More On Leave JKF Alone
Sweeping Jane Fernandes under the rug will result in a large lump that everyone has to tiptoe around. We need to examine how this situation arose and establish guidelines so that it does not happen again.
JKF was not an innocent party, and neither was the current president nor the Board of Trustees. They all came together at exactly the right time under the right (wrong) circumstances to kick off a massive damaging protest.
How, why, and what occured bears analysis so we can rebuild a fairer and saner system as well as prevent it happening again. It has twice. It appears to have mixed results the first time; now we have a second chance that we cannot afford to screw up. A mistake of the first time was the protest going away once a new President was in place and leaving it at that.
Does the current system encourage people adopting a management by intimidation style? Is this how JKF was developed? Is there a way to develop future leaders in a more people-friendly manner?
Does the system have its roots in historic paternalism and old-boys politics networking?
If this was the case, how to uproot it and eliminate it from Gallaudet forever?
If not the case, how was this situation created?
Do we have good management people models on campus and how can we tap into them?
Do we have working models of good management that are being used in other campuses?
Do we need an independent review of the Board of Trustees’ relationship with the administration to ensure a fairer, more professional and open atmosphere at Gallaudet?
DPG
reprinted with permission by the listserv moderator
email contact: mishkazena@aol.com
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Diane,
You made valid points and raised good questions. I believe that we need to capture and control the Gallaudet University Administration & Operation Manual and analyze it for change and growth to happen.
Carl
The new Gallaudet would eliminate those who were not completely dedicated to ASL. That is discrimination. There are over 500,000 deaf people in this country. They should be able to attend Gallaudet no matter what their means of communication may be.
You go this direction as explained by Kathleen Ward and you might as well shut the doors at Gallaudet and maket an exclusive club for the cultural deaf or “cult”
I worked for 17 years for both Gallaudet and MSSD/Kendall and I reported 3 different direct administrators in that span. I must say they ALL practiced management by intimidation (MBI). I could not express my concerns, feedbacks, etc because they would find a way to get rid of me as evidenced by seeing my co-workers being terminated for expressing their disagreement or concerns. I kept my hands and feet to myself because I was single father with 3 kids. I needed that job to support my family. After I left Gallaudet in 1995 to pursue a different path and opportunity in Texas. For the first time in my professional career, I felt free of MBI. My current supervisor (and her supervisor)is very open to anything we say and the atmosphere and moral at my workplace are healthy and positive experience for every one of us.
The only way for Gallaudet and Clerc Center to eliminate MBI is by bulldozing approximately 75% of administrators out of our beloved Kendall Green.
If you are interested to gather more information the process of the shared goverance at my work place, American River College under Los Rios Community College District, I will be gladly to direct you to right contact person.
We have an awesome procedure of shared goverance with hiring the faculty, staff and even president of College where everyone, (students, staff and faculty) are involved in the procedure. Also, our Staff and Faculty have Union contracts to protect and represent us.
Two and half years ago, we went through the hiring procedure with the shared goverance to select a new president for our college. It has been a wonderful experience for us. We voted no confidence with the first 5 candiates and started the search process again. The 2nd time, we were happy with the selection of our new president. The procedure took about 18 months and it was worthwhile. This president is well liked by our community and I have seen him around on the campus, visiting the classrooms and chatting with anyone on the campus and he has done a lot for our College.
Meantime, we hired the interim president for one year. It really worked out well with our system.
I am sick and tired of the ‘healing terrorists’ screaming around that we MUST immediately heal now! By their command. Well, let’s remember that just a few days ago, the very same people shouted ‘hail, hail, hail’ to Jane Fernandes but miserably failed. Now they try out ‘heal, heal, heal’. How funny they are…
There is no chance for healing until the huge task of cleaning up the wounds and cleaning up the campus were not completed.
Gallaudet was set up originally as an university to provide sign language for the students. Sim Com, Sign English and other modes of communications are not real languages and many students are unable to follow the teachers for one simple reason. People who speaks the same time they sign… the sign language suffers considerably, so the deaf students don’t receive full accessible language as required by Section 504 and ADA because they cannot read lips. The university’s own policy states that students will be provided a full access to communications. Having some people speak in the classrooms, with no signs, violates the university’s policy of open communication.
Jim, you are obviously very biased against culturally deaf, calling them a cult. It is very obvious you are very close to Fernandes and I guess your attitude may reflect Fernandes’ personal bias against deaf people who use ASL. This confirms what I’ve been told by many students about Fernandes systematically attacking deaf students using ASL. This was very unbecoming of a Provost and definitely proves her not being the right person to lead the university more and more.