Deaf college students: Campus cops pepper-sprayed us (CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Students at Gallaudet University barricaded themselves inside one of the main campus buildings Thursday, protesting the school's presidential selection and what students call a pattern of prejudice at the largely deaf institution.

Students said campus police forced their way into the Hall Memorial Building Friday, shoving and elbowing students and pepper spraying some.

The school denied use of pepper spray, and said authorities needed to rush in due to a bomb threat, though there turned out to be no bomb.

But Ryan Commerson, a student and leader of the protests, said the campus police apparently did not know sign language and could not communicate their concerns to students as they pushed their way in.

A lack of knowledge of sign language by those charged with protecting the students has historically caused troubles at the university not far from the Capitol, but the school has previously said it took steps to address that.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/06/college.protesters/index.html

[mcscajun]

1. I think these students have a legitimate beef.

The president of the preeminent institution of learning for the Deaf needs to be absolutely fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). Nothing less should be acceptable.

[vickitulsa]

3. Absolutely! "...some level of sign language" is NOT sufficient!

In fact, it seems to me to show contempt for their students that the new president at Gallaudet was herself mainstreamed all her life and only began learning to sign when she was in her 20's!

I hope the students win this fight. Gallaudet school officials completely ignored what they knew to be the righteous anger of the students over the installation of this "audist" president.

It seems very likely to me that Fernandes' parents decided that having their daughter learn ASL -- or "visual communication" -- would have been "beneath" her. This sort of attitude was more prevalent in the era when Fernandes was first enrolled in school than it is now.

But does this "selection" process for Gallaudet's new president sound familiar? I think it should!

The entire scenario is one we've witnessed in the hearing world since at least 2000. In D.C. we have repeatedly had "appointees" foisted on us -- even in positions right up to the highest one in the land, powerful key roles that are supposed to be filled by ELECTED leaders!

I don't know exactly how their system for choosing a new president at Gallaudet works, but clearly the students who should have some say were treated just like Americans everywhere who tried unsuccessfully to VOTE their choices into office.

I wish the Gallaudet students well in their continuing fight to right the wrong on their campus!

Can we even imagine how frustrating it must be to deaf students to be denied a VOICE in the selection of the school's new president?....

[Solo_in_MD]

4. Which univerisities have significant input onthe Officers or Board?

Haven't seen it in the Ivy League, UC systems, Maryland, Johns Hopkins, GW, or other schools. IIRC the selection of the current president was extrememly lengthly with great consideration to all sides. Note that attending a school does not mean you control it.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. IIRC she is. However, she is also a lip reader and speaks quite well

[vickitulsa]

6. You may know Fernandes personally and know that she is fluent

in sign language, but the OP article indicated otherwise, at least in the students' view:

Fernandes, born deaf, grew up "mainstreamed" -- meaning she went to schools with hearing children -- and did not learn sign language until she was in her 20s. Students complain she is still not fluent.

I don't know how old the lady is, but unless she has worked very hard at it for some years now, I find it pretty hard to imagine how she could be truly fluent in ASL, having begun learning it so late in her life. I know how difficult it is to start late learning it! Takes some real dedication, and that's what I have to wonder if Fernandes has, since she was mainstreamed and can speak well and may feel she has no real need to learn to sign. In my experience, many deaf or hearing impaired people who can read lips and speak well don't WANT to sign for a variety of reasons.

The above is just my thought process on the issue, anyway. :dilemma:

I'm not deaf but I've been immersed in the culture of the Jane Brooks School for the Deaf in Chickasha, Oklahoma, my old hometown, when I worked there back in the late Sixties. My next door neighbor was a deaf boy I babysat -- and who taught me a LOT of practical but VERY "UNofficial" sign language when we were just kids. Later I nearly married a deaf man after we dated for almost two years.

And I've seen the sometimes baffling idiosyncrasies and conflicts within the culture and especially in the educational institutions for the deaf. I was very proud of both CSI and Law & Order producers for airing some well written and thoughtful episodes that dealt with the many issues and challenges of the deaf community in our modern world.

Particularly in view recent advancements in technology which, in this area as well as so many others, are having a profound affect on how we think about healthcare issues!

An article about the Gallaudet students' protest in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer offers some more info on the incident.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Gallaudet_Protest.html

This one, I noticed, indicates that the Gallaudet faculty does not back the selection of Fernandes as the school's new president.

Fernandes was selected last spring to take over beginning in January, sparking student protests and a no-confidence vote from the faculty. Students renewed their protests this week.

So I can't help but wonder why it is that the board that selected Fernandes insisted on sticking by that choice even in the face of a no-confidence vote by the faculty and persistent protests from angry students who had been trying for some time to have their grievances and objections heard and respected.

Also, the statements issued by Gallaudet spokespersons sound to me nearly identical to the way a lot of "officials" talked about the student anti-war protests of the Sixties and Seventies.

That president selection board at Gallaudet, btw, had 21 members but only two of them were students and one was an alum. So apparently the institution does want input from the student body, past and present -- just not very MUCH of it!

And IMO it doesn't matter what other schools do in terms of letting students have some say in choosing a president. I feel that deaf students are different -- not in any bad way of course but simply because they have some special needs that students at other schools don't have.

Gallaudet is an UNDERgraduate school, too, in addition to the post-grad elements it now offers; and I think that has some bearing on the importance of "getting it right" when a president is chosen who will determine the direction of things at the school for some time to come.


Fernandes has what looks like an outstanding CV with respect to her qualifications.

http://president.gallaudet.edu/x3119.xml

Of course everyone is aware of how resumes and CVs can be "padded" or simply skewed to reflect more positive qualities or experience than a person actually has -- though I'm not saying this was done in Fernandes' case, I simply don't know.

But she was head of the Department of Sign Communication in a previous stint at Gallaudet, and later as provost was "responsible for all of the academic programs and academic support components at Gallaudet."

What strikes me about this history is that in those capacities Fernandes would very likely have interacted a lot with students, so it seems that students have had a long time to become familiar with her. If many of them have serious concerns about her now, I have to wonder why this is so and if their concerns may well be legitimate.

The dismissive attitude one school spokesperson displays also disturbs me some: (also from the OP article)

"Some protesters seem to think that not accepting their recommendation is not listening," Coogan said. "The board has heard them, but the board is not going to do as they wish. They stand by Dr. Fernandes, and she is not willing to step down from the presidency."

OTOH, it's also disturbing to me that the former interim selection board chair felt she had to resign after receiving threats during the selection process. (All this info is on the Gallaudet Website.)

What ALL this shows is that the entire affair has been a source of controversy and turmoil at the school for some time now; and I really hope that Gallaudet and its students can reach a compromise or a new decision that will best serve the students who depend on this school to prepare them for life in the wider world. The statement by Fernandes herself that she would work to serve the best interests of the institution, while she left out any reference to serving the best interests of the students, was, uh, interesting, to say the least.

Gallaudet has a long and honorable history as the country's "pre-eminent" institution for education of the deaf, and I'd hate to see everything go sour at this point. It was Abraham Lincoln who signed the charter legislation that established Gallaudet in 1864.

[China_cat]

7. Gallaudet has a long history of ignoring the students

that attend there. The school never even had a deaf president until 1988 and the students had to protest for years before they got that concession.

[seriousstan]

2. There is a rift between signing and lip-reading deaf.

Frankly it is stupid. I have seen parents deny their children cochlear implants that could give them hearing because of this ignorant deaf-pride.