From a hearing student: Interpreters banned

From a pager of a hearing student: Gallaudet still refuses to let its staff interpreters do any interpreting for the protesting students. 

This makes the playing level so uneven and unfairly gives the Administration an advantage by exploiting the language barriers of its students.  This hearing student said she is completely turned off by that attitude.  I told her I was informed that Gallaudet used this tactic last May, too.

Are you a Crazy Person (Part Two)

 ://gallaudet-part-2  

By Charles Harper. Hat tip to DelaJoy Ridor

BoT Firm: Fernandes Stays

The arrogance of BoT, ignoring the whole Community and the protest, ignoring the negative PR coverage accumulating in the media, especially after the violence of its security guards against its students were exposed. For sure, the BoT doesn’t represent the Gallaudet Community. By the way, it was reported that the memo was sent only two minutes after the two students were summarily dismissed after 5 mins meeting with the BoT. In other words, they have already written the memo before they heard from the students.

 Clearly, this has been a difficult day here on campus.  I must say, at the outset, that a great number of charges and countercharges have been covered by the media.  It has been a stressful situation, but we have been exploring (and will continue to explore) ways to peacefully resolve the campus situation.  We are committed, first and foremost, to the safety of the Gallaudet family—students, faculty, and staff.  

I want to give special thanks to the faculty, staff and the Gallaudet security team for their support under difficult conditions. Let me provide an update on the outcomes of today’s board meeting.  It should come as no surprise that our discussions were candid and animated—all viewpoints were welcomed and heard. We recognize that it will take time to heal the wounds that have been opened over these last several months.  As an academic institution, we desire an environment that promotes freedom of speech and assembly.  However, we have a commitment to all of our students; and therefore we have directed the Administration to do what is necessary both to assure the safety of our students and to allow the work of the university to proceed.    While on campus we have met with various faculty, students, alumni and staff representatives with many different points of view in order to hear their concerns. We were in the process of considering the protestors’ request for an independent review of the selection process, not our decision, when we were advised that the protestors have taken that demand off the table. It is difficult for the Administration to negotiate when the students make two non-negotiable demands.  It is the Administration’s responsibility to resolve the takeover of the Hall Memorial Building .  They have our confidence. We look forward to Dr. Fernandes becoming the next President of Gallaudet University.  The Board is committed to offering an outstanding education to the students at Gallaudet. Our job is to establish policies that provide a safe academic environment where growth and learning can take place. We will work with the Administration, faculty, staff, students and alumni towards the goal of eliminating oppression of all kinds, including audism and racism on campus.  

We wish to assure that Gallaudet University is an institution that embraces and values American Sign Language and the cultures of deaf people all over the world. 

We are committed to a Board of Trustees nomination process that is fair and inclusive.  

We value diversity and show caring and fairness in listening to voices and views of all persons in the campus community. 

We will assure that due process in disputes are managed well.” From Elisa’s new blog gallaudet protests » Blog Archive » Just Minutes After BOT’s Meeting with Students…

AP Report: Gallaudet students allege campus police brutality

By LUBNA TAKRURI, The Associated Press
Oct 6, 2006 3:50 PM

WASHINGTON – Protests escalated at Gallaudet University on Friday as
about 200 students blocked access to a campus building in opposition to
the university’s choice for president.

Students at Gallaudet, a university for people who are deaf and hard of
hearing, claimed that the protests were marred by rough actions by some
of the school’s police officers.

Jory Pederson-Dike, an 18-year-old Gallaudet student from Fremont,
Calif., said one campus police officer choked him Friday morning after
students tried to prevent the officers from entering the building. He
and other students said they were pushed by several officers.

“I was in shock,” Pederson-Dike said. “I didn’t know they could do that
to me. I thought they couldn’t touch me.”

In a statement, the university said “rumors of student injury are
false.” It also said that the protesters were disrupting classes and
other work in the building and had been asked to leave.

The students began blockading the campus building Thursday night,
stepping up their protests of the university’s selection process for a
new president. They believe their opposition to the current choice,
then-Provost Jane Fernandes, has been ignored.

Pederson-Dike said he spent the night in tents in Hall Memorial
Building along with other students. He said in the morning they saw
campus police officers walking quickly toward the building and tried to
block the officers from entering by forming human barricades.

Some students said they were more upset by the police reaction than the
school’s decision for president.

“I feel it’s proof that we do need a new system and a new leadership
because they proved they don’t care about students’ concerns,” said
Latoya Plummer, a junior at Gallaudet.

Friday afternoon, students were still inside the building, blocking
police and others from the nine entrances. Many protesters stood on the
stairs under a steady light rain, holding signs with slogans such as
“Stop the Oppression.”

Communicating with reporters through three interpreters and by typing
on their Sidekick phones, students expressed anger that the
university’s board of trustees chose Fernandes to lead the school last
spring.

Students and some faculty said they felt their input was not considered
and that the selection process was unfair. The faculty responded by
giving Fernandes a vote of no confidence in May.

http://www.examiner.com/a-330410~Gallaudet_students_allege_campus_police_brutality.html

Update at 5 PM

The office of the California Representative Pete Stark had made repeated calls to Gallaudet, requesting information regarding the safety of CA students there and received no response for quite a while. Finally a Gallaudet representative answered with a statement that no students were injured.

BoT apparently had a meeting without Jordan.

SBG President now waiting to meet with BoT

Authorized Use of Force?

From: Running Scared Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 15:01:57 EDT What occurred at Gallaudet this morning has planted some serious doubts whether the safety of the students on campus are in the minds of the Department of Public Safety or those who holds positions of authority at the university. After I made my commute to Gallaudet this morning, I was forced to use the 6th street entrance because the front entrance was blocked. I found out later that there was a bomb threat called in which was the reason why there was a mass of people out front. Not knowing this at that moment, I found a parking spot and proceeded to walk to the Hall Memorial Building (HMB), to go to class. What a scene! Chaos! …Students running everywhere, media trying to catch up, DPS officers playing cat and mouse trying to find an entrance that was unguarded and people just staring at the scene in awe. I walked up to the east side HMB entrance and saw a student I knew through the glass door. He was sitting on a bench, on the inside, with a colorful array of cords and rope securing the door to the bench. After I succeeded in attracting his attention, he reiterated what everyone was saying. “HMB is on lockdown.” What occurred next was the first time I have ever experienced the fear of being physically assaulted and totally submitted to force. Where I was standing, three DPS officers arrived and just swatted away one of those pop-up tents, situated a couple of feet in front of the entrance, and proceeded to grab the door handle and pull away. (You ever see one those baboons or monkeys on the Discovery Channel frantically shaking a tree for whatever reason?) This officer couldn’t break-in because the ropes and cord were cleverly attached to a long bench on the inside and the student I just concluded my conversation with, was rocking back and forth, on the bench, with the effort of the officer’s strength, pulling frantically, to break open the door. No more than a minute passed when other students suddenly arrived and proceed to create a human chain between the officers and the door. At no point did any of the student try to touch the officers. With the kind of facial expression they were wearing, you’d be out of your mind to even tap them on the shoulder. A second officer was holding one of those lock busters which look like a giant pair of bulky scissors. The third officer just shoved the students away, just like that, so the officer with the lock buster could gain access to the door. A lock buster wouldn’t have done a thing since all the ropes and cords were attached to the inside of the handle. But what really freaked me out was that this officer just shoved a student into me, trying to clear the way. Whoa! Is this an authorized use of force? Do you know what popped into my thoughts at that moment? … Tiananmen Square… This might be a gross exaggeration but at the pace these officers were going, someone was bound to get severely injured. Will Gallaudet need a martyr like the Chinese individual who stared down that tank to his last breath? I felt it was important to share this with everyone because I was on the fence with the situation occurring at Gallaudet but now I am scared shitless. Are DPS officers authorized or permitted to act so intimidating and frightening? I can see this action happening with law enforcement officials, but campus officers hired to ensure the safety of the students? To make matters worse, the Gallaudet PR department sent out a memo to the campus community that all claims of injury to students and pepper spray use by DPS officials are false. Are you kidding me?? I just saw what happened this morning with my own two eyes. These students did not provoke those officers as they were trying to create a human barrier in front of the door. I don’t see how anyone could justify this situation. Is there anyone who can help those students? Deep down in my heart, I don’t believe that this crisis should produce any bodily harm or fatalities. The students have a legitimate claim to protest peacefully but do the authorities have the equal legitimate claim to authorize and coerce force? Running Scared

Lesson Not Learned by DPS, Formerly DOSS?

How unreal! The DPS (formerly DOSS) clearly did not learn any lesson from the fatal Carl Dupree case where saw one of those DOSS officers applied a choke and hold method on his throat years ago.

What the DPS did to those poor students was absolutely brutal.

I vividly recall that I saw the DC Police tow truck driver punched John Maucere in his face during the DPN while John tried to talk to him out of towing one of those shuttle buses away from one of the gates. It was one of a known few physical contacts between the DPN protestors and DC Police & DOSS.
Darryl Hackett

Update: DC Police Hands Off

The students reported that nobody inside the HMB threatened any bomb threat. Suspicions are that the Administration used this tactic as an attempt to force the students outside of the bldg. Students told the people via interpreters that there are no bomb in the bldg.So far D.C. Police Dept is keeping their hands off

Confirmed injuries among four or five students.