Dozens Arrested In Gallaudet Protest

At least two dozen people were arrested Friday night as students continued to block the entrance to the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf and hearing-impaired in a protest over its incoming president.

Hundreds of Gallaudet University students have blocked access to campus buildings since Wednesday, and the incoming president has refused to step aside. Classes were canceled for a third day Friday.

The school's outgoing president, I. King Jordan, said he regretted authorizing the arrests but felt he had no other choice.

"Gallaudet University has exhausted all means of communication and negotiation with those who have disrupted the university's educational processes and held the campus hostage to their demands," he said in a statement.

A large group of students and some faculty members are demanding the resignation of Jane K. Fernandes, who was appointed in the spring to succeed Jordan in January.

Fernandes has said some people do not consider her "deaf enough" to be president. She was born deaf but grew up speaking and did not learn American Sign Language, the preferred method of communicating at Gallaudet, until she was 23.

"During the presidential search and selection process, the issues of audism and racism that have plagued the deaf community for centuries came to the forefront. Long rumbling under the surface, they erupted like a volcano. I happened to be the person standing next to that volcano," Fernandes wrote in a Washington Post Op-Ed column Saturday.

The protesters and the administration had been trying to negotiate a settlement.

"President designate Jane K. Fernandes had a meeting with some students today, but apparently it wasn't successful," university spokeswoman Mercy Coogan said Friday night.

After warning students three times and shining floodlights on them, university Department of Public Safety employees began arresting people one by one. Those arrested went limp and were carried to a police van.

After each arrest, another protester took the empty place on the blockade line.

Hundreds of protesters were behind the police line, some standing on top of buildings, and others hanging out of windows.

"We have a lot of support," said Adam Jarashow, a recent graduate. "If our cause is just, we have nothing to worry about."

D.C. police took protesters to a holding center, where they were offered a choice of paying a $50 fine or receiving a citation, which requires a court appearance.

The students cheered and chanted "J.K. out, J.K. out" and "Shame on the police. Go get the drug dealers" as the arrests were in progress.

The school has been virtually shut down by the students who formed human chains at the gates, keeping vehicles form entering or exiting.

Those who are against Fernandes' presidency say she isn't open to different points of view and that the selection process did not reflect the student body's diversity.

Jordan became the 1,800-student school's first deaf president in 1988 after student protesters marched to the Capitol demanding a "Deaf President Now." The school was founded by Congress in 1864.