Struggling to be heard
Deaf community protests selection of Gallaudet president
Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 16, 2006 at midnight
Deaf people who attended a rally Sunday in Denver described the conflict besieging Gallaudet University as their community's own civil rights movement.
About 100 people turned out at the Rude Recreation Center field to protest the selection of Jane F. Fernandes as president of the world's only liberal arts university for deaf students. She is slated to succeed President I. King Jordan in January.
Though Gallaudet is located in Washington, D.C., the controversy surrounding the presidential selection has spread globally.
"This is one of the critical moments in deaf history," said 1984 Gallaudet alumnus Mike Baer, of Arvada. "It's our civil rights movement."
Critics of Fernandes, the school's provost, describe her as "cold" and insensitive to diversity.
Fernandes, however, has said some of her critics do not consider her "deaf enough." Fernandes was born deaf but did not learn American Sign Language - the community's dominant form of communication - until she was 23.
Baer places blame for the current conflict on the board of trustees.
"Dr. Fernandes has really become the scapegoat," Baer said. "But she's made it worse by not resigning."
Baer said Fernandes is a top-notch scholar but not a strong and unifying leader.
Since the trustees announced their pick in the spring, students, faculty and staff have been staging an ongoing protest.
The 2,000-student university is going to attempt to open its doors today after 133 student protesters were arrested on campus last week.
For three days, the protesters had formed human chains at the gates into campus, blocking all access.
The Gallaudet protesters have been living in a tent city on campus.
In a show of solidarity, Denver Gallaudet alumni set up 20 tents in the field on Sunday and read a letter of support. Similar tent city protests were staged in 32 other cities.
The Denver protesters banged on a large drum to highlight key points and keep the group together for a Gallaudet cheer.
Fernandes' critics are demanding that she step down, that a new presidential search be launched and that protesters face no reprisals.
The local group is collecting money, food, water and clothes for protesters in the nation's capital.
Aisha Gallegos, 30, did not attend Gallaudet, but she joined the rally to "support the future of deaf people."
She is considering attending graduate school at Gallaudet.
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