NEWSWEEK–Signs of Trouble

NEWSWEEK–Signs of Trouble–A campus conflict reveals rifts in deaf cultureBy Sarah Childress
Newsweek
Oct. 30, 2006 issue

You don’t need an interpreter to understand the poster taped to the
front wall of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the nation’s
leading school for the deaf. It’s a drawing of Jane Fernandes, the
newly appointed president, bearing a pitchfork, pearls and a pointed
tail. She’s rising from a burning university building split in two.

Fernandes’s appointment has roiled the campus from the moment her
selection was announced by the board of trustees in May. Students and
faculty began complaining that her management style as provost had been
heavy-handed, and that she was insufficiently attentive to the
different degrees of deafness on campus. Critics also claimed she was
not committed enough to promoting deaf culture, which has traditionally
favored sign language over hearing aids. (Although she was born deaf,
Fernandes didn’t learn to sign until she was 23, and some worry that
she will focus too much on technology to “fix” deafness rather than
embrace it.) This fall, the debate on campus turned uglier. Cops
arrested 133 student protesters last week, and a rising tide of alumni,
faculty and trustees has called for Fernandes to step down. “I will
not,” she told NEWSWEEK, signing through an interpreter. “My
resignation would hurt Gallaudet University for a long time.”

And, potentially, the deaf world beyond Gallaudet’s walls. The issues
at stake have grown more pressing as deaf children increasingly attend
mainstream schools and use advanced new cochlear implants to interact
with the hearing world. Deaf leaders around the country are watching
closely.

Back on campus, demonstrators, led in part by the student-body
president, Noah Beckman, are focusing on two nonnegotiable demands:
Fernandes’s resignation and immunity for their actions. Many have even
turned against the current president, I. King Jordan, whom protesters
helped install as the first deaf leader at Gallaudet, in 1988. Then,
Jordan says, the demonstrations were “for an ideal that pulled together
everybody … Now this protest is not for anything. It’s against a
person. It’s hurtful.”

Fernandes’s supporters-some of whom have been called traitors and
harassed for attending class-believe her commitment to welcoming the
entire spectrum of deaf and hard-of-hearing students could help solve
Gallaudet’s problems. “She has a lot of visions that are outstanding
that she could bring to the university, but people just don’t take the
time to listen to her ideas,” says junior Lindsay Henderson.

Fernandes believes the school will get past this, even if it means
bringing in outside mediators to defuse the tension. For now, students
say they’re at an impasse. Ryan Commerson, one of the student protest
leaders, says: “Our pain is too deep.” So far, nobody’s found words to
begin the healing.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15365607/site/newsweek/

[Photo caption:] Quiet Anger: Students block a campus gate; Evan Vucci
/ AP

[Photo caption:] Protest: Beckman (left) and Fernandes; Gary Fabiano /
Sipa for Newsweek (l.) ; Gallaudet-AP

Commentary: Even though this article isn’t 100% accurate, it is sure heck better than the article showing up in the early phase of the protesters! They are listening to us! Keep up! Spread the words!   elizabeth