NYTimes: Protesters Press Broader Demands

October 31, 2006
At University for Deaf, Protesters Press Broader Demands
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

[Photo caption:] Noah Beckman, president of student government at
Gallaudet University in Washington, packed up belongings after campus
protests ended.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 – The day after protesters at Gallaudet
University, the world’s premier university for the deaf, prevailed in
their battle to oust the incoming president, they pressed forward with
their broader demands, saying that students must have a greater say in
the search for a new president, and that the next choice should be a
more forceful advocate for deaf culture and a strong deaf identity.

“We are looking for a person who’s sensitive enough, who has
respect for all cultures and for American Sign Language,” Noah
Beckman, president of the student government, signed through an
interpreter. He said the new search process would have to demonstrate
“inclusion, transparency and equality.”

On a sunny, spring-like afternoon, Mr. Beckman and other students
packed up tents and sleeping bags that had filled the front lawns in
recent weeks. Gone were the signs deriding Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, the
former provost who had been named to take over as president on Jan. 1,
and I. King Jordan, the outgoing president who had supported her.

Dr. Fernandes’s detractors said she lacked leadership ability and did
not embrace the primacy of American Sign Language at Gallaudet and in
deaf culture. And even though the panel that selected her included
students and members of the faculty, many complained that their
opinions had been overlooked, and that the process was biased in her
favor.

The university has never agreed that the process was not open.

In an e-mail message, the chairman of the Gallaudet board, Brenda Joe
Brueggemann, said the board had taken many factors into account in
deciding to revoke Dr. Fernandes’ contract.

“We had to think about safety on the Gallaudet campus,” she wrote.

“We had to think of Gallaudet’s unique role as an institution of
higher education but also as a ‘center’ for the deaf community,
nationally and even worldwide,” the message continued. “We had to
think about the way that the situation clearly was not getting any
better. We had to think about the financial and moral impact of the
protests, especially as they continued, on the university and its
constituents.”

Ms. Brueggemann said the board had not yet set any parameters for the
new search.

The board’s decision to drop its original candidate would complicate
its next search, said Michael A. Baer, a partner at Isaacson, Miller,
an executive search firm for colleges, universities and other public
interest nonprofits. “There are a limited number of people available
for them to consider, and it’s going to send a cautionary note to
individuals who could be candidates,” Mr. Baer said.

Any future candidates would have to be attuned to the issues emerging
in deaf culture, and the sensitivities involved, Mr. Baer continued. In
addition, the prolonged protest brought to the fore the latent
discontent over a number of issues on campus, from the failure of many
professors to use American Sign Language – the most accessible means
of communication for many deaf people – to dissatisfaction that
Gallaudet has not played more of an advocacy role for deaf rights in
every area of life.

“The search committee and board’s awareness that they need to
communicate with the entire campus community, in the long run, may
strengthen the campus community,” Mr. Baer said.

Veterans of presidential searches at colleges and universities around
the country, said that in view of Dr. Fernandes’ ouster, the new
search would have to give even greater weight to the views of faculty
and students. In recent weeks, 82 percent of the faculty voted for Dr.
Fernandes to resign or be removed.

Claire Van Ummersen, vice president in charge of the Center for
Effective Leadership, at the American Council on Education, which
represents more than 1,800 colleges, universities and organizations
involved in higher education, predicted that Gallaudet would not have
trouble finding new candidates for the job.

The university, she said, is in a class by itself, as the world’s
only liberal arts university for the deaf, and is highly prestigious.

In interviews on campus today, protesters said their victory had
reinvigorated the struggle for deaf rights, pointing out that this was
the second time deaf students had demanded, and won, a say in
determining who would lead their university. Eighteen years ago,
students forced the board to abandon its first choice of president, and
to name Dr. Jordan as Gallaudet’s first deaf president in more than
100 years.

David Reynolds, an alumnus whose family is deaf three generations back,
had driven in from Indianapolis with his 21-year-old twin sons,
Jonathan and Justin, to join the protest. A teacher at the Indiana
School for the Deaf, Mr. Reynolds said the new search must allow all
groups to weigh in.

“We need the right visionary person,” Mr. Reynolds signed. “The
whole thing here is don’t rush the process. That was the mistake the
last time.”

Justin Reynolds, a Gallaudet student who was taking a semester off,
said this weekend’s victory for the protesters signaled the ascent of
deaf power. “From here on out, the world wants to know what we’ll
do next,” Mr. Reynolds said. “With this unity, what are we capable
of?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/education/31gallaudet.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

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