Deaf School's Leader Ousted Amid Protests

In the end, the incoming president of the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf was given no choice.

The Gallaudet University board of trustees voted Sunday to revoke Jane Fernandes' contract after a daylong closed-door meeting that followed a month of protests by students and faculty members. She had refused to step down.

In a statement posted on the university's Web site, Fernandes, the former provost who had been selected in May to take office in January, said she had "deep regret" about the board's decision.

"I love Gallaudet University, and I believe I could have made a significant contribution to its future," she said. "I hope that the Gallaudet community can heal the wounds that have been created."

This is the second time in 18 years that protests have forced presidents from office at Gallaudet. In 1988, students rallied on Capitol Hill, demanding the board appoint a "Deaf President Now." Elisabeth Zinser, president at the time, resigned after about a week in the position.

Protesters this time said that Fernandes, 50, was an ineffective leader as provost and that she was not the best person to address a lack of diversity, declining enrollments and low graduation rates.

They said the board ignored surveys by students and faculty members during the presidential search that called her "unacceptable." The faculty voted this month, 82 percent to 18 percent, for Fernandes to resign or be removed.

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[jebediah76]

Um - yeah, no.

The notion that Deaf people are dependent upon the hearing in ludicrous also. True, the vast majority of humans can hear. It snot that the deaf should suck it up and abide by what the hearing say - its that the deaf should not try to exclude all hearing individuals in their understanding of the world they live in.

To put themselves in an all deaf society and assume it is going to help in the community at large is a fairy tale - and whether Fernandes or any other administrator had hearing at one point or learned sign later in life is of no consequence to her doing her job.

It is not to acquiesce to the hearing world that their university exists. It is to learn to interact with that world and realize their dreams just as any other person that should be taught. By eliminating all aspects of the hearing it breeds a disconnected and out-of- touch community of deaf people - effectively limiting the scope of what they can accomplish and ultimately be in life.

This is the shame of Gallaudet University.

[agnim]

The question of whether anyone here is deaf is irrelevant. And no doubt deaf people feel like other humans do; since they haven't lost their sense of touch.

The fact is that handicap people don't run the society; the normal people do.

Normal people decide what is best for handicap people and not the other way around.
Handicap people need to concern themselves more about how the normal society 'feels'/functions; since the handicap people are the dependent ones.

And the normal people know that handicap people are better served by normal people if the deaf ones don't lock themselves totally in a deaf world.

The president of that university DOES NOT need to be deaf.

The president of the deaf university only needs to look out for the best interest of the students.

And these dumb deaf protesters with too much time on their hands aren't making a point that this president is incompetent; because they could have a legitimate case should they proved correct.

[intn1]

The question still wasn't answered. Are any of you deaf and does anybody know how deaf people really feel?

[agnim]

Intn

We are sure that you realize that you don't have to comment if you lack understanding or have nothing to say. LOL

The rest of us will continue to comment on the report as presented.

Students should focus on learning and not on protesting.
Moreover, all the excuses advanced for the protests are infantile and should not been entertained.

Handicap people don't run the world; normal people do!

That Fernandez is 'not deaf enough' from day one is a stupid and self-hating reason to object to a fellow deaf person; and the normal society should not have given into these deaf and dumb nut jobs.
Let them take their loud speakers and go home. LOL

[jebediah76]

In response to intn1
To say that people shouldn't comment on any form of current events is ludicrous. We are Americans too, and are entitled to our opinions.

I don't think they should care that she did not learn sign until her 20's - My Grandfather did not grow up speaking French or Spanish or Latin and that did not prevent him from being Dean of Romance Languages at a very prestigous university.

Furthermore - The argument that Gallaudet should be an entirly deaf community, and that are levels of deafness and that one stone-deaf person is any more or less deserving of a position than another stone-deaf person is flat out discriminatory. This entire century of poltics in this country has lead to the dismantling of such idiotic notions. From Equal Rights to Civil Rights and most recently Gay rights.

I react the same to this as I would to a story about a fictitious Gay University that protests their new president because he had a girlfriend in high school. I react to this the same way I would react to a Fundamentalist Christian university protesting their new President because He/She was once a Catholic.

Liberal Arts my eye. If there were any critical thinking being done at Gallaudet at all they would realize that there is a lot to be said for the fact that this country is one where an institution like this can exist, and that they should do more to foster the type of values that allow it to do so.

[lexpression]

I am consantly amazed how a population that is often discriminated against would engage in such discriminatory actions. If you are not happy with a univeristy decision take your money and leave. Protesting against an appointment of this sort for bigoted outright discrimination is abhorable. I hope Jane Fernandes seeks for adjucation through the American with Disabilities Act. To deny her a job because she is not "deaf enough". Amazing! I hope with everything in me she takes this to the Supreme Court. What a bunch of ignorant students.

[intn1]

In case you all forgot, this IS America and they have the RIGHT to protest. I think the MEDIA has done a bad job of reporting exactly what the problem is because I've heard several conflicting reasons on the protest, two of them being here. This story says the problem is because she didn't learn sign language until her 20's. The last story about it says she was born with the ability to hear, but later lost it. AND none of us were there. Did any of you all go ask them what exactly the issue is? Obviously not, and neither did the media. Did anyone find out if the new president pissed them off or did something they felt wasn't right? No. None of us really can have a say in it, because are any of you deaf? I'm not so it's not like I know what they think or feel or what it's like to be deaf. I think commenting on this story should be closed, the only comments here are a bunch of people, including myself, who don't understand.

[saransk]

"Off with her Head!!!!""
She was tough and not what we wanted!!!
Shame on the spineless Board of Trustees who have given into the mob.
At least King Jordan has stood by his choice and has paid for his support.
How many top candidates will refuse this post now. Since when did students decide who ran the campus.
Ms. Fernandes obviously was qualified and had support. But she represented the less radical side of the "deaf culture." So she wasn't acceptable to those who would prefer that the "deaf" only remain in the "deaf culture."

[agnim]

"They did a good thing. It IS a deaf school!"

OK, JH, so the school is 'deaf'; but does it also have to be dumb too? LOL

Look, those deaf people live in and need to interact with a HEARING society!

It's a boon to the deaf to have someone who has experienced the 'best of both worlds'-- both hearing and deaf -- as their leader.

Hopefully if those deaf 'students' finally get a good education (I wouldn't hold my breath waiting), then could come to see just how dumb their stance has been, and be grateful to the wider society for putting up with their childish tantrum!

[agnim]

This whole thing is such a disgrace on so many levels that it could only happen in America -- land of the free and of the irresponsible. LOL

1. We don't have 'blind leading blind' but we should have 'deaf leading deaf'?
Who would alert them if, say, a threatening explosion should go off in their school or at their protest, someone who has learned sign language as a baby? LOL

2. Which healthy society is going to allow a relative MINORITY of handicap people to dictate how the society should be run, especially when the reported complaint is oh so mentally challenged? (Mentally challenged is the replacement for those who don't like the more appropriate word, '***' to describe the mindset behind this present self-hating protest.) LOL

3. Imagine protesting a fellow handicap person because she wasn't handicap from birth/learn sign language at a very early age? How freaking dumb is that? Talk about deaf and dumb. LOL