your language (english) grammars is not making sense.. again make it clearly!

Actually, Johnny, it’s a very well written piece.

Johnny,

I am sorry, but I understand Julie perfectly. Can you explain why you do not understand?

please enlighten us about your problem with the petition.

just signed in petition and it wont hurt you or Gallaudet.

Interesting!! you believe in everything that is being said on internet about “reasons” not to sign in petition. Something on the internet are false..

Johnny: you mention that some things on the internet are false. I couldn’t agree more. I see that petition signer 777 is “Jane K. Fernandes”… perhaps this is one of the problems with internet petitions…. cheers

Julie - thank you for this post. I find it to be clear and concise and I agree with your reasons for not signing this petition.

Johnny - you cannot tell people to just sign. People have freedom of choice and you need to respect people’s decisions.

Regina - exactly.

Anne, people have choice and i am encouraging, you cannot critize me for being disrespect to people.

Perhaps Johnny it’d be better to sign petitions on paper. On paper it would seem to hold a more tangible value than an electronic version when anyone can sign it multiple times from different computers. ePetition on JKF is generally worthless except it acts like a poll when people can see the number of people who signed up in favor of ousting JKF. I wonder how many people signed it electronically multiple times?

if papers, how many people willing to sign in petition and everyone are all over the world where they are the supporters for Gallaudet and electronic is another way to sign in petition, as they asked for 50,000 signs.

And Johnny: how many of the 859 names so far are real? (since one is JKF, I’ll be at least a dozen more are fakes). Will the board pay attention to “anonymous” and, really, will the BoT pay attention to folks who are not employees, students nor parents of Gally? I suspect you’ll be quite disappointed here.

Johnny, thanks for sharing your opinion; nothing wrong with that.

I know it “does not hurt” to sign the petition as an uplifting indicator of the ongoing support (to paraphase what Elisa Abenchuchan said on her blog), but I still firmly stand by my reasons. Others should not voice for me. If I want to express what I have to say, an individual letter will do it best. And if you multiply that effort by the same number of people who actually sign the e-petition, the results would be much more astounding. Meaningful. Added clarity.

In other words, the petition itself is a mere twig. Thousands of individual letters, when put together, is unbreakable just like a bundle of sticks.

I have some experience with policy matters. Policy can only be created or changed when the issues are personal — that is, when people lobby for those policies face-to-face. Paperwork is simply a creation that can be done by anyone. It is difficult to authenticate paperwork without a person to back it up. The Internet is even worse — people can hide behind other names and use different computers to “sign” the same document. What they are doing creates a situation in which those documents — in this case, the e-petition, is considered inadmissible evidence. “Anonymous” signings are worthless.

While this e-petition can be used to tentatively gauge the public opinion of JKF, no one in a seat of authority, especially the BoT or Congress, would accept it as truly representative. It’s just not valid.

Sorry.

Julie, I agree. A letter is personal and powerful and direct, assuming (of course) anyone plans to read letters these days.

I am very concerned like you about the way Deaf people are being framed. I would like to suggest also that organizers of anything write a COHERENT and SOPHISTICATED letter to the press and try to get them on our side. Publicity will count for a lot. Also any politicians who might be supportive.

Petitions might sway politicians who measure the merit of some things based on popular culture. Hopefully Gallaudet is not so shallow in its search for a President that it would bend one direction or the other based on a petition signed by 800 plus students and faculty. A single letter, well written and not provocative can carry much more power. I do not know JKF except by reputation, but it seems to me the protest is six years too late. How could Gallaudet, the students and faculty accept a Provost who has never taught, worked with the curriculum, conducted experimental research, etc. Where were you guys!

Actually JK did teach a class a long time ago. It was American Literature BEFORE she became a provost.

I think it’s in 1997 or 1998 - not sure.

Shan

Julia and Joseph

If you would please check the petition site, you will see a sentence that says, “This is a real petition. Fake signatures will be removed every 2-3 hours.” The petition site is to be taken seriously. In fact, it has been moved up to the third place as the most popular site visited.

Have you read the letter from FSSA? Check the link http://www.xanga.com/elisa_abe...../item.html
It states clearly as to why the protest is going on, not because of “Because she doesn’t say hi.”
Yes, I realize that was probably the reason in the first place, but I am assuming it was because the students were shocked and angered by the announcement of the new president. They expressed what were on their minds; however, now that the protest is more organized than it was on the first day, their reasons are more reasonable and sensible.

In addition, you know how the media is. They tend to distort the truth. Never trust the media!