President: 1809
Fr. William Matthews served as Georgetown's seventh president in 1809.
Early Jesuit and academic career
Born in Maryland in 1770, Fr. William Matthews was ordained in 1800 and became the first American-born priest ordained in the Diocese of Baltimore. As the nephew of Leonard, Charles, and Francis Neale, Fr. Matthews taught rhetoric at Georgetown before becoming pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Washington, DC. In December 1808, with then president Fr. Molyneux’s health worsening, Fr. Francis Neale was appointed Georgetown’s interim president. In February 1809, Fr. Matthews was formally appointed Georgetown’s seventh president. On the day of his appointment, Fr. Matthews enrolled in the Jesuit novitiate, possibly at his uncles’ urging that a president of Georgetown must be a Jesuit.1
Presidency
During his brief tenure as Georgetown’s president, Fr. Matthews oversaw the completion of the towers on the north side of Old North, invested in efforts to improve Georgetown’s financials, and increased the enrollment of Georgetown’s day students. Fr. Charles Stonestreet, Georgetown’s twenty-third president, reflecting on Fr. Matthews’ tenure said, “It was during this same presidency that the college towers were completed, and we read in the minutes of the proceedings of the directors the following complimentary resolve: ‘That the directors of Georgetown College have viewed with pleasure the improvements made in said college,' etc. When we take into account that the directors used to speak to the president with the same freedom the colonies had used in speaking to the Mother Country, and that they took note of the debit as well as of the credit side of facts and fame, the foregoing resolve is highly creditable to the administration of the Very Rev. William Matthews."2
Resignation
In November 1809, after only nine months as Georgetown’s president, Fr. Matthews resigned the presidency and left the Jesuit novitiate. Tension between Fr. Matthews and the Jesuits as well as his tendency to impose as little discipline as possible upon Georgetown’s students and prefects likely contributed to his resignation. Once again, his uncle, Fr. Francis Neale, resumed the position.3
