties with
Georgetown University. What had once been an independent organization operated by the university's student government developed as a completely autonomous company. In 1991, the Corp celebrated its 20th birthday with a weekend full of events on campus and specials in the stores. The Conelles played in McDonough parking lot, door prizes were awarded at the pub, and the comedian Jake Johansen was brought to Gaston Hall. Both the Conelles show and the Jake Johansen show were free to students. The controversy over condoms erupted again in 1992 when the Corp again tried to sell them in Saxa Sundries. As part of its lease at the Leavy Center, the Corp had to have a university-approved product list, which it did. On that list included the item of "health aids". Corp management solicited input from the medical and nursing schools that condoms were indeed "health aids" and thus were permitted by the lease. Condoms were ordered and delivered to Saxa's stock room for eventual placement on the shelves. Management informed the university of this planned action, at which time the university stated that it did not consider condoms an approved item under the lease. The university also pointed out that the lease stated if an "offending" product was not removed from the store's shelves within 24 hours of a university protest, the university would exercise its rights as landlord to temporarily close the Corp's stores until the items were removed. On the eve of the planned stocking of condoms on Saxa's shelves, management held a General Meeting to assess the reaction of Corp employees to this possible closure action. The majority of employees argued against stocking the condoms, saying that by putting the Corp in jeopardy of being closed, management was not truly serving the students. Given this argument, management reversed course and decided not to stock the condoms. The supply in the Saxa's storeroom was donated to other organizations on campus. Also in 1991–92, several major capital expenditures were made: The back offices were remodeled with new desks, a new phone system, and new computers; and a new Point-of-Sale system was purchased for Vittles and Saxas. Saxa's main supplier was switched to McKesson, and Vittles became the largest independent seller of Coke products in the mid-Atlantic region. In 1994, the Corp won a bid to construct
Georgetown University's first coffee shop in the university's Leavey Center. Beating out bids from rival companies, the Corp opened Uncommon Grounds a year later. In 1995, the Corp decided to consolidate Vital Vittles (food products) and Saxa Sundries (non-food products), tearing down the wall between them and creating one combined greater store. They decided to keep the name Vital Vittles for the new store as it had a registered trademark. In 1999, the Corp built upon the success of Uncommon Grounds and opened a second coffee shop, More Uncommon Grounds (MUG) in the lobby of
Georgetown University's
Intercultural Center. In 1997 Corp Advertising was closed and internalized as Corp Marketing Department, the organization's chief marketing division.
The 2000s: The Corp today In 2000, the Corp closed its Corp Travel business and opened a
film developing store called Full Exposure (FX). FX was closed five years later. In 2003, the Corp opened its third coffee shop, The Midnight MUG, in
Georgetown University's
Lauinger Library. In 2004, the Corp launched www.TheCorp.org and began to use a website to conduct the Book Co-op service more efficiently. In 2005, the Corp closed its Full Exposure film developing service and Movie Mayhem video delivery store, and created Corp Information Technology and MovieMayhem.org. In 2007, the Corp terminated its ailing MovieMayhem.org service, citing a failure to generate profits, inability to compete with business such as NetFlix and iTunes, and a lack of student demand for a campus-based DVD delivery service. The last deliveries were made to students in December and the Web site was permanently taken offline. Later that month, the Corp launched a new Web site, CorpStorage.org, which modified the existing Student Storage business model to allow for online purchasing. The new site also allows for expanded Corp e-commerce across all services. In 2014, the Corp opened the doors to a smoothie, açai bowl, salad, and health-food shop, The Hilltoss. Located inside the Healey Family Family Student Center, the idea was crowd sourced from the student body in 2012 and provides a healthy dining option on the south side of campus. In 2016, the Corp incorporated its latest coffee shop, Grounded, into the same location as Hilltoss. Grounded offered many breakfast-adjacent food and drink options. ==Current businesses==