| I find it disgusting that the media continues to spread the misleading information that the protest was about Jane Fernades being not "deaf enough". Read any newspaper and they still mention it. Even though the protest has ended, my math professor, George Ivey, is still confused about what the protest was all about. He teaches at Gallaudet and he should have already understood the protest was not about the "deaf enough" but he is hearing and he still lacks signing skills even though he has taught at Gallaudet for more than 18 years. The point is most people still think this protest was about "deaf enough". I've responded to his email trying to explain. We all can thank Jane Fernades for this whole mess. She owes us an apology and explanation to media because she has damaged the image of Gallaudet. The below is his email: Students, I have not spoken openly, to students, about my personal feeling on this "protest" but, having just heard that the board of trustees has reversed its decision, I will now. I was here at Gallaudet 18 years ago during the "Deaf President Now" demonstrations. That was a completely different situation. The college I had taught at just before coming to Gallaudet was a black college in Georgia which, for the first time in its history had just appointed a black president. I could understand how important it was for deaf students to have a deaf president. It was, in a real sense, a "civil rights" matter- although, I confess feeling at the time that the precedent set was going to be a problem in the future!
I have heard many different things concerning what this protest was "about", to the point that I am completely confused. I have heard it said that many people were unhappy with the way the selection was handled. I might well agree with but should be handled by correcting the problem the next time. I have heard it said that Dr. Fernandez was "cold", unhelpful, and put people off. I have also hear from others who have worked with Fernandez that the opposite is true. Dr. Donalda Ammons, probably the faculty member who has worked most closely with Dr. Fernandez, was selected by the faculty to serve on the Presidential search committee, and a person I admire, is a strong supporter of Dr. Fernandez. Dr. I. K. Jordan, a person for whom I have the greatest respect, clearly supports Dr. Fernandez. In fact, the greatest complaint I might have about the search process is that it seem too obviously designed to let Dr. Jordan "name" his successor. Yet, at some colleges, that would be considered a natural thing to do. It is the job of the board of trustees to select the president, with input from faculty, students, alumni, and others, but their decision. If, in fact, the protestors consider this a "civil rights" matter, that would greatly concern me. I have heard it said that the problem was Dr. Fernandez was not "raised deaf"; that she used lip reading and voice while going to "mainstream" schools. Well, Dr. Jordan himself WAS hearing until he was grown. A deaf faculty member, again a person I respect and admire, came to my office after the first week of protests and said, "I just realized this week, I'm not deaf ENOUGH"! The worst thing that could happen to Gallaudet would be to become fragmented into "culturally Deaf", "deaf but not Deaf", and "hard of hearing". I think, in this situation, the "civil rights" argument is on the other side. Certainly the students at KDES (whom I don't believe for a moment were concerned with who would be president of Gallaudet) have a legal right to an "appropriate education" which they were, in part, denied by this demonstration. (I admit to wondering what would have happened if the leaders of the demonstration had been served with a summons to a lawsuit- not by the administration of Gallaudet but by the parents of students at KDES and MSSD.)
I am very much afraid that this protest has divided Gallaudet much more than Dr. Fernandez becoming president could have. I know that Gallaudet has lost some of the respect around the world that it gained as a result of the original "Deaf President Now" demonstrations. And I certainly am concerned about how the new president is going to be chosen. Is the board of trustees going to have to have agreement of every single person at Gallaudet before they dare to appoint someone? George Ivey My response to his email: George Ivey, You need to understand that the protest was never about JK being "deaf enough" to lead this university. It was the misleading JK herself had fed to the media. It had angered the protesters because it had weakened the cause what the protest was really about. It had always been about her leadership style and she had failed her leadership as her 6 years of provost. She got a large disapproval rating from students and faculty before she was selected as the next president but the Board of Trustees chose to ignore us and chose whatever they thought was the best. The truth is the system has been flawed to begin with. Our administrator has basically controlled the Board of Trustees by appointing members to seats by the president himself and that all information flowing from students, staff and faculty has to go through the administrator to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees had been ignorant and out of touch about the real issues at Gallaudet. They thought JK was well liked and well respected by faculty, staff, and students but the truth is exactly the opposite. Also she had not done much to improve Gallaudet (see low graduation rating and DPS lacking ASL skills, just to mention a few). The protest is certainly necessary to change the system for the better future of Gallaudet. The president has to be well liked and respected by the Deaf community at large because Gallaudet is the only deaf university and the community is centered here. The DPN was the first step, and we accepted IKJ because he was the first deaf to become our president but this time around, we get what we really want. The more important issue is the corrupted system between the administrator and the Board of the Trustees that have not been fixed. The next step for us is to clean up the house and we hope to have a shared government by appointing faculty, staff, students, alumni, and even parents on the Board of Trustees who have known Gallaudet from inside and out. It will also help to prevent any future protests on presidential select. Kenny
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