When the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University want to choose someone to administer the University, it makes sense to pick a qualified person to do so. Administrators, by definition, administer very well. Planted in their offices, they worry about the minutiae of finance, public relations, and enrollment. But that assumes that Deaf people put their faith on dollar signs, percentages, and reams of paper.
The leader of Gallaudet University is undisputably, by extension, one of the leaders of the Deaf community. It is an unique fact that the center of the Deaf community and the center of education of the Deaf are exactly the same place. The President of Gallaudet University is not just an administrator. He or she is the loudest and most powerful voice, sharing space with presidents, senators, and Deaf people alike.
Today, every Deaf person across the nation — or world — has to ask themselves: Do I care? Do I accept the leader that the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees is putting forth for me? Will I allow this person to define the Deaf community through their words and actions?
On that day in 1988 when strikers chanted “Deaf President Now,” the bar was raised. Today, it is no longer sufficient that the President of Gallaudet University to be Deaf. They also must capture the hearts and minds of the community.
What happens next? As Ron Stern said during his presentation, the key word is conversation. Even if the Gallaudet administration doesn’t listen, keep that conversation going. Talk to anyone who will listen.
Listen to the people around you, to the speakers, to the Administration even. The volume of blogs, comments, and words flying around is growing greater by the minute. Whatever your reasons are for supporting or dismissing a perspective, the important thing is to get the conversation going. In my past experience as a student leader, only the faceless bureaucratic Administration “wins” when there is chaos.
Aesop said, “United we stand; divided we fall.” As overused that quote is, it still sums up my point. If you feel strongly about something, keep pursuing it until a satisfactory resolution is achieved. Stay the road, Gallaudet. We’re all watching and supporting your democratic right to ignite conversation.
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you said it so well and beautiful! :)
Igniting conversation is one thing. Igniting fires in a crowded hall is quite another. Rudeness, nastiness, lies, rumor, innuendo, half truths has no place in civilized discourse. I can not condone the tactics that the haters have been using. They should be ashamed and so should we all for standing quietly on the sidelines and letting it happen.
The Board of Trustees had a job to do. They have done it. This is not DPN by any stretch of the imagination. The Provost is unpopular because she is not cuddly and more importantly because she is absolutely not afraid to make hard and unpopular decisions. What better person to lead into an uncertain future? As much as Mr. Stern’s speech was a great speech, great speeches do not a great leader make. Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. The Board looked a lot of candidates. They picked the one that is best suited based on a long list of criteria. I’m pretty sure that being cuddly was not on the list nor was the ability to give one stirring speech on a weekday afternoon. The Board is not populated by stupid people. Nor is the Board populated by a bunch of hearing people who don’t get Deaf. The Board made their selection knowing full well that it would be unpopular. Doesn’t that tell us something about how carefully they thought it through?
Back to my main thought however… shame on the people who choose to be heard by slandering others and shame on the rest of us for sitting by and letting it happen.
Standing: Well said! I agree with you 100%. I think some of the anger of the Deaf community comes from the lack of transparency concerning how the the Board made its final decision. This, it seems, is possibly being addressed.
Conversation is only useful if one refrains from slander. As someone else said, though, where’ there’s smoke… I wonder if there is anything to the community’s reaction to Jane. Unpopularity is one thing, but this seems to exceed that.
The thing is, the Board looked at three candidates that were chosen for them by the Search Committee. Who knows what they would have chosen if there were a different set of three? Like Dr. Rosen, or others that “seem” to have good credentials AND community support.
Cox and Standing: I AGREE with you both! We cannot just NOT select JKF for the reason being that she is not exactly Barney the purple dinosaur. “Anti-JKFers” need to learn how to react better.
However, I have but only ONE concern about JKF.
While I can imagine her as our President (not like we have a choice anyway), how will she represent us if there are masses of deaf people who are against her? How can she expect to achieve things if the deaf community (half, actually) is opposed to her as IKJ’s eventful successor? She is not going to have the support she needs.
This whole situation must really make her feel lousy. If it happened to me, I probably would consider stepping down and let the others select the appropriate candidate that will UNITE both the administration and students.
Jane is one strong mamacita for not backing down. What do you think?
Oh yeah. Jane’s a tough broad. She’ll be a good President. The students wont deal with her anyway. The new Provost will have that honor, and the students will have a new “enemy”, to paraphrase them.
I just read the SBG statement and while I was quick to assume the students’ demands were unreasonable as they seemed based on “personality” from what i’d read through Adam’s blogs… I believe it looks like the faculty and staff concerns were not taken seriously enough. The board’s decision lacks the level of transparency they seem to expect and deserve. I believe there’s reasonable arguments for further dialogue.
Whoops, I thought I was posting to an earlier blog by Adam.. Just read yours, Bobby, and think you hit it on the nail. The struggle at Gallaudet sounds similiar to what we’re dealing with here at UMass - a struggle for greater transparency, a more horizontal structure, and real democracy. solidaridad!
I cannot emphasize any more on the importance in defining the leadership that Gallaudet needs for its next president.
I understand the deaf community wants to choose a president that represents their cultural identity, but can anyone tell me how it is directly related in improving its academic programs, increasing its enrollment and graduate rates, and fundraising efforts?
Yes, I believe that a public administrator needs to communicate with its community and understand their needs, but it’s way more complicated that many of us realize. It’s mostly about raising money - bringing in revenues, expanding the departments and programs, renovating the facilities, marketing/networking -to attract more students and employees.
It is not just about choosing a leader who shares similar views to the deaf students. It’s one who possess innovative leadership and isn’t afraid of risks and challenges.
Standing and Bobby Cox, if you have seen and get know Jane Fernandes up close and personal, you’d think what’s she doing as a provost of Gallaudet. For a while, I was thinking maybe she can be a president of Gallaudet, and maybe she’d be a good one. However, there are few events that made its home inside my head like yelling Eric Plunkett’s father to stop exerting compliments for all she did a year after his son’s murder in Gallaudet campus. It was shocking for me to see her like that. Also, she expressed outraged that Thomas Minch was released from jail after the police found nothing on him. I was surprised to see her like that. What’s more, her personality of being aloof and condescening brought her to a bad light with the student body and the deaf community all over the world. There are plenty more I can say about her. Now, is that what you want as a president of Gallaudet University? The president and the university are reflection of each others. I don’t see her shredding a positive light to Gallaudet in the future..
I have been mystified by this protest. The only valid objection I could see throughout all the debris is that she actually hurts herself in her ability to resolve conflict. Although when I think back to some people I knew at Gallaudet, I wouldn’t say there is ANY way to resolve conflicts with them.
I believe this experience is taking a toll on Jane. Being provost and in charge of crisis control and protecting student safety during the Gallaudet murders must have been traumatic. Let’s be frank, could you possibly imagine having been in her shoes?
I remember when the Gally murders were occuring. Just before the real murderer was caught and confessed at 3 AM, I woke from a very realistic nightmare in which I had strangled a woman at Gally because I really thought she was the murderer.
I woke up shaking with fear. All of this is to remind everybody, emotions were very high even for people who were not at Gallaudet then and had nothing to fear for themselves.
Dr. Fernandes was in the center of the storm.
Now, the only objections I have against this current administration is that they have severely underfunded science and not really exercised quality control in seeking replacements after some fine professors retired.
I also do not like what has happened to the Biology department since I left. They fired a very dedicated teacher because he was hearing and couldn’t learn ASL fast enough to satisfy people. He was 60+ and learning ASL for the first time. Now, I was very impressed by his spirit and desire to teach, and his decision not to dumb down material. He could have benefitted by instructions on how to teach deaf students visually, but that was about the only flaw I found. I would have kept him on to help advise and strengthen the curriculum of the biology department, which certainly needed it back then.
The administration’s policy on hiring only PhDs or ABDs echoes the “no child left behind act,” and causes as much suffering in quality, funding, and organization.
The fact is Ph.Ds in science and engineering DO NOT come cheap, and in many new fields thare are not even any Ph.D. degrees yet.
And Deaf are not getting Ph.D.s in every field out there yet. You’re talking about culling an artifically small field for “quality” teachers, without much in place to help expand this field.
It makes a lot of sense, for instance, to hire a MSE in Electric engineering with extensive experience, fluent ASL skills and ability to teach over a Ph.D. in Engineering with limited social and ASL skills. Certainly there are far more deaf MSEs to choose from!
I’d take a scientist with a MS who has worked in a variety of research and other positions as a teacher over anybody who got a Ph.D without ever leaving academia, because that M.S. can more accurately advise students on job experience and opportunities, and may have an active network throughout the industry.
But then, I’m biased. I don’t see why people can’t be hired with a MS and required to take continuing courses as they teach.
THAT would be investing in the future of deaf education. I guess if I was faculty and I saw “more of the same” coming up from the administration, I might be ticked off myself.
You want to improve faculty, improve who you already have. Don’t make them feel devalued with new standards without allowing them to achieve under the new rules.
Beyond that, I have no clue why she would be unsuitable. But if the faculty says the administration is out of touch and she is a large part of the problem, and that they are seriously worried about Gallaudet, then that would make sense to me. Certainly since 1992 I have not been happy with how science is marginalized by the university.
Gallaudet is ideally located near NIH, FDA, USDA, EPA, NASA, NIST… there are so many opportunities for deaf people to enrich their science education and work experience here compared to RIT in Rochester, New York, that it just makes me cry at the sheer idiocy of forgetting that “Liberal arts and sciences” includes SCIENCE.
Oh, and exactly what is “First Year Seminar” anyway?
I
In response to Jeff Carlson -
You have got it all wrong. Who are you to tell Chris Cornils that he should not support JK. You were not in the hotel room with him when Eric died, she was, and I was. She stood by his parents through what was the most difficult time of their lives. You were not in the court room supporting them through the trial, I was, and so was JK. Chris and Kathleen Cornils are dear friends, and if they felt she supported him, and they decide to support her in return, who are YOU to tell them differently. That is their decision, not yours.
As for being appalled when Thomas Minch was released, MANY of us were surprised and shocked. The general feeling on campus at the time (I know, I was there) was that he did it. Now we all know we were wrong, but at the time she made that statement she was expressing a feeling that most of the student body agreed with, whether you choose to admit it or not.
Many students now look back on that time with a revisionist history perspective, saying they never thought it was Tommy, that they didn’t think the added security was necessary, that they knew all along who it was. But at the time Tommy was arrested, most people expressed relief, thinking he did it. When he was released, it was made clear that the student body would not accept him back, concerns for HIS safety, a statement in itself about how many students felt he was guilty at the timel. And if the add security wasn’t needed, then why were students sleeping 6 and 8 to a room, or staying up all night in dorm lobbies after Ben was killed because they were afraid to go to sleep? Becauses they felt safe? No, and the security measure added brought that peace of mind to many of us, and to our parents. Remember that while students complained about the security, parents were screaming at the administration to do exactly what they did.
JK handled that situation admirably. The revisionist historians who want people to think otherwise are simply trying to add fuel to the protest fire. It’s time for people to go back to their lives, and let JK prove them wrong. I know she will!
I agree with Greydog 110%.
Dr. Jane Fernandez was faced with an unforgiving challenge during the murders on campus. (I too, was there, living in fear and thanking God that our administration was a strong team).
I now live in 3000 miles from Gallaudet and when I heard that Dr. Fernandez was selected for presidency, the first thing I told my colleagues was “Wow….that is one intelligent and strong woman. Good for Gallaudet.”. She had to handle the heat from the media, the DC community, the parents, the students, and the investigators, and she more than proved herself as a leader and confidant for students.
Gallaudet is fortunate to have Dr. Fernandez. I am ashamed that they are ridiculing her for not being “Deaf enough”. In a university where there is such a committment to focus on the person and not their decibel level or what they can’t do, I am disgusted that people are not recognizing her for what she has done.
What deaf masses? As far as I know, the discontent is limited to a small segment of the deaf population, the ASL users who come from deaf schools. I was at the rally yesterday as an observer and I did not notice any oral deaf, those from mainstreamed schools and the like.
DPN was a different story, by far… everyone got together with a common goal.
Gallaudet is for the 28,000,000 deaf and hard of hearing, not just the 500,000 ASL users.
I was just thinking that maybe all the people who have nothing better to say than to call people names and sling mud should read Oscar Ocuto’s blog from last month about civility. So should the people who are standing by and letting it happen!
Well said, Greydog and Christian Wojnar.
Greydog I second that
Students had the opportunity to speak up when the whole process started in January.
The consultant for the search committee and BOT had open forums with different constituents on campus over 2 - 3 days to ask what they were looking for in the next president. Interestingly enough, the turnout for both forums with undergraduate and graduate students was disappointing. Only 40 undergraduates out of about 1,100 showed up and only 6 graduate students out of about 450 showed up.
Now they are crying foul. Give me a break, they had their chance to be heard before the whole process started.
[…] Better President Now?http://www.deafdc.com/blog/bobby-cox/2006-05-02/the-president-of-gallaudet-university […]
Hey DC Deaf people and Gallaudetians,
I am Hank, graduated from Gallaudet University in 2004 and currently live in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Last Monday, when I was teaching my students in Deaf prep program at Kapiolani Community College. After work, I was going to see my boss assistant and she told me that gallaudet has revolution again then I was deeply shocked and said what?, and she told me the pictures of demostration in Gallaudet on internet in her computer. I was very shocked. I said “why” She said “They dislike
Jane” I said “why they hate her so much”. I was very confused!
After that, I went to a bar right near the beach and so beautiful sea, and drinking a glass of Bass Ale. I was talking with my Gally alumnis and local Deaf friends on my sidekick about that happens in Gallaudet University. I always have been concern about there after I graduated from there.
In Facts, I have talked with some Gally alumnis, KCC staff, and local Deaf people. Some of them said she has positive and negative things from her pasts in Hawaii. What are positive things about her??? She was helped to keep Hawaii School for the Deaf opens and away from DOE, Department of Education tried to shut down that was worth to fight for! She did established SSRP, related to reading program Hawaii Deaf school. She also worked with her husband to establish Deaf and ASL interpreting programs in Kapiolani Community College where I currently work there. That’s great for Hawaii needs….
I have heard all about her negative things from other side that was bad attitude and not well-like toward the Deaf people. SHe has cold shoulders toward students I understand that.
Really, I really care about whoever president to keeps school still run and knows finanically wise. It is really hard for me to tell whoever should be president but I think Go ahead to keep new president to run a school.
If you dislike my opinion then please research to find an evidence about her pasts. that’s ok with me, I don’t care.
Keep Good Karma,
Mahalo,
Henry “Hank” Gosebrink
kinghank@tmail.com
I’ve been observing and thinking…
And I think what we need is a president who can connect to BOTH deaf and hearing. We cannot forget that the Congress (hearing people) need to be lobbied for them to support Gallaudet. We’ve been lucky that I. King Jordan has been able to do this.
(Can JFK speak? Can she voice for herself? Can she endear herself to hearing people? Like it or not, hearing people still have “power” over us, by donating money to Gallaudet University. If you want Gallaudet to become an independent, private school, I’m all for it. We should probably no longer rely on government funding…)
Now, I’m all for “Deaf-centric”, etc., but what about connecting to HEARING people? I do not think the rest of the world is ready for a “Deaf-centric” president. Just my opinion.
I think students should stand down and let JKF assume her post as Gallaudet’s president. I think the BoT is right; JKF is indeed the best person for the job.
Anna: be prepared to be called “audist” by those among us who trot that phrase out any time they disagree…sigh.
Here’s what I ought to do, go up to a PRO-Deaf person kick him/her in the crotch and when he/she screams I point and yell “ORALIST!!!!”
Someone’s blog made a good point. Forgot which blog, sorry. But anyway, the blog pointed out that the Deaf-Centrics’ messages are contradictory. They say this is not about social skills, ASL fluency, but about Dr. Fernandes ability to lead.
But at the same time, they’re screaming for the language policy to be changed - to purely ASL. Gee. Very inclusive of you guys. What about those who are still learning ASL, and those who use CIs and the loop systems? Toss them out of Gally?
Tell me something. Why should we support the Deaf-Centrics, when they’re insinuating that we’re not good enough to participate in their culture and community?
Not all of us sign ASL fluently. Not all of us graduated from a State School of the Deaf. Not all of us refuse to use CIs. What’s the Deaf -Centric’s answer to people like that?
To me, that smacks of audism. The Deaf-Centrics are the real audists here.
Quoting Wojnar: What deaf masses?
Do you know every one of these protesters? No, you don’t. These students come from all over the world. They may not stand out, but given the fact that they have exams and papers to deal with before they leave for the summer. They try to contribute whenever they can to the protest.
With the exception of these certain few protesters, namely the ones *ahem* who produced the infamous “She doesn’t say HI” banner (that was like totally un-cool) - we need to stand back and look at the big picture: what makes Gallaudet so unique? It is the ONLY University for the Deaf in the world. Not like you all need to be reminded of that.
THIS moment belongs to both the students and faculty/staff. They are what make Gallaudet University strive. Without these individuals, the attitude towards Gallaudet will be different. The very roots of Deaf culture and history will wane. With these protesters, should they get what they want - it will only help slow the waning.
While I understand perfectly clear why JFK was chosen and am actually OK with it, but it is the fact that the BoT chose to disregard the voice of its students and faculty in the process. They showed indifference.
Yes, DeafJason – the students and faculty were given a chance to share their concerns last January, BUT at the time, the situation was completely unforeseen. We did not know how it was going to pan out.
One more thing, Wojnar – this situation will create an impact on the entire deaf world. Gallaudet University is the beating heart for the Deaf. Whatever the deaf does at Gallaudet and elsewhere, will echo in the world.
It is only a matter of time after JKF assumes the position before you begin to see the difference in attitude of both the students and faculty alike. The pride won’t be invested in the future face icon that is going to represent them to the outside world. They will somehow adjust and accept JKF, but honestly – is that really necessary?
What Gallaudet needs is s president who insists that students learn how to write! Sorry if this offends, but as I surf the web reading various blog commentaries on the current controversy over Ms Fernandez, I’m struck by how nearly all the writing from Gallaudet students, alumni (including someone is is currently a teacher!), and even faculty contain errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Some messages are almost incomprehensible, and many have muddled idioms and turns-of-phrase.
If I were you, I’d stop worrying about the presidency and start complaining about the English department!
And, of course, I made a typo! That first line should read “What Gallaudent needs is _a_ president . . . ”
AND a grammar mistake - “contain’ should be plural.
Well, that’s embarassing, but at least I know they were errors.
GREYDOG, YOU ARE AN IDIOT! YOU DIDN’T SEE HER IN AN EMBARRASSING LIGHT LIKE I SAID. I said exerting compliments which means she did good things, but she yelled at him to stop it. Yell! This is not one case. There are others. The president and the university are reflection of each others. Jane Fernandes will not reflect Gallaudet in a good and postive light. You don’t know things until you get up close and personal.
I realized that Gallaudet is a very small institution - less than 2,000 students - that has been a mecca for deaf culture in the U.S. That is the social and cultural aspect of it - and so far, I am not seeing enough evidence that Fernandes will not improve Gallaudet.
The real purpose of choosing the right president is to focus on the academic and professional growth of the students - enabling them to have a successful career after graduation. Being “deaf-centric” or having to say hello to all the students she doesn’t know doesn’t qualify.
King Jordan will field questions online via http://www.washingtonpost.com today at 2 pm (EST).
Be sure to check this out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00971.html
Please disregard my previous post!
Jane Fernandes, not King Jordan, will be answering questions online via the same website above:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00971.html
And Mark, you forgot that you put in a double “is is” in that posting.
Many universities have to deal with remedial English and second-language students. Gallaudet has an larger percentage than is the norm; in fact, almost by definition all of their students have English as a second language. They’re either truly bilingual, or they’re still learning English.
I myself tutored English as a student tutor at Gallaudet. I dropped tutoring after a semester because I did not feel qualified enough to deal with the more complex issues posed by students in the midst of learning a second language. I attended workshops on how to tutor English afterwards, anyway.
I would NOT sneer at “Gallaudet products.” Gallaudet in fact has been of considerable help to many deaf people in improving their English.
You cannot simply fix the damage done by growing to age 18+ with poor English-language instruction, lack of encouragment and basic language development with a wand and 4-7 years at Gallaudet.
When I was at Gallaudet, I thought so many deaf schools should be sued to have a major overhaul, or closed down altogether for the kind of shoddy work they were doing to their students.
Unfortunately mainstreaming itself is no predictor of better English performance, except among the socially excluded and bright deaf students who find books their best friends.
In sneering at Gallaudet’s “products”, you fail to recognize that the Deaf are very vulnerable to permanent language issues caused by language learning delay by failure to provide communication in a visual mode.
Gallaudet always has had to balance itself against the accessibility to bright, but English-impaired deaf who could not achieve the support they need to bloom otherwise, against keeping up strong academic standards by excluding weaker applicants. This is especially true now Gallaudet no long has a monoploy on the best and brightest,
The university you sneer at was once remarked by a teacher to have the highest genius concentration per student simply because all the brightest deaf people went to Gallaudet. For them it was the most logical choice.
I know many of those alumni whose writing you slam.
I can tell you that they have improved considerably in their writing skills since they first stepped inside the gates of Gallaudet University.
Even I learned something about English, and I had perfect verbal SATs when I attended Gallaudet and was a National Merit Semifinalist. I had wonderful English teachers who loved to teach, who are still at Gallaudet working with the next generation of students.
And yes, I have two typos which will remain for all time because this forum does not permit me to revise my writing.
Jeff is correct. I can vouch for Jeff Carlson, he is pretty much Deaf but he can hear very well — he told me that he was startled when Fernandes boomed her voice.
And I believe him.
R-