Cal-Stanford. Michigan-Ohio State. Harvard-Yale. Gallaudet-RIT/NTID. Great rivalries infuse in their students and alumni an indominable spirit of loyalty. Of pride of achieving higher education. Of identifying with a great institution.
It was with that spirit that I attended Gallaudet’s pep rally last Friday night. It’s the kickoff for the annual RIT/Gallaudet weekend; the following day is full of sports and good fun. The weekend then culminates with a Rockfest bash hosted in Gallaudet’s Loading Dock.
Some creative skits, a little good-humored teasing, the school songs and colors, a whole lot of cheering. That’s what I imagine a pep rally to be.
Not a Gallaudet student walking up to a RIT student, pointing at the “R.I.T.” printed on her shirt and screaming, “Fuck. You.” In front of the entire audience.
One person who had been to several RIT/Gallaudet pep rallies remarked that this was one of the worst rallies she had seen. The attitude coming from the host university was just mean.
Gallaudet students rail against audism and the lack of communication access on their campus, but were all too happy to throw ASL-supremacy insults at the RIT section.
“Oh, so sorry that we forgot to get an oral interpreter for you.”
“You can’t understand sign, right? Let me fingerspell it out for you s-l-o-w-l-y.”
“Oh, you need to recharge your cochlear implants?”
*mouthing gibberish*
The participants also vividly described several methods to disembowel a tiger. ASL stories that began with the acceptable premise of “Our Bisons will crush the Tigers!” quickly devolved into a gory tale of how a bison would would repeatedly plunge its horns through a tiger…again and again.
I felt as if I was in a hostile environment, and I live two miles from Gallaudet. What about the students who missed their Thursday and Friday classes and drove six hours through three states to get here?
I’m just glad I’m not a Gallaudet alumni watching current Gallaudet students (supposedly the future Deaf leaders of America) make utter fools out of themselves; I’d have been embarassed for my alma mater.
There is a nice, thick line between a good jab in the ribs between rivals and plain old hooliganism.
Perhaps, given Gallaudet’s embarassing conduct during Homecoming and the goalpost incident, it should have not been surprising that several members of the Gallaudet community crossed–no, SOARED–over this line.
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I was there, and I agree 100%. The biggest offenders, by far, were the erstwhile male “cheerleaders” romping around. When one sat next to me for a while, I could smell the beer and booze wafting off of him…
It is this type of behavior exhibited by Gally students that could have led the Board of Trustees to select a “mainstreamed” candidate instead of a culturally deaf candidate.
I am a former RIT student whom attended Gallaudet as well. I must add that this ranting of AUDISM by Deaf folks is no different than the discriminatory treatment geared towards Hard-Of-Hearing folks in a deaf environment–such as the scenarios Adam stated above.
Let’s not forget…there is only ONE world to adapt to…and that’s a HEARING world. The Deaf world is mainly for social. Supremacy in ASL is not going to impress employers in the real world.
I have never been to a pep rally between Gally/RIT. My sister is a Gallaudet student and I have Gallaudet friends who have gone on and on about how *fab* pep rally is.
I have never seen the Bison song. I have heard so much about how *fab* it was.
I walk in the gym, all anxious and excited to see what all this hype was about. And Adam said it beautifully…
I am disappointed. With the kind of disrespect that we got that night, we, RIT-ers, stood up and turned our backs as the Bison song began. Of all the moments that I’ve waited to see this BEAUTIFUL Bison song, I chose THIS moment to turn my back on it. Do I regret it? No.
But I do hope Gallaudet will show us some respect next time.
And I KNOW that at Brickfest next year, RIT will do a wonderful job showing R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Gally. Just come and watch….
As a proud Gallaudet Alumni, I am truly embarassed that you all had to see the nasty little ones with the wrong demeanor towards the RITers. Do not assume that the rest of us feel the same way.
Mmm…I wasn’t there…the recent weekend…but I wanted to put in my two cents in…
Yes the Y and Z generations are much different than what we were in the past…more meaner…bad sportsmanship…rotten attitude n’ all…But that’s the generation now… not only with Gally students but with young students in the rest of the country…Many say it may have to do with media n’ violence…but my point is we can’t just single out Gally for embarrasing us…It’s this generation of kids… If you ever took the subway to a Yankee game wearing a Boston Red Sox jersey or hat…you would be hearing the same things that you saw at Gally…it’s civility that we all lack now…unfortunately…not just Gally…We need to teach our youngsters the things we forgot to teach…
Many would know me to be somewhat competitive about Gally…especially them RIT’ers haha…I truly love my university (both undergrad and grad) for the memories I’ve recieved there then…It does sadden me that we did not rise above the lack of civility in this country but it’ll never make me less proud to be a Bison…for I wouldn’t be who I am if it wasn’t for Gally…
Thank you RIT’ers for taking the higher road…I just hope that this doesn’t make you think any less of Gally…Gally is a whole lot more than just one incident…after all it’s just about 142 years worth of memories…
to a proud gallaudet alumni, (and i’m sure you’re not the only one) …but now your degree is tainted now, somewhat. isn’t it time to wake up the current generation at gallaudet? its not only embarrasing to you, alums, but also to us in the Deaf community. and its not just this weekend, but also the homecoming incidents and not to mention the past 30 years of rit/gallaudet weekend history. lets keep the rivarly a little bit more friendly maybe? no more excuses.
this is one (of many) reason(s) why i refuse to set foot on the gallaudet campus.
I’m certain that the majority of Gallaudet students can’t be that immature. If so, why did that slim minority have to be out on the front lines?
Precisely, JT. Why didn’t anyone in the audience or anyone in the committee standing idly to the sides do anything about this? They were all too caught up in the moment as well.
its time to wake up the community and show some respect. its time to unite and get over the oralism and ‘**** you’ jokes. people think gallaudet’s the only place people can find their deaf identiy. can’t agree, because i found mine at RIT. and the thing is, gallaudet doesn’t respect that. they don’t honor that. they disgrace it and trash it to the lowest of low… and it hurts.
It’s funny, I grew my identity as a shepherd while growing a herd of bisons and tigers who lived together in perfect harmony.
Three words as a Gallaudet alumni on the behavior of the current students: very.very.embarrassing.
The current Gallaudet students just proved that RIT students are classier and much more mature.
the majority of students are not RIT. They are in NTID but why do they prefer to be called “RIT”? Is it a way to equal or to feel that they are above Gallaudet? My brother used to attend NTID — took classes in NTID but he called himself RIT. It is absurd.
I agreed that Gally students probably went too far. But c’mon, these tasteless jokes were … practically funny. I wish I could have done it much better back then.
I do recall going to NTID once in the past, and the NTID students were rude as well. In fact, I asked for the directions to a certain place, they sent me to wrong place on purpose. So I guess each year, someone tried to outdo each other in terms of abrasiveness and offensive slurs. I guess, this year, Gallaudet routed NTID. No, I won’t call them RIT. They’re still NTID. LOL.
R-
I like to hear to dumb deaf person. You sound so ignorant to me. Gallaudet should be shut down because they harbor so dumb deaf people who keep on thinking about so-called “deaf community” or deaf culture.
I’ve gone to both schools and loved both. Both places have their share of nice people and ********. The grass is either greener or deader on the other side. Whatever.
“the majority of students are not RIT. They are in NTID but why do they prefer to be called “RIT”? Is it a way to equal or to feel that they are above Gallaudet?”
Ridor, you’re just ignorant of how RIT actually works. RIT is made up of eight colleges, one of which is NTID. Some other colleges are College of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering, Golisano Computing and Information Sciences. Each one is pretty separate, with its own Dean, requirements, etc.
No one calls themselves from Liberal Arts or from Science. We call ourselves RIT students. NTID is just one of 8 colleges; we’re all RIT students.
Adam, calling me ignorant makes you no better than the Gallaudetians who made fun of you in the first place. All I did was to ask a question. You decided to respond by insulting me that I’m ignorant. Wowie.
*rolling my eyes*
R-
ridor - you ARE ignorant, adam only speaks the truth. :)
Of course, I expected you to respond, pizzaface.
R-
booze + college students = civility.. not.
ive noticed something interesting. RIT students may act with more “class” at pep rallies but away from the spotlight they often spew venom abt gally with religious fervor. not only according to a gally student who used to be at RIT but to my own eyes. gally students, on the other hand, are either curious or couldnt care any less abt rit. no love or hate involved. i shud know cuz im a gally student. they talked trash cuz hey it’s rit/gally wknd.
you calling gallaudet-ians immature, insulting gallaudet, blaming it ALL on gallaudet, gallaudet this, gallaudet that, blah blah.. now look who is being immature about this? complaining and targeting gallaudet is not going to do you any better..or even solve problems, to be honest, i think RIT/NTID should take some of the blame thankuverymuch, so over all, you need to grow up and not ramble about how horrible gallaudet was..cus you re taking part of the responsibility as well..
Adam,
Congratulations on being mentioned in the Washington Post Express this morning.
This is for the patrons/non-Gallaudetians who witnessed the disgusting incident that occured last Friday on the campus: Just don’t come back if you cannot handle it.
Adam, I agree with you that there seems to be an overwhelming sense of entitlement on the part of the residents of Kendall Green. I had a run-in with a student two weeks ago. I was shocked that this kid would treat me with such disrespect, especially because he’s a so-called “leader” on campus. His behavior was god-awful. He was baiting me and insulting me, even though we had just met that night. When someone told him who I was after I disengaged myself from the conversation, he blanched and almost dropped his drink. WTF? What is up with all of this hostility?
The idiocy’s been increasing ever since I estimate, 1996 or so. The class of 2001 at Gally, the class that I was supposed to graduate with… OMG. They were rude, obnoxious, disrepectful. Their behavior’s pretty similar to what’s happening now but what’s happening now seems to be worse.
It only got better for me when I got into the upperclassmen years. Most of the idiots couldn’t apparently hack it past sophmore year.
I guess people thought it was funny and even part of the Deaf culture. I told an acquaintance about my being bullied by the students from the State Schools for the Deaf, and she laughed. She told me it was part of the Deaf culture. That it was a way to toughen us up for the hearies and their world.
And now, this is what you get for letting it continue with a free rein. And lest I be accused of Gally-bashing, I will say that there are many *wonderful* people at Gally. It’s too bad that they’re being drowned out by the idiots.
Gally Alumni 3 here..
I’m sorry this happened but its the age factor and add alcohol, voila the nasties come spewing out. I think this past weekend at the pep rally is a reflection of the national trends seen in all kinds of fanaticism such as sport fans, fundamentalist (esp the religious freaks), any kind of extremist behaviors. My time back in ‘95 when I transfered to Gally, most rivarly was between Fremont and MSSD new students. Then working at MSD for 3 years, the rivarly was between MSD and MSSD. I did visit RIT back in 99 for their BrickFest which apparently was an “off year” cuz it sucked ASS!. But the folks were cool. I recall feeling I was among numerous but friendly oralists where as Gally seems more Deaf ispired students. But student bodies are awesome in their own rights.
Ridor I have to agree with Adam (not his approach) but for info its true. I am a student at the Teacher’s College, but we call ourselves Columbia University students because TC is just one of their many schools run by CU.
[…] RIT/NTID Whiners: Earlier in the day, Adam Stone wrote an entry on DeafDC.com regarding the Pep Rally at Gallaudet last Friday night at Field House. I learned that Gallaudet students made fun of RIT/NTID students in an incessant manner that would make me gag and laugh out loud. In fact, some jokes were crude and tasteless to a point where RIT/NTID students whined about it. Know what they did next? He posted to GallyNet-L, trying to get the attention of Gallaudet alumni and students to check his blog (probably trying to score some hits). […]
Ridor, I am sorry to inform you that I disagree with you, however I am siding up with Adam Stone. As a former student of Gallaudet and RIT, I have to admit I wasn’t surprised about the students of Gallaudet’s cockness when I read Adam Stone’s blog. If you are wondering why I called myself a part of RIT not College of Applied Science & Technolgy (CAST) because my diploma says RIT on the top and major mentioned under the college (CAST). I also spent a quite while at Gallaudet as well. The main point of this comment is, I’m a stone-deaf person. I do not communicate via orally. I use the frickening ASL as my primary method of communication. I do not think these Gallaudetians (most of them) will benefit your ignorance. Do us a great favor, Grow up Ricky Taylor of Virginia.
I never said that NTID/RIT do orall all the time. I am aware of the ones that can sign very well. In fact, several of my good friends are from RIT, though.
Trying to attack a person who is not familiar with RIT/NTID is not going to help you at all. You need examine yourself before calling someone to grow up. Jeez.
You’re pathetic, “ExGally_and_RIT”, to use my real name — are you hoping to make me feel awkward when you use my real name? I care less about that.
Cockness? Frickening?
Somebody needs to go to the class … again!
R-
Hmm. *eats popcorn*
Commentary:
Adam, you missed Ridor’s point. His point was that NTID students only feel like part of a department. They want to feel part of a college, equal to Gallaudet. So what he’s saying yes made sense. They prefer to be called RIT students. It’s just to him that’s an insult.
Ridor, I still disagree with your point. HOWEVER… I think this is the first event I’ve ever heard of where Gally students attacked RIT. I really haven’t heard of the whole cochlear implant connection thing before. What the hell? When Gally has that whole cochlear implant center? I guess the little things are just popping out all over. I may need to… blog. I am troubled.
Joe, thanks for clarifying — actually, when someone attacked RIT about the cochlear implants, I was SURPRISED at that, though.
It was funny but it did surprise me.
But like someone else from RIT said to me, “Just take it in good stride and move on, don’t be *****!”
Umm.
R-
Whew. Ridor is a beautiful example of why I despise Gallaudet. Such attitude, hostility, immaturity is quite breath-taking. No wonder students at Gallaudet behave the way they do with Ridor as an example. While I am aware that not all students are like this, it does feel like the majority sometimes. Someone told me the other day that they considered Ridor a leader of the Deaf Community. I beg to differ. He just likes to draw attention to himself and blast at people he dislikes. What kind of leader is that?
I applaud Adam for bringing up this issue because the Deaf Community is seriously lacking in young leaders and good role models. Back in the old days, there were numerous notable Deaf leaders. Today, there’s very few.
While reading Adam’s post, I was wondering where the faculty and staff were during the pep rally? Why are there no regulations? Other universities I have seen have been cracking down on hostility towards rival universities at sporting events by setting guidelines and kicking out students who are not cooperative. This is not only an alumni problem, it is also a lack of supervision from the faculty/staff. They are just as responsible as those students are.
Just my two cents.
Namaste.
Ridor,
You didn’t get Adam’s point. His blog is about Gally’s lousy sportsmanship. You are breaking off the point. It is not about “labeling NTID/RIT.” You kept calling them names “pizza faces, etc.” It is unnesessary to say that. You are approaching them in any inappporiate way. Please leave people alone and get busy with your life. Thank you
I see things haven’t changed over the years. I Attended RIT/NTID in the 90’s and remember going to Gally for Rockfest (I can’t remember which year - it could have been 95 or 96) with some friends of mine from RIT, and we were forcibly SHOVED out of a party and told “Audists aren’t welcome here!”
That was my introduction to Gally - and I never went back, or had a desire to do so.
ridor got his point, adam got his point too…
Adam got his peep backing him up…
So does ridor too…
honestly.. Whatever!
-Oldies and Alumnus
just get ur damn old paws off Kendall Green. leave a playball to 17 to 23 years olds please. TYVM (expect for your reunions, ok?)
and Allison and SMitty STAY THE **** AWAY from Gallaudet!
jt Says:
April 10th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I’m certain that the majority of Gallaudet students can’t be that immature. If so, why did that slim minority have to be out on the front lines?
——-yes yes, thats me… one of the majority of Gallaudet… I had absolutely NO idea what they were planning to do or whatsoever! If I would have known, I would probably interfere or have done something differently… I really wished we (all Gally n NTID/RIT) have enjoyed the pep rally together… but what can i say? I point this out to incomptency Higgins n Hogue administration. They actually allow this to endured unneccessarily, even worse Chris Corrigan was under influence, he beer-bonged a pack right before the game…. he is sometimes too much, blahhhh boring… If someone had stopped him, then thing will be OK…. So it was only cuz of those few guys that caused this turmoil… now those guys r laughing at you guys, you are giving them an attention…. ADAM…uncool… unneccessary!
DId you see what Higgins wore to pep rally… Someone call Johnny Goumba!!!
isn’t the whole point of posting up blogs is for open viewing to the public? its where we put up our own opinion about certain things and expect input/feedback and etc. its not about who’s right or wrong but just to express one’s own opinion.
apparently this became some heated discussion because the SBG president sent an email of apology of how some students presented themselves at gallaudet. i still plan to write him, or rather to the chairperson since he was more hands on.
this is not to say the tradition is over, because i look forward to next year already. but just how disappointed i was when we, RITers, came over looking forward to a spirited weekend. and it was, very. i enjoyed the whole weekend, i really did. just a few bad seeds that sparked a few opinions. i just believe that alumns, older students, etc have a responsibility to make sure that their peers represent their university well - thats all.
same goes for the workplace, a fraternity or sorority, an executive board, cabinet, etc. - you have high expectations of your collegues to make sure you represent, and that you represent well.
simply said.
Lizzie, agreed!
But please, no more Ridor on Deafdc.com. He already has his own web site. Visit his web site if you desire to have your mind polluted with filth and have nothing else better to do! This Web site is for people who have something decent to write, regardless of what their views are.
Bella, with due respect, the term ‘audist’ wasn’t even invented until around 2003.
Yogi, Ridor’s a leader at Gally? HYSTERICAL!!! No, he’s just a mouth.
Uh… No. The term Audist, or rather, Audism, was first invented by Harlan Lane, in his book, The Mask of Benevolence.
Ironic that a *hearing* person came up with that term, isn’t it…?
Nope. Lane credits Humphries 1970s dissertation for the term. Ironic that Ridor now uses it to describe Humphries.
Yogi, a leader of Gallaudet community? I never aspired to be one at Gallaudet — I made it clear on my blog many times that I do not represent Gallaudet. I do not represent the Deaf Communities — I represent MYSELF. When will you finally get this through to your brain?
Like you, I applaud Adam for bringing this up — the extreme behaviors that were demonstrated at the pep rally is not something I’d approve of. But I think it is much ado about nothing, really. Let them sort itself out without us being critical of them.
RIT: “Pizzaface” is directed at Tim Kettering, he is not RIT student or alumni, FYI. Please get a clue, for a change!
abisonwhodeclawedatiger: THANK YOU! You nailed on that subject! Leave it to the kids to sort it out for themselves.
gallaudet alumni 2: That is your opinion and irrelevant one.
Lizzie: You got it all right. It is bad seeds that spawned few opinions. That is it. I heard from the students, both RIT and Gally, they seemed to enjoy the overall thing last weekend.
Before I close — I want to emphasize that I am not a leader of Gallaudet community — I learned to accept that I cannot win everyone else with my writings. Call it filth or so is a sign of desperation, though.
Cheers,
R-
After I read this blog, it brought back some memories that we had games on RIT/Gally or Gally/RIT weekends. We always had lot of fun competing each other. In fact, there was an one game I played against Gally, friends from Gally were rooting for *ME* and my partner. After the game, my friends from Gally played against RIT, I root for those Gally friends to win too. OfC, I root for my RIT to win the whole event. We the RIT accomplished by winning the games at Gally and RIT on two straight years.
I just hope that one day, you all animals (Bisons & Tigers) will unite and respect each other regardless of their preferences.
I’m shocked at the defensive stance my fellow alumni are taking here. Even though I wasn’t there at the pep rally and I don’t know Adam from… Adam, if half of what he said was true I’m ready to apologize to him.
To those at Gally right now, an analogy: Imagine the current students at your old deaf HS doing these things to a rival deaf HS. With that perspective, it’s easy to see it’s not cool.
The only purpose to these weekends, really, is to get tanked together. The critical word being “together.” It’s when the schools suspend being “us” and “them” and celebrate their shared deaf/hh identity. And what better way to celebrate than with any combination of fun, sports, and booze?
But vehement divisiveness? No, no, no. Wrong.
That these students did something last weekend they thought demonstrated character dumbfounds me. They did the exact opposite.
There isn’t just everyday human decency to consider; there’s also the reality that the divide between both schools is a four-year illusion. Once you graduate, you come across alumni from both schools every step of the way. And my life has been the better for it.
Here is my theory, each time RIT came to visit Gallaudet, I often had to deal with their “smart-aleck” mouths. It happened over a long period of time … I nodded it off to no end.
Even when I visited NTID/RIT, I ws there to enjoy myself — RIT/NTID made it clear that they wanted to rub in my face.
So maybe it is payback time? Who knows?
R-
Ridor: The real difference between this event and what you may have experienced in the past is this: This was an official pep rally, and the whole audience had to deal with it. What you may have experienced on an individual basis is one thing; but when an entire audience has to deal with it then you know that it has gotten out of hand. My two cents. What I do know for sure is nothing like this has EVER happened at an RIT event the whole time I’ve been a student and alumni.
It simply doesn’t happen at RIT. In the dorm rooms maybe… in the halls maybe… but not at events in front of an audience.
That is true, Bobby Cox. Maybe Gallaudetians wanted to take the next step by rubbing in their faces in public place like the pep rally.
I would not approve of that, though. Funny, but that’s not me.
Thanks for your two cents, Bobby Cox.
R-
Just for the record, I never wrote that Ridor was a leader of GALLAUDET. If you kindly read my first post, you will read that I wrote: ‘Someone told me the other day that they considered Ridor a leader of the DEAF COMMUNITY.’ Interesting how the game “Telephone” (the information passed to the next person changes a bit each time) also applies to comments in posts. ;)
Namaste.
Why is Gallaudet a wet campus? (allowing alcohol at events) Some campuses are dry.
[…] And speaking of history, last week on DeafDC.com saw quite a bit of activity. Adam’s post scolding Gallaudet students for lack of class during the Rockfest pep rally created a firestorm (by DeafDC.com standards, anyway) which spilled over into other blogs and the Express. Oscar encouraged everyone to take the high road in his post discussing civility, while Erin said it was always important to look your best, even if you find yourself at an out-of-control college pep rally. Julie remarked on her fear of snakes, and as if Gallaudet didn’t have enough to do recovering from RIT/Gallaudet weekend, the three finalists for the next university president were announced. […]
i r4ally must say to RIT peeps, Gallaudet started it all for asl in this place. it is a wonderful school.
on the flip, RIT is a perfectly good school. enimosity between the 2 school is to be expected. haveing attended both, i stand justified to say so!!!!!!!!!!
um, i was on the gally blog. no mention of this there. only about the football teams season. um, anyone else think thats ******">****** up?
First, to correct another comment above…the term audist has been around longer than 3 years….
Second: it seems lately that anything rude is being defended as “Deaf culture” by some among our current student body. Between the homecoming debacle, this pep rally, and our students’ reputation among some in the restaurant business… it’s become a sadly repeated theme. Guess what kids: it’s not Deaf culture. Rude is Rude. Period. To bandy about words like “Audist” “audism”
and “culture” in such environments trivializes important concerns in the Deaf community. Something MUST be done at Gallaudet.
-signed: a sadly embarassed alum.
regina, perfectly stated
Thanks Mickie. And this is the situation our new president will face…It’s a serious one…and something to be considered as our tmail messages fly about… as we discuss which of the three finalists is best suited for the job, and who was “robbed”….it’s a serious one to consider as students declare they will repeat DPN, or, God forbid, disrupt the process by throwing food at one of the candidates. Such behaviour would undo much that’s been accomplished since 1988.
I normally do not read (or response) to blogs but after hearing so much about Rockfest 2006 from variety of people who attended this event.
I am presently a student at California State University Northridge where there is a support service program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. We currently have aproximately 200 Deaf/HoH students that comes from many different backgrounds or different part of the country (in some case, international students as well too).
Some of my peers attended to Rockfest and came back with a huge disappointment relating to several Gallaudet students that were being disrespectful or being very hostile toward to them because they are not Gallaudet student, they choose to attend mainstream education institution or do not have the fluency of ASL (or communciation skill).
This deeply disturbed me because we all are the same inside– we all have a form of hearing loss. We share the same community and we all might have gone through some form of discrimination on the basis of our lack of hearing skill from the hearing community. Those people in the hearing community who have discriminated us in the past are ignorant because they are not aware of the things that we are capable of doing beside hearing.
Now, I have gone through some taunting or unnecessarily comments from my own community for choosing to attend a mainstream program; not being 100% fluent in ASL and even for having a hearing family from my own Deaf community. This is an incredibly shame situation here because I know that the Deaf community cannot use the excuse of being ignorant because we all already share the same community. Am I’m missing something here or did I overlooked somewhere in the ‘constitution of the deaf community,’ that it is okay to harass or badger someone from the same community because they decide to do something different?
I would have to agree with G97:
“The only purpose to these weekends, really, is to get tanked together. The critical word being “together.” It’s when the schools suspend being “us” and “them” and celebrate their shared deaf/hh identity. And what better way to celebrate than with any combination of fun, sports, and booze?”
But of course, its not all about the booze and partying– but everyone should cherish the time to get together and celebrate our identity of being Deaf/HoH. Celebrating the diversity in our very small community and use the time to learn/share something new with new people. There will always be that ‘minor rivals’ among schools but do not take it out of propotion– leave the aggression and rival-attitude on the field; have great time on the side!
The bottom line– RESPECT those who shares the same community as you– who know, maybe one of those day; that person will be your spouse, your co-worker or maybe even your boss at work. Those people who may be more oral than others; take the time to expose them the greater world of the deaf community instead of taking the time to tarnish our community.
Adam, thanks for starting this commentary– it certainly has brought a massive responses within our peers and hopefully, from on now at every Brickfest/Rockfest; people will take the time to enjoy and appreciate the rare social gathering.
Each Deaf/HoH person form their identity wherever they are comfortable and with a great peers that can provide them the supports that they need– I think it is a shame that Gallaudet University does not 100% make every deaf/HoH indviduals comfortable as it should be considered as a safe haven; home base for us. This is an university with a very unique tradition– I would really hate to see that being tarnished because of a small group of students out of immaturity who thinks that they are the true representation of the Deaf community. That need to stop; we all are the same despite to variety of backgrounds– that what makes our culture even more interesting.
All three main colleges that has large populations of Deaf/Hard of Hearing students, California State University Northridge, Gallaudet University and Rochester Institute of Technology are equal in every way and has a large body of diversity among the students/faculty– cherish that.
I can understand where most of these people are coming from with regards of their feelings towards Gallaudet University, but then I think again and look at how Duke is being judged through the media on TWO individuals that have not even been proved guilty in the court of law on a rape charge. I looked at that and I think it’s ridiculous that how an entire university is being looked at based on two people, but people do judge like that.
So people — We should be the better person here and not encourage or enange in those kind of activities that doesn’t represent the deaf community well.
As CSUN student and I’ve gotten negative attitudes from some people at Gallaudet based on my choice of university. No university is perfect nor the worst. We’re all here for the same thing — To get a college education and to better ourselves. Let’s stop the negavity towards eachother and work together — For Instance; Deaf President Now, People came from near and far to support Gallaudet University Students! That moment, there was a unity and pride amongst the deaf community and a great thing came out of that by getting what the people wanted and a unity that went down into history. :)
On another note-
It seems that there’s a misunderstanding out there on what is Deaf Culture. Its our repsonsiblity as deaf individuals to share our experiences and be more understanding of eachother to create a strong deaf unity among ourselves.
Those that mock cohlear implants, oralism, mainstreaming, or even ASL are degrading the various aspects of our deaf culture. Some of you may not accept those things but it is part of the deaf culture.
On my part, I do consider myself a proud member of the deaf culture because I’m deaf. Guess what? I don’t have deaf parents or any other deaf relatives. Does that make others with similar characteristics not part of the deaf culture? I don’t think so… there are some out there in this world that do somewhat feel the same and are rejected.
I like to see us educate ourselves and others to create a better place and understanding for future deaf generations. So it’s up to us to make the move.
C’mon, when I visited CSUN many years ago — I was insulted by CSUN students for going to “lowly school like Gallaudet”. And guess what I did? I ignored them and continued to visit the campus. Because I was able to look beyond than that.
Can you?
R-
Most everyone has said what I wanted to say so I won’t say anything further except that the above incident is all the more reason for me not to visit there. I’ve never set foot on the Gallaudet University campus and have no desire to.
A round of applause to Adam for having the balls to bring up this issue.
Correct me if I’m wrong… but isnt there a Cochlear Implant center on Gallaudet campus?
[…] April: Adam Stone watches Gallaudet’s pep rally during Gallaudet/RIT Weekend […]
xor said: “the term ‘audist’ wasn’t even invented until around 2003.”
That’s funny, I remember seeing the play “Audism Monologues” in 2002…
I like to hear to dumb deaf people talk like you guys. You sound so ignorant to me. Gallaudet should be shut down because they harbor so dumb deaf people who keep on thinking about so-called “deaf community” or deaf culture.