Fernandes The Only One?

Folks:

I want you to “listen” with an open mind on what I have to say here.

Please read this paragraph including a quote by Jane Fernandes from the Washington Post on October 6th:

Fernandes said she is the only one who can lead the school into the future and make it more inclusive for all types of deaf people. “I don’t think there’s anyone on earth who knows the issues better than I do. I’ve been living in it. . . . I know there’s audism here. I know there’s racism here. I know it happens, and more importantly, I have a plan to address it.”

Who does she think she is? The Messiah of Inclusiveness? Every Gallaudet student, faculty, staff, and alumni for the past 100-plus years has been living with these issues as much as she has.  It does not matter if one is pro-ASL, pro-SEE, pro-PSE, or pro-oral … if one is black, white, blue, green, orange, or yellow.  I have been living in it as much as she has been.  I grew up with predominately African-American and Hispanic inner city kids at Kendall School whose cards were so stacked against them by the system.  Some of them are still alive but many of them are either on drugs or dead.  I was mainstreamed for two years and I left because I was unable to be “free” from being myself.

Before any of you jump on me on why I am saying my piece of mind, ask yourselves this: How would you feel if I, as a white person, went on record saying that I know what it is like to be a person of color because I have been living in it? Or if I, as a deaf person, went on record saying that I know what it was like to be hard-of-hearing because I have been living in it? I would be crucified for complete and utter ignorance as well with having many folks come like a swarm of locusts on my back ‘til kingdom come.

I have no problem if she boasts to have a plan to address racism and audism but to outright claim that there is probably no one other than her who knows these issues best really is mind-blowing for me.  I have had real experiences with these issues myself and so do many other folks.  I certainly do not need someone to tell me that I may be ignorant of racism and audism.

I’m boiling mad here because she’s wrong for saying that.  I see the “deaf card” here and her statement above gives more justification on why she is not deaf enough.  I know it’s not an issue of the protest but she is playing the deaf card once again and I’m really pissed here.  For someone to proclaim herself as probably the only person who is an expert on audism is not “deaf enough” in my book because if she was “deaf enough,” she would not have made that statement in the first place.

You can read the article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600405_2.html?nav=hcmodule

See two separate quotes by Mercy Coogan, Director of Gallaudet Public Relations in a CNN article on October 6th:

Coogan said the complaints about Fernandes arose out of the question of whether she was “deaf enough.”

Coogan said the university is committed to “visual communications,” and that those who work for the school are expected to know some level of sign language.”

Am I reading these quotes right?

Is my alma mater relentlessly playing the “let’s use the deaf card” again and again? I mean, I distinctly remember something about the Board asking the FSSA last spring to cease making statements like that as much as they had asked the administration.  And I also believe that two members of the Board agreed in a meeting with the FSSA last spring that it was not about “not being deaf enough.”  Right now, I’m resenting my alma mater for playing the “deaf card.”

Does it mean that anyone who works for Gallaudet is expected to have minimal signing abilities? What exactly does “knowing some level of sign language” mean? This is definitely another mind-blower for me, really.

You can read the CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/06/college.protesters/index.html

The FSSA has maintained that the search process was flawed and still maintains that today.  They kept her out of the issue because they hoped she would see the light and resign.  She still refuses to give in and the Board is standing behind her.

Lo!  A Pandora’s Box was opened!  All the stories, accusations, confirmations of MBI/LBF, stories of “my way or the highway,” et cetera began to come out.  I never did want to see this type of thing happen because it would drastically make the deaf community more divided.  And it has and whether you like it or not, Gallaudet
University is one of the root causes.

This is exactly why it is not about the flawed process any more.  It is also about ineffective leadership and that quote by Jane Fernandes among many missed opportunities clearly shows her ineffective leadership.

Let’s talk about I. King Jordan here.  Granted, I’ll give him the benefit of being a kick-ass fund-raiser, a kick-ass ambassador, and a great friend for Gallaudet.  I like him because he’s smart, articulate, and charismatic.

Since May, I have yet to see him be a positive ally for Gallaudet.  He proclaimed, wearing a black suit with a bright red shirt, at the NAD conference in the scorching desert heat that there is no crisis at Gallaudet and told everyone in simpler terms, “shut up, accept, and move on.”

For the NAD to issue a sixth open letter refuting the “no crisis” statement … that is poetic justice because the NAD took a stand in reminding him that he cannot silence those who openly oppose him.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from the Development Office asking me to support Gallaudet.  How can I donate to my alma mater after what I have seen in the past six months? Since May 2006, there’s evidence that the university has been unable to clean house.  And right now, how can I support Gallaudet especially if the president-designate has made herself appear as the only person who can tackle the issues of racism and audism?

The Board is not in touch with the student body and the alumni.  The same Board, the most vocal from within, Tom Humphries who coined the term, ‘audism’, told the protesters that they cannot meet one of their demands.  The same Board who told the protesters that there is a stalemate.  The same Board had only five minutes to spare for the protesters to share their issues because they had travel plans to complete.

These reasons are exactly why I. King Jordan and Jane K. Fernandes must resign immediately on the basis of ineffective leadership.  And why the Board needs to change their composition to include more Gallaudet alumni.

Is the King busy eating turkey legs in his castle with his Court of Trustees who might be having arrows trained on them while Jane is being told by her mirror that she is the messiah on eradicating racism and audism because she actually believes that there is no one else in the world that can do it? Or is the Prince of Audism, Humphries the First, jockeying for his share of the delicious turkey legs that the King is devouring? The Town Crier spins yonder.

I cry for thee, o’ Gallaudet.  I cry for those who put pride at the expense of others.  And I stand before the Tower Clock in buff tears and bleeding blue.

Karl A. Ewan

Class of 1993 – BA

Class of 1999 – MA

The Media Continues To Hear The Truth

Great job, Leha Katz Hernandez. We need more people to share the truth with the media so the media can properly educate the public.  Eventually the public will understand that the university has been misleading them since last May. elizabeth

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

——————————————————————————–

Meeting aims to resolve standoff at Gallaudet
By Arlo Wagner
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published October 9, 2006

——————————————————————————–

Gallaudet students and administrators met throughout yesterday in a
building they took over Thursday night, communication they hoped would
help resolve their objections to incoming President Jane K. Fernandes.

“After she was selected, her leadership still came into question,” Leha
Katz Hernandez, 19, said through a sign-language interpreter. “She has
proved she cannot lead us,” said Miss Hernandez, a sophomore at the
nation’s only four-year liberal arts institution specializing in
educating the deaf and the hearing-impaired.

The standoff — the students’ latest effort to oust Mrs. Fernandes –
began Thursday night when more than 200 students gathered inside Hall
Memorial Building after the administration refused their requests to
reopen the search process, which concluded in the spring.

The students set up human blockades and tents at entrances and were
taking turns guarding the doors.

The meeting between student leaders and university officials they
allowed inside began at noon yesterday and continued into the night.

Students said the dean of student affairs and the interim provost were
representing the administration. The school Web site identifies Carl A.
Pramuk as the dean and Michael L. Moore as the provost.

Students continued to eat, sleep and essentially live inside the
building, which consists mostly of classrooms for the school’s roughly
1,800 students.

Miss Hernandez said the Student Body Government made the decision to
take over the building. The group’s president, Noah Beckman,
participated in the meeting yesterday.

Other students at the school said 67 percent of the faculty also
disapproved of the selection of Mrs. Fernandes.

Students said that the three white candidates represented a lack of
diversity, and that one did not have a doctorate degree. A black man
with a doctorate would have been a strong candidate but was not even
considered, they said.

“This is basically a culmination of disagreement over a long period of
years,” said Miss Hernandez, a Maryland native. “We have had enough.”

She said Mrs. Fernandes, who had been a provost at the university for
six years and president-elect since May, has done “nothing to gain our
confidence.”

The students also criticized the administration’s handling of the
dispute.

“University spokespersons have distributed misinformation and that
interfered,” Miss Hernandez said.

Students clashed with campus police Friday night. Officers attempting
to enter the building hit, choked and pepper-sprayed students, Miss
Hernandez said.

Officials for the university on Florida Avenue Northeast said the
officers attempted to clear the building because of a bomb threat but
denied pepper spray was used.

“The students wouldn’t let them in, and they were making it really
difficult just for the officers to move around,” said Gallaudet
spokeswoman Mercy Coogan. “But no one was harmed or hurt in any way. If
in the process of that a little shoving went on, then I think it was on
both sides.”

The students said an officer was allowed inside the building after they
learned of the bomb threat.

Ms. Coogan also suggested that D.C.police might be called eventually to
resolve the standoff.

“We want them to know that it’s one thing if our security people escort
them out and they have to go through campus judicial process, and
another thing if they are arrested by D.C. police and have that on
their permanent record,” she said Friday night.

Three city police patrol cars were parked outside the university’s
Department of Public Safety while officers and university officials
discussed whether to forcibly remove the students.

Mrs. Fernandes was selected last spring to replace outgoing President
I. King Jordan, the 142-year-old school’s first deaf president.

Two days after her selection, a group known as FSSA — or Faculty,
Students, Staff, Alumni — organized to call for the reopening of the
selection process.

Students said one of the first indications of a problem was when Mr.
Jordan announced his retirement and accidentally named Mrs. Fernandes
as president.

The faculty gave Mrs. Fernandes a vote of no confidence in May.

Ms. Coogan said only the board of trustees can choose a new president,
and that the faculty and students do not get to vote.

Despite the opposition, the 21-member board upheld its decision Friday
in its last meeting before Mrs. Fernandes takes office in January.

“Deaf politics was never the issue,” Miss Hernandez said. “Jane
Fernandes severely divided the university. It creates confusion about
the protest itself. Because Gallaudet had willfully distorted the
process, that is further evidence that she cannot lead and design. We
care very deeply for the university and that is why we are protesting.”

· This article is based in part on wire service reports.

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20061008-110644-3279r.htm

Students Need Support From Faculty And Staff

I read the heartfelt letter of Leala Holcomb and applaud her for being so honest with the audience. I agree with her. The students only represents one fourth of the FSSA entities.  The students have spoken up. The Alumni have shown their support. The momentum is building up rapidly. The media are now riveted on campus.  It is time for the faculty and staff to do their part.

 I do understand the atmosphere of fear, especially for those who don’t have job security. However, the students got hurt last Friday. The PR Dept is still misleading the public about these injuries and insisting that the pepper spray was never used.  The PR Dept is still insisting that it is all about cultural identity crisis, helping Jordan and Fernandes promoting a big lie that hurts the image of Gallaudet and the deaf students it is entrusted to teach and nurture.

 You need to look deep inside yourself and talk with your peers. Do the right thing. Stand up for your rights and convictions.  If you don’t feel safe coming out alone, don’t. Come out in groups.  There is safety in numbers.  The time is right.  The media are now finally hearing the real truth and reporting the real issues to the public. The time is right for you to come out of the woodwork and tell the world how you feel.  elizabeth
The Buff and Blue
[Gallaudet University]
Volume CXV
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Special Edition #8

UNDERSTANDING
Written by Leala Holcomb

I do not understand. I do not understand how can you not understand.
The critical situation we are in right now, the future is in our hands.

Yesterday, I cried. The last time I cried this hard was at my
cousin’s memorial service. After hearing depressing results from the
‘five-minute meeting’ with Board of Trustees, finding out that
Brenda Brueggemann publicly thanked the Gallaudet security system and
videophoning with my mother in California, I broke down.

To my dismay, I walked around inside the HMB building with tears
rolling out of my eyes. Some people asked me “what is wrong?” Some
people gave me sympathy. Some people looked at me funny. I do not
understand how can you not understand.

I cannot grasp the fact that you do not understand. This amount of
knowledge I have about the corrupted system in the university has been
haunting me every passing minute. The more I know, the more depressed I
become. I know that Gallaudet University’s Board of Trustees does not
care about me. I know that I. King Jordan and Jane Fernandes will lie
through their teeth to the entire world in order to get what they want.
I know that a lot of faculty members are counting days to their
retirement. I know that almost no staff is here because they are living
in fear everyday at this university. I know that my mother along with a
lot of alumnus and friends of Gallaudet are supporting us and praying
for our safety. I know that a lot of students are ignorant about the
stake of Gallaudet’s future. But, I also know that a lot of students
care but chose to party on this very Saturday night instead. Still, I
do not understand how can you not understand.

How can I continue to go to school while I know that my safety is not
ensured? How can I go to my American History II class, where my teacher
cannot sign and the only way I can communicate with him is through a
voice of an interpreter? How can I cheer in my Buff and Blue uniform
for a university that does not respect my rights? I paid to be here. I
chose this university. Instead, I got oppressed. I do not understand
how can you not understand.

Yes, I bawled like a baby. I wept because I was not valued as a student
in the university I love and cherish. I wept because I got so much
support from people outside the university, but so little from people
on the campus. I wept because I saw a lot of people who are aware of
this fraudulent system and still choose to leave this building. Yes, I
do not understand how can you not understand.

I am in this fight not just for myself, but for all faculty, staff and
alumni who suffer from this corrupted system. We should not be in this
fight alone. I feel so much support from people but I do not see them
here with me. Despite the atmosphere of fear here, we need every single
body here, regardless who you are or what job position you hold. I am
risking my position as a student here, why can’t you risk yours?

http://www.joeybaer.com/buffandblue

Or:

http://eyethstudios.com/bnb/index.htm

An Excellent Job On The Interview, Holcomb & Plummer!

They did an excellent job informing the reporter the real issues facing Gallaudet and that both Fernandes and the PR office are providing deceitful statements. Hopefully the media and the public now will understand that they cannot rely on Gallaudet to be honest with them. The Congress will NOT be happy to hear how Gallaudet misled them, the public, and the parents about the students being hurt and pepper sprayed.

Keep going and fight for justice.  Unity for Gallaudet!

elizabeth in a SC hotel
 

FOX 5 News at Ten, WTTG-TV, Washington, DC,
Sunday, October 8, 2006, 10:00 p.m. news

ELLEN CHANG (live): The protest has been heating up all week and it’s
only gained momentum tonight. It’s important to remember in the midst
of all this activity that the protest is about what students are
calling a “flawed appointment process.”  And now the fight is taking on
a broader face.

ELLEN CHANG (prerecorded): The laundry list of complaints against Dr.
Jane Fernandes and her leadership, the university’s ninth appointed
president, keeps growing.

TARA HOLCOMB (Bobby Loeffler, interpreter): More and more evidence is
showing up that there are a lot of ethical issues–behaving in truly
unethical manners, for example, using the office of Public Relations to
relate false information about what happened with the Department of
Public Safety and the assaults that have been happening.

CHANG: Students aren’t backing down.  They’re still holed up in Hall
Memorial Building, which has been barricaded since early Friday
morning.  Now, protesters are consulting with professionals.

LATOYA PLUMMER: Not only are we calling for Congressional involvement,
we also have several legal aides and legal advisors coming in.  We’ve
had one come in today and a few more coming with more support.

CHANG: The roots of this protest go back all the way to May and the
complaints haven’t changed.  Students say Fernandes doesn’t have the
credentials to lead Gallaudet University.  They say she’s a crony of
the current president who didn’t get the job fair and square.

PLUMMER: The flawed process leads to the selection of the wrong leader.
Gallaudet University has yet to really effectively bring the
university together.  We are still a university divided.

CHANG: Protesters say Fernandes engages in intimidation tactics and
leads an oppresive administration.  They say it all trickles down to
the faculty and the student body.

HOLCOMB: The faculty often have low morale.  They do not feel
comfortable working here.  The staff has repeatedly said that they are
not even allowed to discuss the protest.  They are afraid to even bring
it up.

CHANG (live): Protesting students say if the Board of Trustees does not
respond, they’ll plan on going on hunger strikes–even withdrawing from
the university.  As for Gallaudet, a spokesperson says the university
continues to say that Fernandes is the right woman for the job.  Live
in Northeast, Ellen Chang, Fox 5 News.

MAUREEN UMEH (anchor): Alright, Ellen.  Thank you.  Now those
protesters continue to disrupt the school’s day-to-day operations.  To
get classes back up and running, a Gallaudet spokesperson says the
university will be looking for alternative locations to hold classes.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=1122640&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Sometimes This Week Fernandes Inducted As A President?

From a Xanga blogger who claims her Dad is a member of BoT. 

“So, I saw my Dad today. I learned quite a few things… that happened this past week behind the scenes.

First, the Earth Juice. That was planned as a routine maitence waayyyy back in early august. What wasn’t realized back then that it just happned to be the week the BOT came. That was NOT planned; as soon as IJK heard about the fertilizer from Linda, he ordered it to be stopped.

Jane is gonna be inducted as President sometime this week, so she is not longer sitting around as a lame duck. She wants to meet with the students (under heavy security naturally) and let her ideas and plans to be known to the Gallaudet students and the rest of the public.

The rest of the day was just a beautiful wisconsin day. We (me, my girlfriend and boyfriend and their daughter and friends) all decided to go apple picking. Such a pretty day, no sweatshirts needed! The trees were sooo pretty, It did make me miss DC, especially driving along the Baltimore Washington Parkway. I miss gally soo much. ”

Since I don’t know this person, I have no idea if this is true or not. But I thought I’ll share this tidbit with you all.  I’ve decided to withhold the name of the xanga for privacy reasons. elizabeth

Comment: Two readers confirmed that it is true about the Xanga writer being the daughter of a BoT member. mz

Rally at 10 PM HMB Atrium

Rally at 10:00 pm tonight (Sunday)–HMB–Everyone please attend–spread
the word

It’s in the atrium.

Lack of Response from Gally PR Spokeperson Mercy Coogan

Date: October 7, 2006, 10:02 p.m.
To: Catherine Sweet-Windham <catherine.sweet-windham@gallaudet.edu>
CC: Mercy Coogan <mercy.coogan@gallaudet.edu>
Subject: Expression of concern

Dear Cathy:

During Friday’s luncheon between Faculty representataives and
Administrators (absent the Trustees), two concerns (among others) were
shared at our table:

a) the denial of access to campus by the media and their broadcasting
vehicles;

b) consistent dissemination of information to the campus by the PR
office, deemed to be one-sided.

I personally queried Mercy Coogan on Friday via email at 7:39 AM, well
before our luncheon, requesting clarification of the media access
matter. To date, I have not received a response from her. I find it
disappointing that the Chair of the Faculty would not have been
afforded a timely written response that could have been shared with my
colleagues.

Since the luncheon event, these two issues have grown considerably in
importance. Reports suggest that media access is now more difficult
than ever. If this is true, it raises concerns about the free flow of
information and ideas on our campus and beyond our gates.

The second issue involves the use of the Public Relations office (and
the PR Office’s own letterhead!) to disseminate a private letter from a
single student to the entire campus. Regardless of the import of David
King’s letter or the timeliness of his views, the Administration’s use
of campus media to present, time and time again, only a single
“official” perspective during a time of controversy makes one wonder
about the Institution’s commitment to the free exchange of ideas. Are
you planning on allowing similar access to others on campus who wish to
have their views shared widely?

In closing, let me add that these actions and policies do not strike me
as fully consistent with the spirit of President Jordan’s recent
pronouncements, in particular the following:

“In the course of dissent, the rights of all members of our community
must be protected.” [Approved summary of meeting of 8/28 between IKJ
and Faculty Reps.] While the media may not have a “right” to be on
private property and dissenters do not have a right to unencumbered
access to the  Public Relations distributions lists,  the selective and
highly controlled dissemination of information mediated by the
University strikes many of us an antithetical to the spirit of  free
inquiry and the liberal exchange of ideas that are the hallmarks of an
institution of higher learning.

Sincerely,

Mark Weinberg

Cc: University Faculty, Mercy Coogan