I’m sitting on a camping stool just behind the right part of the front gate. I see staff and faculty trying to get on campus and the football players, in their most valiant defensive stop of the season, are blocking them from getting in. I see five news vans parked on the other side of the street. I see tired students lugging their blankets and pillows already blackened by the road. They’ve been there since 3 am this morning.
So have I.
I was working on my homework late last night when a friend of mine told me, “They’re locking down the university.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
I ran inside my house, grabbed my sweatshirt, and made my way over as quickly as I could.
You see, in the last few days, I’ve been convinced. I’ve joined the fight.
On Monday morning, the world-renown Gallaudet Linguistics department (most of the professors, staff, and some students) met and had an open dialogue about what was happening. Half of the faculty have been here for more than twenty years. They’ve known things have been wrong here for many years. I didn’t realize that. They talked about how they’ve tried to get Gallaudet to recognize that ASL is the language used and should be used on campus. I didn’t realize that. They talked about how they’ve tried talking to the administration but to little avail. I didn’t realize that.
I’ve spent most of my life accepting that things were the way they were just because that’s how it is. In Africa, I saw many horrible things. How I dealt with it? “That’s how it is.” For most of my school life, I didn’t receive equal access. “That’s how it is.” At Gallaudet, I saw that someone not right for the position was chosen for the next president. “That’s how it is.”
I’m done with feeling ambivalent, of not doing anything, of saying “that’s how it is.” And it seems that everyone else here at the protest feels that way.
As my friend, Cecily Whitworth, wrote for a possible response to the recent Washington Post editorial: I’m “increasingly angered, frustrated, and saddened by the continuous dissembling, misdirection, and suppression of information on the part of the current administration of Gallaudet University. This behavior confirms that there is, indeed, substance to the protesting students’ claims about flawed process. The easy and clear way out of this increasingly messy situation is for the Gallaudet University Board of trustees to re-open the search process for the next president of the university.”
And that’s why I’ve been here since 3 am this morning.
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They’ve locked the campus down? I’m not sure what to think about this.
This must have been a pretty powerful meeting to convince you. Would you mind elaborating in detail on the points that were so powerful.
You see, I remain unconvinced, and so do a lot of other people. There are only three things that I am absolutely convinced of. These are:
1. There are no innocents. All sides are guilty to some extent in this mess.
2. It is impossible to get hard facts, because *every*, and I repeat, *every* side has been spreading rumors, gossip, and misinformation like crazy.
3. The level of vitriol and hate has been abominable.
It is absolutely impossible to say where there is right or wrong in this protest. I am Deaf, have been working on campus every day, and still have a hard time making sense of everything. Now imagine an outsider. If the protesters do not shape up and finally hammer out a clear message, how can anyone expect the media or the world at large to get the story right? Instead, what we get is incessant whining about how the media are manipulated by this or that.
I also don’t get it how people who disagree with the protest or the lockdown of HMB or the campus are raked over the coals. Witness, for instance, the group of concerned students, some of whom apparently support the protest, yet disagreed with the lockdown of HMB. They are already being subjected to smear tactics from various corners. Dissenters are called names, such as puppets of the administration. Etc cetera, ad nauseam. I wonder if it has entered anyone’s mind that perhaps the dissenters are perfectly capable of thinking on their own. Like me, they are not convinced by the hodgepodge of confused messages, the vitriol, and the hijacking of HMB or the campus.
I also don’t get what the 23-point document that was supposed to form the basis of the agreement between SBG and the administration is about. Unless someone makes a clear, and rational argument why it is supposed to be something that benefits everyone, this looks just as if it has been drawn up by someone who does not understand the basics of give and take and win-win situations in negotiations. I do not want to be overly harsh without trying to understand the rationale behind this document, but when I saw it posted on Elisa’s blog, the first thing that came to my mind is “blackmail.”
So, I would very much appreciate it if someone, be it you, or someone else, stepped up and wrote up in a concise, clear, and rational manner something that might convince me and others.
No more name calling please. No more throwing mud at people (including the administration) and seeing what sticks. We have enough of that already on Capitol Hill.
I am still hoping that some day the vitriol will be gone to such an extent that I may be able to reveal my name. But until then, I hope that you understand that I would rather not. Thank you.
P.S. I think we also need a debate whether ASL should be the only visual mode of communication used on campus. The deaf population is a lot more diverse than this. I think it is pretty clear that ASL and English are the two languages that should be used, but that does not mean that other visual modes of communication for expressing English should be excluded.
I don’t think they’re advocating that ASL is the ONLY visual mode of communication. I think they are advocating that ASL should be EQUAL to the use of English at Gallaudet.
As of now, ASL is defined by Gallaudet policy as “english sign order”, “voiced”, and so on. That is not waht ASL is, aned that is what has allowed dubious claims such as Ms. Fernandes, “I am a fluent ASL signer”. She is not. I do not have a problem with ther signing ability and I do not oppose her appointment as a President based on it. I oppose her appointment based on other reasons (which I won’t go into now).
I’ve been following the protest from day one, reading multiple sources, getting first hand, second hand information. I went down there and checked it out last May and I saw something that was awesome and life changing. I wanted to be part of it. As every day goes by, I am more and more convinced that it is time to say “enough!”
My only complaint is that you guys could have waited until right before Homecoming to get this rolling! Most of us alumni are stuck with our schedules, our jobs, not to mention plane fares!
The ongoing crisis only shows that as a leader Fernandes doesn’t have the ability to resolve the conflicts and hadn’t for quite a while. The Gallaudet Community is more divided now than ever before because of divisive statements made last May about Fernandes Not Deaf Enough. A good leader would try to get the community working together instead of fragmenting them into contentious segments. By the way, where is she now? She has been out of the picture the last several days.
Whatever valid claims the protesters have, it’s clear that they have lost sympathy in the media by locking down HMB and now the campus. For them to do this after the Washington Post editorial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01141.html
is, well, not smart, to put it mildly. I understand that they’re frustrated, but this is not the way to win sympathy or to achieve their goals.
Damn if protestors do, damn if protestors don’t.
Because of negligence by the administrators for years on many issues when FSSA have attempted to open dialogue, then came the flawed selection of JKF, who they have long opposed before the search, it has come to enough is enough! Who can really blame them for the lockdown of the HMB and now the campus? In time, the truth will come out in the media and people will have sympathy.
For the administration, including JKF who is part of it, to block GIS interpreters from serving protestors, block media from having access to protestors and to name a few says a whole lot. This will reflect on JKF’s leadership when she takes over.
Julie, thanks for being part of a very important social justice!
Julie,
I’m glad you had the opportunity to learn about the apparatus of oppression from the Faculty/Student dialogue meeing. Many thanks for sharing your experience with us.
yes, it’s appalling that gallaudet is impeding accessibile communicaiton by refusing to allow its interpreters to work at the protest sites.
however, perhaps to the powers that be, giving paid “help” to the protesters only gives fuel to the fire. (of course, denying interpreters also added its own kind of fuel!!)
what strikes me about this issue is that the administration, and many of the protesters who are outraged at the denial of interpreters, are showing blatant audism and linguicism. how? by conceptualizing interpreting services as something that deaf people need in order to accommodate a deficit. when deaf people accept this perspective as fact, it is internalized audism and linguicism, tacitly acknowledging that hearing/speaking people are normal, and deaf/signing people are impaired. think about it who is handicapped when hearing news reporters want to interview students but don’t know sign langauge? the hearies!!
why, in god’s name, don’t the news stations and newspapers hire their own interpreters? ADA, anyone? they certainly have the funds, and if they really want to get a story with actual content in it, they need to be able to communicate with protesters. therefore, they need to start bringing their own sign langauge interpreters. note that i do not refer to them as “interpreters for the deaf.” they are interpreters for EVERYONE who does not share the same language/modality as the person they want to talk to. hearing people, especially when arriving onsite where there are hundereds, thousands of sign language users, are the ones who are handicapped. i’d wager that, as hearing people, their communication skills - the ability to make themselves understood visually and find a way to understand and clarify what someone is saying - gravely pale in comparison to deaf people, who have spent their whole lives refining the art of communicating with people who have poor visual communication skills.
so, all you hearing reporters out there, go hire some “interpreters for the hearing.”
don’t know how to hire a sign language interpreter? here are some links to help you:
How to Hire/Work With an Interpreter
Some well-known local interpreter referral agencies:
Sign Language Associates
Birnbaum Interpreting Services
Visual Language Interpreting
get cracking, hearing media mavens!
Some pretty good points there. I find a flaw with your question of “who is handicapped”. If you have a room with one person with full use of all senses, 50 deaf people, 50 blind people 50 people in wheelchairs, etc, regardless of the majority, they still have a disability. There’s no shame in that. With increases in technology, ADA laws, adaptive aids, and more, people with a disability can and do function in society. Sure they may have “funny looking glasses, or may use a hearing aid, or a service dog, or get around in a wheelchair. It is still a disability, as it is the inability to fully use all the functions of their body. Again, there is no shame to this. However, the one “normal” individual with a group would not himself become “handicapped” More appropriately, would be “at a great disadvantage”.
Nice pitch for interpreters. Couple good resources. An unfortunate thing is that budgets may not provide an allowance for a full-timer. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe that ALL languages are represented in many news agencies. I’m sure this could turn into a good contract assignment for someone (and should have been considered when the fertilizer hit the fan). I’m sure that they don’t have most of their materials in braille, either until the need arises. I agree the communication barrier is difficult and frustrating. Hopefully head and other end get wired properly and they are better prepared the next time.
quick clarification: by “who is handicapped” in that situation, I was trying to emphasize that different situations are handicapping for different people. a hearing, non-signing reporter, in a sea of signing people she’d like to interview is handicapped in that situation. yes, the communication barrier affects both deaf and hearing people in this situation, but the deaf people generally have more communication tools available to them. which is not to say that communication is fully accessible — interpreters would make communication much more accessible for the signers and nonsigners alike.
my point was that by internalizing the view that signing deaf people are handicapped in communication situations with nonsigners, we ignore the fact that the nonsigners are just as handicapped in those communication situations.
i’m not denying that people have various disabilities. nor am i saying that being deaf or disabled is bad. it’s just part of the diversity of the human condition. just that we need to take a step back and see that it is the situational and societal factors that are disabling to certian people, rather than take the view that certain people are anythig less than complete human beings just because they sense, perceive, move through, or communicate with the world in ways that are different than what we falsely define as what “normal” or “ideal” bodies are supposed to do.
the reporters may have assumed that because gallaudet is a “special needs” school, that school would provide interpreters for its “special” people. it’s a deep-seated image in our culture, but that does not make it any less audist/linguicist. we can just as easily view the nonsigning people as the ones who have “special needs” in a deaf/signing-normative culture. so the “special needs” framework that views deaf people essentially as defective and less valid/valuable/functional as hearing people needs to be examined.
not sure if that rambling clarified much, lol.
p.s., when american reporters go abroad to cover specific events of interest in other countries, they bring interpreters with them. if you want a story, you need to be able to communicate on site, where things are happening. if gallaudet and deaf pepole and even sign language were not conceptually tied up with a deficit model, than needing an interpreter for this assignment wouldn’t be much different than needing one in, say, uzbekistan.
Hey, very good points! I agree- maybe it’s time to lobby DC-area media outlets (WaPo for one!) to start developing their own lists of interpreters. I’m certainly sure they do for other languages (Spanish, etc.); why not for ASL?
For that matter, all large urban areas could work towards this goal…
I would suggest that you get cards with the urls printed and hand them out to members of the media so they don’t have an excuse not to hire terps.
The world saw nothing wrong with a campus lockdown 18 years ago.
That’s because the problem (and resolution) 18 years ago was self-evident. Black schools should have a Black president, Jewish schools should have a Jewish president, and Deaf schools should have a Deaf president. All this could be distilled into three words: “Deaf President Now”.
This time around, people have thrown around phrases like “social justice” and “apparatus of oppression” and “flawed process”, and even after months five months of this emotionally-driven knee jerk behavior, any sort of distillation of words that points to the crux of the matter has eluded the protesters.
I’ve seen thousands of words regarding what the protest is NOT about, and none that lay out a logical case strong enough for me to believe that Jane Fernandes doesn’t at least deserve a chance to prove she can do the job or not.
Screams of “social justice” and “audism” just causes me to tune out the protesters. I know that they’re not appealing to the deaf community at large — just the ASL deafies.
Angry incoherency appears to be the activity of the day.
Hippie long-haired protesters, an unpopular war, a widely reviled president, and a looming energy crisis.
Why does this all sound so familiar?
I’m glad you’re convinced. It’s such a sad state really - Hang in there for us who can’t be there today!
Indeed, where was Jane in all of this as of late? Is that what constitutes a good leader?
I don’t agree with the lockdown of the HMB, or the campus. BUT thats what happens when the concerns of the people have been ignored for years, or not taken seriously.
Ho Chi Minh pleaded with the French to allow Vietnamese more freedom and control of their country. He traveled to Paris many times to no avail, and when the last trip was made, he told the French officials this;
“You have forced us to take arms”
Perhaps my perspective on this is wrong, but it seems to me that Jane Fernandes is not in much of a position do to anything about this until January 1st, when she actually becomes president. Until then, it is up to I. King Jordan and those underneath him to work to resolve this crisis.
I just read a great quote:
“Well behaved women rarely make history.”
Now only if she’d pick up a microphone…
Oh wait, I think she just did.
Julie, are you single? I would love to take you out to my world!
Julie,
Why don’t you give us a run down on what exactly convinced you otherwise? I know you to be a very reasonable person. I have a feeling that if you gave a run down, I would join the fight.
How about it? I am looking for specifics as to what made up your mind.
As for myself, I am still largely undecided at this point..but I do feel that JKF should just resign now whether she’s qualified or not. She is simply not the person for the job regardless of her qualifications, IMO.
I meant to ask you to specifically list how the adminstration ignored the need for ASL usage? Did they specifically take measures to stop ASL from being “the LANGUAGE” on campus or is it rather that they never did anything by inaction?
Also, specifically why is JKF the WRONG person to be the president? Would she suppress ASL while pay lip service to supporting ASL? Or would she just ignore the issue?
The devil is in the details….
Most likely ignore the issue based on reports that I’ve heard about her.
Wow…
The public relations department thought they could get away with distorting the truth. It blew up on their faces big time. I had hearing people telling me what is the PR office is trying to do?
This is the END of Dr. Irving King’s legacy!
I know. It depresses the hell out of me. The future looked so bright when he became president.
I beg to differ. I went to the campus tonight to visit a friend, instead, i was turned around by people at a gate while they were chugging away their beer. If you’re doing a protest, you don’t prevent people from going in. you don’t prevent poeple from going to work. you don’t force parents to have to take a day off or several because their kids can’t attend middle school. and you DO NOT DENY THOSE WHO PAID FOR THEIR EDUCATION AND THOSE WHO DO NOT WISH TO PARTICIPATE.
What ceases to amaze me is this: it’s turning into a party. I approached the parking garage gate, and i saw 20 people sitting around drinking beer. I saw several carrying cases of Heiniken beer to their assigned spot.
If you want to do a protest, do it the right way. not by shooting down innocent bystanders.
show some maturity. cut the booze. cut the partying. you’re just wasting our tax dollars. even more, for each day you shut the campus down, i’m 99% sure those days will need to be made up. even during mid-terms week.
Don’t know what more to say, but to my dismay, you’re hurting those who wish to have nothing to do with the protest. let the 10 year olds go to school. let visitors see their friends. and more importantly, show some maturity. from what i saw, i didnt see any during the 10 minutes i was trying to get in to see some of my friends who didnt want to participate in this mess.
a. stranger
I am 100% fed up with the immaturity of this protest. I am embarassed to be a Gally student right now and am upset that my education is being tampered with simply because a lot of undergrads feel this is a great opportunity to party and skip classes. If I were an undergrad, I would probably join the protest too, but I would also think that I wouldn’t be so egocentric that I wouldn’t realize that by interfering with the rights of my fellow students, I doing the school and others great harm…NOT THE ADMINISTRATION! I’m not sure where everyone comes from, but this is not how colleges/universities are run. I don’t care if JK is qualified or not…it’s not for us to say. She’s a woman, she’s deaf…the statues there were met…it is, unfortunately, up to the board of trustees and that’s simply the way it is and if you want to voice your opposition to her appointment, that is fine. But please do it in front of her office, do it so it disrupts the administration, NOT ME, and NOT YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS. I would be with you if it were done correctly, unfortunately, it is not. Everyone wearing the “Unity for Gallaudet” t-shirts should take them off because what they are doing is dividing our precious school. End this madness, PLEASE!!!!!!!
I am sorry you had to go through all that. Maybe they need to realize that they are breaking laws, and that they are doing more harm than good for the Deaf community. There are some student leaders who enjoy wreaking havoc, partying, and vandalizing the campus while the IKJ Administration, faculty and staff, and students are waiting for someone to blow the whistle and have them arrested. I know most Deaf people will deny this but it is pretty obvious that the IKJ Administration is trying not to cause any more stir with the Deaf community, by not having student leaders and student protestors arrested right away. He could have done that- furiously fast but he hasn’t. Can’t you guys give him some credit? He has done so much for Gallaudet, and it is possible that he is trying to sort things out with the Deaf community, while acknowledging that there are many conflicting agendas and ulterior motives in the Deaf community. As much as we hate to admit it, the Deaf community is surprisingly puerile and volaite. Every time a Deaf person gets upset, he will cause an uproar, a wailing cry to get attention right away. Deaf people are like that. Manners isn’t their area of strength, and I believe it is what is stopping Deaf people from getting advanced in life.
I’ve always thought it odd that that ASL wasn’t the offical language at Gally or that it wasn’t recongized as a formal language there. I say this as someone who isn’t exactly ASL deaf.
So 18 years after I left Gally, they STILL haven’t recogzinzed ASL as an offical language? That really stinks.
I think if you ask the employees of Gally there should be a clear cut pattern of the highbes ignoring their student and the profs and staff.
You should be able build up a a very good case for your protest of the highbes because there should be plenty of evidience as this has been going on for 18 years. There should be some sort of trail.
The fact that IKJ and his adminstration never listened to the proff, staff and students and recogzined ASL as a language and made it an offical language can not be disputed.
I’m willing to bet there other instances as well and you should be able to document this.
But you also need to show this to outsiders as well so it’ll convince outsiders as well.
Reality check. If Gallaudet doesn’t recognize ASL as an official langauge, why would they have a Department of ASL and Deaf Studies? It sounds like you are confusing recognition of ASL as A language with declaring it as THE official language of Gallaudet. Gallaudet has a high level of federal funding. As such, it needs to serve the diverse deaf community, not just the Deaf Culture community. Walking around campus, I see very little linguistically accurate ASL. I see a range of signing styles and approaches. Should ASL be recognized and taught as a language? Yes. Should visual communication access be the goal? Yes. Should the range of deaf and hard of hearing individuals be served by Gallaudet? Yes. Those who are Deaf as well as those with CIs. Both ASL and English should be cherished as important aspects of the community and every attempt should be made to meet the communication needs of ALL students.
To all your “YES” answers, the reality is “NO”, it is not happening.
*Did the university recognize ASL as the official language of GAllaudet (along with English)? NO.
*Is ASL taught as a language? NO.
*Should Visual communication access be the goal? YES. Has visual communication access been made the goal? NO. DPS still can’t sign!
*Is the range of deaf and hard of hearing individuals served by Gallaudet? NO. ASL users lose out on professors who don’t sign well.
This issue is a big part of the protest. the administration has ignored student’s needs for too long. When we heard IKJ was leaving, we hoped for a new agenda, a new future. It is no wonder we were so upset to find out that his handpicked successor was selected, and that she had been the one enforcing those repressive policies all along.
We want the “NO” to become “YES”, and I, for one, do not believe JK takes those issues seriously. Her behavior the past few months (disappearing act) has only shown me that she runs and hides in times of crisis.
To be fair to Fernandes, she doesn’t officially take over until January 2007 as president of Gallaudet. So, ultimate responsibility goes to IKJ.
Exactly. The fact that the commication needs - especially the ASL students- are being ingored.
I won’t deny I’ve had issues with some of the ASLers in the past.
However the ASL users DO have a right to have their communctions needs met.
They’re not getting their needs met which means that their education is being short changed.
Is that fair?
In this morning’s Express, the headline for the Gallaudet protest was: mob rule. How long do they plan to occupy HMB until they surrender? Until December when they go home for the holidays?
As for their grades, I wonder if their professors would flunk them for not showing up or handing in their papers? What kind of excuse would they come up when meeting their VR counselors about their grades? I wouldn’t be surprised that they felt that the protest was more important than their grades which is their decision, but I’m not sure if that would convince their counselors and may risk losing their VR support. So, is all of this worth it?
Now Julie is not stupid! Glad to have you on the board!
R-