I got an e-mail in response to my “hearing diversity” post. The author prefers to be identified as “KBM”. I have not yet seen this issue addressed publicly on any of the many blogs covering this Gallaudet protest, and very much feel that this needs more attention.
I just wanted to say despite FSSA’s diverse members, the protest is also split along racial lines. As a long time active member of NBDA, I can tell you from a quick look at the petition, I recognized at least 1 or 2 NBDA members’ name on it. Nope, I didn’t sign it either. 25 BDA chapters nationally, and we have 1 or 2 names, is especially telling on where our views of this protest stands. Our view on this protest is that it is sore losers bunk.
At Deaf Expo in Atlanta this recent weekend, I ran into several BDA friends who commented that while they do believe the process was flawed and they commend FSSA’s presence as a change agent organization, they do not support the protest to get JK resigned. Reason? Simple. When people of color including PEP, NBDA, and Diversity Now! Coalition of Gallaudet called for help to get the protest going during the 3 weeks between the announcement of the 3 candidates and the announcement of JK as President, people including SBG (as painfully evident in their pep rally fiasco), ignored us, dismissed our concerns, and instead crossed their fingers for a certain candidate to be selected. Only did when JK got selected, did calls for action begin in earnest. How ironic…if they really believed the process was flawed and yet chose to not challenge it in the hopes of having their favorite being chosen, isn’t it akin to being a direct perpetuator of a flawed process just as PSC and BoT was? It’s like eating a whole dessert and then blaming the waiter for blowing their diet! “I demand his resignation, he should have known about my low-carb/low-sugar diet!”
If folks don’t believe that there is indeed racial lines on this protest issue, think about the inhabitants of Tent City…how many of them were people of color? There is a website showing you pictures of the inhabitants if you don’t know/remember.
“Unity- Diversity-Community”, in 12 days? Pfft, not even close. Gally has a lot of work to do in mending bridges with people of color, and FSSA is a good starting point. We still would like a public apology from SBG for marginalizing our voices earlier.
I e-mailed the author back, saying that I agreed 100%. I also pointed out that the focus of my blog was on hearing diversity, and that I also felt that the FSSA’s voice would have been much more powerful if they had the full backing of more BDA members. This is the response to my e-mail:
Oh, I agree with your point on the hearing diversity, I am Deaf from a mainstreaming environment but involved in Deaf community, so I am mindful of needing to be aware of that kind of diversity. Realy, no manner how FSSA tried to emphasize over and over that it’s not about “not Deaf enough”, we all know what came out of people’s mouths the first 2 days of the protest before FSSA materialized. These few days of “verbal diaherra” were all it took to create such an emotional splittering in the Deaf community along communication modality lines, just as it did with racial lines a little earlier. Real sad! All I have to do is direct people to look at blogs (especialy Joey Baer’s ASL blogs where some people said it was time for a more “Deaf-centric” president without bothering to explain their “definition” of Deaf-centricism. Their analogy of black university president didn’t ring true, I am a graduate of two HBCUs (Spelman and Howard), we could care less about “light v. dark colorism” as long as the president are aware and sensitive of our Black issues) that were logged in the few days before and after the JK announcement. People can rationalize them away as mere “dissenters in minority”, but it still doesn’t erase that “deafism” played a part in the inception of this protest. JK didn’t invent the “not Deaf enuf” scenario out of thin air, it was all there in writing and in videos for her to pounce on and capitalize on it with the media.
I agree with you, FSSA would have been more powerful with NBDA’s total support.
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I’ll admit that how the diversity issue got picked up only later, when Fernandes’ selection was announced, gave me pause. The calls for a deaf-centric president in Joey Baer’s vlogs also made me wonder. Plus, If you look at the Unity for Gallaudet T-shirt, you have to squint before you can find a person of color in the picture.
But I question whether that makes the protest any less valid.
There is, after all, a severe case of verbal diarrhea going around, as your correspondent pointed out (and which I am guilty of contributing to at times, as well). But that can also be the result of people needing to discuss issues and figure out where they stand.
Clearly, there’s an enormous amount of discussion needing to take place regarding deaf/hearing diversity as well as racial diversity and awareness, and where those things stand in terms of the protest. But, again, I question whether that invalidates the need to protest.
No, it doesn’t invalidate the need to protest, the issue of leadership and flawed process are valid reasons…except that in the eyes of people of color, there would have been NO protest if JK wasn’t selected, even through the process *was* indeed flawed. You can’t have it both ways- either the process was fine or it was flawed from the get-go, regardless of who came out in the top. Deaf people of color from Day One have said the process was flawed, therefore need to be interfered and re-done before a final decision was nailed on the wall.
Such intense discussion of hearing/deaf diversity and racial diversity could have happened before, not after, the announcement of JK. That way, it wouldn’t have bit us in the butt when media came sniffing around! DPN didn’t have such diarrhea- the four demands, Deaf President Now!, that was it, nothing else off the point. This time, the diarrhea happened when it happened because many people *refused* to admit to themselves the process was indeed flawed because that would have meant accepting the big risk that their favorite candidate may not have been selected the second time around if process were re-done! This is about selfishness, not about “community, diversity, unity.”
If people really cared about social justice, and the process was indeed flawed, then whoever ends up as President-select (even Ron)should have been regarded as invalid and unacceptable on arrival. But we know that wouldn’t have happened. FSSA wouldn’t have happened. This outrage wouldn’t have happened. “Process was flawed? Ah, well…stuff happens, nothing is perfect in life. Shush, let’s just hold hands and sign Kumbuya and move on and accept *him* as our new President.” That plus the deaf-centric emphasis issue…hence the paucity of support for the protest from people of color *outside* the Gallaudet gates. Trust is a fragile thing, no “words” on some Tshirt will magically restore that broken trust.
Very eloquently put, KBM. I agree. I’ve indeed found it troubling in the past that if another candidate were selected, the chances of there being such a strong response are next to nil. And yet, the process would have been flawed, regardless of which candidate was chosen. That much was evident the moment the three finalists were announced — I think confusion is an appropriate adjective for the day that announcement was made.
And you make a good point - the diarrhea (as we seem to like calling it) happened only after the selection, not before, while certain groups on campus were calling (or trying to call) attention to the lack of diversity or awareness. I don’t know for sure that you’re right about people being selfish about hoping for their favorite candidate even if the process was flawed, but it certainly does make me raise an eyebrow.
This cannot invalidate the protest by any means. The protest movement has been standing on (at least) two legs from the beginning: on a cultural criticism and on a performance criticism. Even if you question the first, the second shows Fernandes unfit to lead a university in the 21st century.
I still struggle to understand the uproar over the racial non-mixture of the three finalists. They were all white, and one out of three was a woman.
The inclusion of Ron Stern, a person with no higher education administrative experience, no higher education research expertise, or no doctorate degree was puzzling at best, especially when there were more qualified candidates such as Glenn Anderson. That, in itself, indicates something went wrong.
But was it a deliberate attempt at racism? I don’t think so. Like everyone else in the Swindells auditorium during his presentation, Stern probably blew away everyone on the PSC to the point where they were so energized by his vision that they ignored the criteria and gave him one of the three finalist slots. Likewise, Dr. Anderson might not have done well in the interviews.
My biggest guess as to why the Gallaudet community ignored the diversity coalition’s protests was that they probably thought, “they doth protest too much.”
In some small way, I do have to agree. Is it required that one of the top three be a person of color? Doesn’t that reek of tokenism?
I think it’s so important to recognize that the deaf community is just finally coming of age in academia. Just now, finally, are deaf people finally gaining the expertise and degrees necessary to run large, complex organizations. Unfortunately, people of color and other minorities have to play catch-up due to societial inequity. Perhaps the inclusion of Stern shows that the PSC had a difficult time finding candidates out of the entire pool that were truly qualified to lead Gallaudet, indicating that the pool itself is just not strong enough yet.
I guess what I’m trying to say here is the reaction of the diversity coalition to the whiteness of the three finalists may have been unjustified. “Diversity is dead?” I think not. Maybe there just wasn’t a qualified, diverse candidate that met or exceeded the PSC’s standards.
I know that as a white, non-gallaudetian, I don’t know the whole story, so I hope someone out there will enlighten me.
Adam,
We never required that the top three finalists must include a person of color, we abhor tokenism! We just happen to believe Glenn, or even Laurene Simms (who did apply by the way), is very deserving to be in the final roster, BASED ON QUALIFICATIONS alone. Many of us do not look at Clarence Thomas nor Condi Rice with pride, if we had our way, they would have been out of the door in a sec! Fact is, if all three white finalists had the qualifications (which Ron didn’t), you wouldn’t be hearing such outrage from people of color. However, anytime a less qualified white person is selected or promoted over a black person with much more qualifications, we (all of us, black and white) would be morally amiss to not say, hey, wait a min…we want to know why. I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of the Academic Search company, if that doesn’t raise your eyebrows…
If JK was the intended target of BoT…that raises the question of whether did PSC intentionally selected weaker candidates to make it easy for JK to be selected? I would dare people to come up with a reason whether BoT would have still considered selecting JK over someone with equilavent experiences and gravitas, even similar signing fluency, BUT no enemies or divisive personality like Glenn. I went to a FSSA meeting one night and that night FSSA came into a consensus with a definition of multiculturalism/diversity as something that promotes inclusiveness, transparency, and *FAIRNESS*. If this process didn’t feel inclusive, transparent, or fair…it’s flawed, period!
It’s no different from DPN, anybody can make the same argument that Zinsler may have very well blown the board’s minds that they went ahead and selected her over two deaf finalists. We deaf people have right to cry “foul!”…and yet we cannot do the same when similiar injustice is done to people of color? Instead we get accussed of “playing the race card” as NAD puts it in their fourth position paper…
I completely agree. As Donna Lewis mentioned in her blog about EEO, that is a clear EEO issue (if it works out…non-selectees against non-selectees?) White candidates with less qualifications were chosen over candidates of color with more qualifications. Perhaps Glenn or Laurene should pursue legal action? Why haven’t they?
Laurene’s application was screened out in round 1, along with 14 others, so she can’t “prove” discrimination- it’s her word against 17 people on PSC. And people can talk up “b.s.”. I saw messages on gally list serv where people made up wild speculations about why he wasn’t selected- history of health problems based on absence of ONE important event (Glenn told me he had no such history, never missed one board meeting in 16 years, and missed the event because of food poisoning!), bombed in the interview (really?? well, we’ll never know for sure since he didn’t get to the final 3 for us to see for ourselves at the forums), so on and on. I wonder what PSC would have said if EEOC came asking around? “Why eliminate Laurene? Glenn?” “Oh they met all the qualifications but didn’t have what we were looking for.” What can EEOC do with such a statement? Dunno.
As for Glenn, should he pursue legal action? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s better to avoid lawsuits, it can backfire on the person, making him look like a sore loser. MLK Jr didn’t do lawsuits, he did grasswoods pressure (boycotts, writings, marches, lectures, dangerous sit-ins. It made such a powerful impact. I would rather have the Deaf community to apply similiar pressure, that way it lets Gally know *we*, not just one person, know something is off. Hence our repeated attempts to call for a protest ahead of time.
I do have to wonder why people of color from different states almost felt the same shock, the same suspicision upon learning about Ron’s qualifications- I mean, it was like an instant “you too? me too! him too? her too!What’s up with that…I’ve had ENOUGH!” (Letters sent to PSC, gone unanswered only served to fuel our suspicions, and the pep rally made it even worse). Diversity Now Coalition didn’t even existed before April 13, 2006. It’s because we all have either heard or experienced similiar situations, but we couldn’t really “prove” it until much later, after seeing a pattern,after the time for filing EEOC has come and gone. This is where I hope FSSA comes into the picture- to investigate and demand straight answers to questions as to why there are no people of color in high management positions in Gallaudet,and to demand a change in the system that works against people of color. And, Adam, you could be very well correct- there was no racism involved in the process, I certainly hope so,…but at least we’d rather know that *for sure* instead of walking around Gallaudet campus wondering “maybe it’d be a waste of time applying for that management position, they don’t want a person of color…”
KBM:
You wrote:
“Many of us do not look at Clarence Thomas nor Condi Rice with pride, if we had our way, they would have been out of the door in a sec!”
And you wonder why people have a hard time taking you seriously. Like the Deaf attacks the deaf, you attack other blacks who do not think the same as you do, and you espouse diversity. Apparently, that does not include intellectual diversity. Whatever…
LOL! Intellectual diversity has been a common mainstay in the African American community for centuries-whether it be the famous debate of W.E.B. Dubois v. Booker T. Washington or the methodological differences of Malcolm X/Black Panthers and MLK, Jr./NAACP. Black people having philosophical differences with black people is nothing new… but one thing we all do agree on- we will not accept racism as acceptable practice, period.
Let’s be real. Clarence Thomas didn’t get to Supreme Court on merit alone, he’s token, period. I’d even rather have the crazy ultra-conservative Alan Keyes than Clarence Thomas, at least he can say he has intergrity with his morals. I can’t believe that someone who committed sexual harrassment and denounced affirmative action after being a direct benefactor of it, got appointed to Supreme Court. He was a puppet placed up there by the right-wing faction to serve their needs, according to David Brock, the author of “Blinded by the Right”.
KBM– your post #3688 is on-target. I’m glad to hear tokenism isn’t the goal of the various groups such as NBDA– and I do agree the final group of candidates was so lopsided as to raise eyebrows.
You’re correct– I doubt if either Stern or Weiner had been offered the job that anyone would have immediately headed for the front gates to protest. Still, we have a situation here where the present choice (Fernandes) is so polarizing that to have her remain would be destructive.
Hopefully, if both demands are won, the reconstituted PSC will invite input from a variety of groups in order to ensure the next selection process is far more equitable and as transparent as possible. See-see…
Adam,
Please do not confuse “diversity” with “color”. One is not a euphemism for the other. To say that there were not enought qualified, diverse candidates… We had a woman and two Jewish men as finalists. That sounds diverse to me. Does not having a person who is black or brown mean that the group is not diverse? Maybe we need to re-examine what diversity really means.
Please do not confuse “diversity” with “color”. One is not a euphemism for the other. To say that there were not enought qualified, diverse candidates… We had a woman and two Jewish men as finalists. That sounds diverse to me.
This is truly interesting..more so comical! I can not believe that you think because two of the finalists were Jewish men then the final group can be consider diverse!
Where is diversity? According to the Webster’s dictionary, diversity is defined as “differing from one another (unlike) or make variety.”
So if one were to follow this definition, then the 2 men were NOT unlike! Therefore this final selection was not diverse!
FSSA does not accept a biased person who drives to the extreme on one kind of communication in leading the University period. Basically, Jane Fernandes discriminated against the people of color for higher level management job positions in her 11 year work at the campus. FSSA pushes on increasing the fair job opportunities for the deaf people of color and general deaf people in the future. “NOT DEAF ENOUGH” predjuices against Gallaudet University! IKJ and JKF failed to demonstrate an appropriate leadership in dealing with the media on the protest, so that must go now.
Interesting points, Gordon — but yet again, someone comments without facts to back it up. I really want to believe you but do you have evidence spporting your claim that Fernandes discriminated against people of color for higher level management job positions at Gallaudet? Even one example would satisfy me.
OK — not to distract from your basic premise, which is that the search process was flawed from the beginning (no hard evidence of that so far). But how about the ageism card? I agree that Dr. Glenn Anderson would have strong qualifications. As someone else said, he is a well-liked, respected, and non-divisive candidate. But he is also 60 years old, give or take a year or two. I think it’s great that he might feel he had more left in him to give to Gallaudet, but every 60 year old I’ve ever met was counting the years to retirement. The presidency of Gallaudet is a demanding job, lots of travel and being the one to carry the deaf world on his shoulders, like Atlas. Maybe this came through during the interview? Would the PSC look for someone who can stick around for more than a few years and do lots of hard work and long hours?
Age and skin color discrimination falls under the “protected class” clause, however; most of the time it is very difficult to prove it in court.
Absolutely, very difficult to prove, hence people’s reluctance to use the EEOC method, unless someone is caught on tape or camera or there are witnesses (e.g. North County movie).
I’ve worked as advocate for the deaf for a year and have had cases where I’ve had to report lawyers to the State Bar for violating ADA by refusing to get interpreters for deaf clients,and even with ample evidence, the State Bar has slided with the lawyers every single time…systematic audism at its finest…now it’s on to Department of Justice, and that takes several months, meanwhile the problem that drove the deaf clients to lawyers in the first place are still unresolved…point is, EEOC isn’t always a solution. This is why transparency is important with the process.
This I can verify. I once attempted to file a complaint through EEOC (and I had perfectly legit reasons, mind you) but the process was horrendous. Even though the EEOS was wonderful with me, his supervisor wasn’t. And oh, the headaches I had being bounced from office to office.. person to person. Still, this taught me a lot about EEO- which was the only good thing that came out of it.
In fact, I just got an “update” letter last month- it was full of BS and I originally met with the EEO specialist three years ago!
Sometimes in-house EEO complaints are not always favorable because their focus is to prevent their company from litigation. Any claims made by the complaint will go to their in-house lawyers. This is also excellent “discovery” information for their lawyers to win cases in court of law as opposed to filing with the United States EEOC.
Ageism, that’s always a possibility.I hope not. If that was the reason PSC eliminated him in round 2, then they got a problem. Age discrimination is against the law unless they can prove the person has lost the faculties necessary to do the job.
If someone feels “too old” to handle a such demanding job, why would they go for it? One day you will be 60, feeling like fabulous 50 like Oprah…who has the right to decide whether you’re too old to do a job- you or some bloke? I mean, in this 21st century, age has become such a mystery- health advances are improving health quality and prolonging longevity, the 50s is now the new 40s, retirement isn’t what it used to be- we have people not wanting to retire in the 60s because they enjoy staying active…I am not saying that there are people in 60s who are starting to wane away, of course relatively speaking there are. But there are many who are like on the go-go-go, so it’s too tricky for us to generalize people based on their age. The 60 year olds you’ve met did not apply for Gallaudet presidency, so they might have been physically and mentally ready to retire, Glenn isn’t.
How old is Jordan? 50s? That man could outrun and outlast me and I’m only in my 30s! His crazy schedule could worn me out in a week! LOL! Have you ever seen Glenn in real life recently? I don’t know his exercise regimen, but you could tell this former athlete’s in pretty good shape, but of course, it’s all subjective. And lots of traveling? Old hat for him. This man is internationally known, he is a familiar name in WFD (World Federation for the Deaf) rounds, I believe this because a woman from Germany wrote a message on list serv saying, “I don’t know JK, Steve, or Ron, but I sure know Glenn and Roz, they are known in the international community…I can’t believe they didn’t get to the final 3…” So…., PSC better have a good reason for doing the ageism dance, if that’s what they were grooving to.
Dear DeafLinus,
Lets start with when Dr. Jordan announced his retirement he litterally closed the school. So all eyes on him he blurted out by introducing the then Provost Fernandes as President Fernandes and did this blurt out a couple more times at different locations. Flawed enough for you? If not then let me know and i can give you more examples. Maybe see another example in my response post to A Voice.
KBM — a wonderful voice you have. I applaud your sharing here, and would love to chat elsewhere.
Thank you for the kind compliment.
how come I haven’t seen much of postings of comments directly from people of color? Do they ever read this site and respond? I must admit I haven’t seen much of people of color in the photos (at other sites).
Which other sites are you referring to?
http://www.xanga.com/elisa_abenchuchan, http://www.ridorlive.com, correct me if I’m mistaken
Ah, okay- to be fair, Elisa’s blog did have pictures of people of color at the rally where FSSA first came out, but that’s pretty much I recall. Overall, she did a great job covering what she saw at Gally.
But things can get sometimes slanted, unconsciously, in favor of the protest on a personal blog. For example, when hell broke loose after the announcement and a group started walking to some place (front gate I think?), a black deaf student leader named David King was preparing to stand up on the “gate platform” and was immediately asked by SBG president what he was going to say. When he responded “This is a free country, I’m going to say what I’m gonna say,” he was then asked to not say anything contrary to the protest!!(How did he know David wasn’t going to sing the fake unity song? Maybe that had to do with several days of David meeting with SBG trying to convince them to join the Diversity Now Coalition…) Anyway, David basically told the crowd in so many words that this protest was akin to karma payback because people didn’t listen to students of color for 3 weeks. Then he told them they *better* let him drive off campus through the front gate, then there was some slight commotion thereafter. Students of color were likewise livid but for different reasons than the protesters, like “Too d— bad, you didn’t listen to us, and no, you’re not gonna use me for this fake diversity cause!” I know this because he told me himself. But did you see that episode on Ridor’s and Elisa’s blogs? Nope…coz that would have shown the protest to be lacking in unity.
Yes, I agreed with your statement. I think it is high time for the people of colors to stand for themselves. It is sickening that White Deaf tried to use us for props and when things blown over, they will discard them like an used condom in toilet!
That is the impression I got from the protestors. I think using the word “diversity” and taking photos of people of color is a pure sham. This is pure photo-op and a smoke screen of some sort. If they want to include everyone then they have to walk the talk.
yes that’s exactly my feelings/thoughts here that it’s shameful to exclude them and then include only when it’s convenient or favorable (like a photo-op or smoke screen). I may be color-blind myself but I ain’t blind when it comes to obvious and subtle inequality and hypocrisy.
In my opinion, people of color are smart and this is not their battle. They do not want their issues distorted with what is going on.
Whoever took the pictures usually is a white person who took the pictures of people that looks like him/her. I am sure some people of colors are lurking in and out to see what they are saying. We don’t want to get in battle with White Deaf people because we have been burned in the past. I know what it like to been screwed royally during my days in Galluadet because of my outspoken against racism that they attempted to swept under the rug.
you have my empathy here. feel free to count me as a supporter if not a friend (btw I’m a white male alumnae) and I’m not afraid to stand for non-white individuals
IKJ is 62. Has anyone watched the video of Commencement? The keynote speaker was stellar! I didn’t catch all of the beginning of the speech because, truth to tell, “another old white hearing guy, ho hum,” and I wandered away to get a beer, figuratively speaking. Just goes to show [again] one should not judge a book by its cover. The speaker, Ken Chlouber, was an organizer of the Leadville 100, an ultramarathon of 100 miles. IKJ has run it 11 times! Chlouber went into vivid detail about just what is involved in running that race. I wonder if the current new video by Mosdeaux, starring hunk-a-rama Rory Osbrink, took a page from that speech. Tough stuff, our IKJ. I have not seen Glenn Anderson in recent years, so if you’re telling me that at age 60, he can handle the job with one hand tied behind his back, good for him! Just really sorry he did not make it, and I for one would love to know the reason why.
Those other web sites: elisa, not so bad, but Ridor Live (aka Ricky Taylor), no reasoning person would take that baloney seriously. Entertaining, yes, but still baloney.
I am curious. I have heard there are many issues that PSC claimed to confidentiality and they cannot say who was interviewed or not. Nevertheless, would FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) be able to provide us the names? Gallaudet receives federal funding and there must be a way to find information as it may be a public record somehow. Any gumshoes in here? *grins*
Who got interviewed? Just the last 3 plus Glenn, Professor William Marshall (name correct?), and Bobbie Beth Scroggins.
I also read somewhere that Tim Rarus also applied as well. He was one of the four DPN leaders.
wow, what would make Tim Rarus qualified to run a university? Laurene Simms I can totally see, but Rarus? Based on what?
Julie-
I hate to say this… this reminds me a lot of the old days at RIT with deaf perspectives. sad but true haha!
I feel that the students are acting emotionally rather then logically. There were times when many of us at RIT were upset with Al Simone on his policies and changes for academic requirements(dry campus/ english)… but in the long run he has done great things for RIT and increased the value of an RIT degree… I love getting job offers and scoring interviews just because I went to RIT. It is nice to be an RIT graduate and making big bucks… but I get the feeling that the gally students are more interested in preserving their soical environment rather then improving the reputation of their college.
to deaflinux- FOIA is designed for obtaining information that the federal government has or information that is required to be reported to the public by law. I am not sure that candidates that were interviewed or turned down can be publicly disclosed. Just like if you were employeed by one company and your employer wanted to know they cant FOIA that information from the company you interviewed with… thats a invasion of privacy… with this bush adminstration privacy is nothing.
Oh yes, I remember the tough times that Al Simone and the students went through. Back in ‘92/’93, Al wanted to reduce the number of majors from 150+ (!!!) to a much more reasonable level. There were quite a stir on that, especially from those students in those fringe majors (where only 1-10 students are majoring at any time), decrying the lost of diversity of majors.
Valid as their concerns were, Al Simone and his team was correct on one thing: Diversity in majors mean crap when there’s no money to fund it. Best to focus on the key fields, improve the quality of education. And that doesn’t stop them from creating new majors where there are demands. After all, that year (’92), a new major was formed — Information Technology. Today, it is the major for nearly 25% of RIT students.
There is always a balance in everything — and Al Simone was being a good father to RIT. That is why I remember him fondly.
Dear A voice,
Thanks for sharing and I agree but please remember that when Al Simone wanted to make the said changes, he justified it with a track record of success from his previous position. Not only that, I remember him as someone even in trying time, he used to go all the way down to the first floor of building one to go to the bathroom. Over the years I wondered why he did this until now it hit me! He wanted to make contact with students and talk to them, listen to them. His presence was all it took to show students that he had their best interest at heart. He showed that he cared and he assured it in countless meetings that it will take time but we will get there. He never once divided us among each other, Faculty, Staff, Students and Alumni.
I know all this because I was there. I interviewed him and recommended his appointment. What a noble and caring man he is.
Now turn the clock back to May 1, 2006. A student was arrested at Dr. Jane Fernandes announcement as the 9th President of Gallaudet Univeristy.
Instead of Jane Fernandes putting a stop to the arrest of a student, she stood there and watched and did nothing! Then later she called the cops on the student protesters and stood around smiling and telling others everything was alright. She played the indentity card to divide the deaf community. The list goes on. Plus a not so good track record at Kendall. Some of the RIT alums have kids there and are not happy with the changes she made because it is affecting their education. Raise the standards you say?
I know this. Because I am there now.
Between the two leaders, I rather another Al Simone for Gallaudet University because I love what he has done with RIT. So re-open the process and search long and hard like RIT did to get Al Simone. Instead the process here was open for 5 weeks! Dang! I just now realize how fast that was.
So now you tell me why we should not re-open the process to pick a President like all the possible Al Simones out there.
The faculty have voted no confidence in Jane Fernandes. FSSA is born out of this fact among others you have probable read. The students who are in the front lines of FSSA are examples of Gallaudet’s success. Jane Fernandes has a history at Kendall. You might want to do more research on what has happened to Kendall since her appointment.
So while it might come across as it is about Jane Fernandes, it is not. It is about the process that led to picking her and unfortunately she had a prior vote of no confidence by the faculty. So she was already a “most not-wanted” by faculty standards.
well it seems to me that ridor is just a trouble maker that cant hack it in the real world so he has to hang out at gally and make noise with kid… too bad he didnt get an education so he could be working at gally and making a difference.
if I am not mistaking… didnt SBG pick JK as the most diverse canadiate?
you have all these people that want to protest something about this president selection and who one yet you dont even know what your protesting… seems like you people are competing with each other over who is a better protester and who is gonna be the one that wins the protest and makes the change at gally… it is like a contest to become the big famous person in the deaf community with bragging rights… personally I am sick of the deaf community and this image crap oh look at me in my 200 dollar jeans and BMW that I bought with my SSI check. thats all def people do anymore is brag brag brag
I came across this article written by Slemo Warigon, a black deaf person who is a director of auditing at Gally (who is also the moderator for gally-L net). I cut and pasted partitions here because it may answer some questions about diversity and in-house EEOC problems at Gally. The full article is at http://www.deafprofessional.com, a very insightful one.
Impact of Management By Intimidation
By Slemo D. Warigon, CIA, CISA, CICA, MBA (Posted on January 18, 2006)
We have read so much about “management by objectives” and “management by the seat of your pants” and their impact on organizations that they’ve become buzzwords. To the best of this author’s knowledge, our management literature has not yet addressed “management by intimidation” and its impact on organizations per se. The closest issue previously discussed in the literature was the eighth of W. Edwards Deming’s famous “Fourteen Points of Management” in Out of the Crisis (1986).
Management By Intimidation (MBI) is the practice of managing, or governing people based on fear. Most organizations have managers or leaders who employ MBI practices. Such practices are inconsistent with Deming’s eighth point of management which behooves contemporary management practitioners to “drive out fear” in order to make employees feel secure enough to express ideas and ask questions. Deming has steadfastly viewed management by fear as counter-productive to the long-term health of an organization because it prevents employees from acting in the organization’s best interests.
Common characteristics of MBI philosophy are:
- Self-Centeredness: MBI practitioners are self-centered leaders. They make decisions that are usually best for themselves, their favorite subordinates, their friends, and their business partners. Personal agendas are disguised as organizational agendas.
- Lack of Transparency: MBI practices are not transparent to people who are not directly impacted by such practices. We either experience, or learn about them from colleagues who were affected by the practices. MBI practitioners are too concerned about leaving audit trails that they have adopted the practice of not documenting their activities as much as possible and tacitly asking their subordinates to do the same.
- Questionable Hiring Practices: MBI practitioners tend to ignore good personnel policies and resort to cronyism and nepotism in their hiring decisions. Covert tactics are used to ensure that friends and relatives are given preferential considerations. Ruse interviews are occasionally conducted just to satisfy legal requirements.
- Lack of Diversity: MBI practitioners preach but do not practice diversity. They develop policies, procedures, and plans that extol the virtues of diversity. They organize events intended to create the illusion that their organizations believe in diversity. A closer look will reveal that the people they surround themselves with in key leadership positions are not diverse. Lucrative positions, contracts, and bonuses are typically awarded to people who look, think, and act like them.
- Ineffective Dispute Resolution: Employee complaints and disputes will escalate. Offices established to handle such complaints or disputes in compliance with the equal employment opportunity and labor laws will be ineffective in achieving satisfactory resolutions. Such offices will usually report to MBI superiors who are themselves the subjects of escalating employee complaints. The feeling that wolves are set up to guard the henhouse will eventually pervade the organizations until employees sense that it is pointless to file formal grievances. Law suits will become the only recourse for victimized employees, and costly out-of-court settlements will be the standard solutions for the affected organizations.
Slemo D. Warigon, CIA, CISA, CICA, MBA is the Director of Audit and Management Advisory Services at Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002.
Principle… shouldn’t the link be the only thing here? Isn’t this a copyright violation?
The correct url is http://www.deafprofessional.net
Thank you, The Sage, for the correction.
Funkus, I don’t know the rules about copyright in the context of Internet, I’m relatively new to blogging. Perhaps someone can enlighten me?
Why doesn’t someone of color apply to be a blogger on DeafDC.com? I’m sure they’re looking for more diversity on their staff. I think Adam Stone takes care of this. Let me find his e-mail…
found it - adam.stone@deafdc.com
Important Update to share with you all-
I just got paged by Laurene Simms, she wanted to clarify that she did not apply for the position. The long-standing rumor on the gally-l net of her applying was left unrefuted. ( She doesn’t subscribe to it.) My sincerest apologies for the inaccuracy without double-checking!
I recommend KBM to be a diverse blogger on DeafDC.com! The people of color strongly are encouraged to contribute to improve the diversity on DeafDC.com.
KBM wrote lots of excellent comments.
You are aware that I am not a DC resident, but a Georgia resident?
Nevertheless, your comments are welcomed here because they are insightful.
I second that! you may not be physically in DC, but you sure seem to have your finger on the proverbial pulse. the page from Laurene Simms is an indicator!
Okay, sure, thank you for the open and warm invitation! I’ll drop in some ponderable stuff then and now, however I can’t promise to be as regular as other bloggers as I’m anticipating a very busy summer coordinating a family reunion (imagine that- a sole deafie coordinating a totally hearie reunion, smile!) plus a regional conference.
[…] Here, we find ourselves half agreeing and half disagreeing. We disagree that “all that” is a thing of the past. We agree, though, that we’re grateful for her selection and the subsequent protests. Without them, close investigation and introspection regarding both Gallaudet and the deaf community would not have occured. Issues such as deafism, audism, sexism, racism, and others would not have come into such a glaring light (for example, the absolutely wonderful discussion initiated by fellow DeafDC.com blogger Julie Feldman and her correspondent, known only by the initials KBM). […]
KBM,
Thanks for this site and it’s discussions. What you wrote is right on target that led to the birth of FSSA. For the record, FSSA is here to stay. I want to set something straight about the protest in addition to what you have said.
The Coalation of Students of Color planned a protest right before Dr. Weiner’s presentation. One of the FSSA members stopped them in their tracks. Everyone should know that member regrets doing so. Those who think if either Dr. Weiner or Mr. Stern won there will be no protest are wrong. This FSSA member who stopped The Coalation of Ctudent of Color did so because this person believed in the letter from the former chair of the BoT. Also this FSSA member has friends on the PSC whom they trust. So the FSSA member - me - stopped the protest in its tracks early. I sincerely apologize to everyone for it because now look where we are now. I put trust in the system to work. I put trust in the process even when I was told it was FLAWED from the start and examples of proof were present. So I hope no one hates me. That’s ok if I get bombarded with hate mails.
But now FSSA is make things right at Gallaudet University. Other deaf people could join FSSA for SOCIAL JUSTICE. Many of these individuals in this blog are bright and able. I respectfully request that you all give FSSA’s efforts serious thoughts and get involved.
The issues that are popping up about Gallaudet University. Some of them are real and most are not. Some are from individuals who need to be healed for whatever reason under Dr. Fernandes administration as the former provost and as Kendall and MSSD. So we are looking at approximately 11 years of history. Does anyone remember the first question that posted to her during her presentation?
In order to effectively accomplish the re-opening of the process, FSSA can use Alumnae, friends and family assistance. Some of whom are here in this blog. Hence A in the FSSA is for Alumni. If you are a deaf person who has kept up with blogs and read FSSA’s web page please extend your expertise.
Dr. Jane K Fernandes. This is not a hate mail. This is not out of disrespect to you or anybody. I respectfully ask that you save Gallaudet University. Please think about this “save” Gallaudet University. Part of being a leader is also to remember to listen to the people who hold the chair that you sit on as a leader. The people you are set to lead have spoken. You leadership can begin to shine by doing what’s right.
BoT. According to your by-laws you are a servant of the community. The community has spoken. The faculty have voted. The staff pole was marginal which in essence “FLAWED” when you have 300 out of 800 votes. The teachers have voted. The community has spoken.
It is time for the deaf community to come together and support our future as one. The future is NOW. Bring your skills to FSSA HQ. Check out http://www.gallyFSSA.org. Regardless of your race, sex, religion, or creed or how deaf you are. Just to do one thing, the right thing for deaf people all over the world. Thats what Edward Minor Gallaudet would have wanted. You may of may not have attended Gallaudet University but I assure you that when you set foot on the campus. You will know what I am talking about. There is a feeling of a special spirit in the air since the birth of FSSA.
For the record the issues go beyond the “isms” that most are talking about. I believe you all know this in your hearts.
RIT is looking for a new President now. Check out their process. One might learn something from them or they might have heard of FSSA :-)
Thanks again KBM this blog is soothing.
KBM,
Thanks for this site and it’s discussions. What you wrote is right on target that led to the birth of FSSA. For the record, FSSA is here to stay. I want to set something straight about the protest in addition to what you have said.
The Coalation of Students of Color planned a protest right before Dr. Weiner’s presentation. One of the FSSA members stopped them in their tracks. Everyone should know that member regrets doing so. Those who think if either Dr. Weiner or Mr. Stern won there will be no protest are wrong. This FSSA member who stopped The Coalation of Ctudent of Color did so because this person believed in the letter from the former chair of the BoT. Also this FSSA member has friends on the PSC whom they trust. So the FSSA member - me - stopped the protest in its tracks early. I sincerely apologize to everyone for it because now look where we are now. I put trust in the system to work. I put trust in the process even when I was told it was FLAWED from the start and examples of proof were present. So I hope no one hates me. That’s ok if I get bombarded with hate mails.
But now FSSA is here fighting to make things right at Gallaudet University. Other deaf people could join FSSA for SOCIAL JUSTICE. Many of these individuals in this blog are bright and able. I respectfully request that you all give FSSA’s efforts serious thoughts and get involved.
The issues that are popping up about Gallaudet University. Some of them are real and most are not. Some are from individuals who need to be healed for whatever reason under Dr. Fernandes administration as the former provost and as Kendall and MSSD. So we are looking at approximately 11 years of history. Does anyone remember the first question that posted to her during her presentation?
In order to effectively accomplish the re-opening of the process, FSSA can use Alumnae, friends and family assistance. Some of whom are here in this blog. Hence A in the FSSA is for Alumni. If you are a deaf person who has kept up with blogs and read FSSA’s web page please extend your expertise.
Dr. Jane K Fernandes. This is not a hate mail. This is not out of disrespect to you or anybody. I respectfully ask that you save Gallaudet University. Please think about this “save” Gallaudet University. Part of being a leader is also to remember to listen to the people who hold the chair that you sit on as a leader. The people you are set to lead have spoken. You leadership can begin to shine by doing what’s right.
BoT. According to your by-laws you are a servant of the community. The community has spoken. The faculty have voted. The staff pole was marginal which in essence “FLAWED” when you have 300 out of 800 votes. The teachers have voted. The community has spoken.
It is time for the deaf community to come together and support our future as one. The future is NOW. Bring your skills to FSSA HQ. Check out http://www.gallyFSSA.org. Regardless of your race, sex, religion, or creed or how deaf you are. Just to do one thing, the right thing for deaf people all over the world. Thats what Edward Minor Gallaudet would have wanted. You may of may not have attended Gallaudet University but I assure you that when you set foot on the campus. You will know what I am talking about. There is a feeling of a special spirit in the air since the birth of FSSA.
For the record the issues go beyond the “isms” that most are talking about. I believe you all know this in your hearts.
RIT is looking for a new President now. Check out their process. One might learn something from them or they might have heard of FSSA :-)
Thanks again KBM this blog is soothing.