Posted on 10/12/2006 11:39:14 AM PDT by lilylangtree
Gallaudet University students blocked access to campus for a second day Thursday, escalating their protest against an incoming president they say lacks the skills to lead the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf and hearing impaired.
"We're in the middle of a crisis here," said LaToya Plummer, 25, a junior from Suitland, Md., who was among the protesters.
The blockade started around 3 a.m. Wednesday and forced the university to cancel classes for a second day Thursday as about 100 students protested at the front gate. Students sitting in 11 chairs blocked the main campus road at the gate and refused to move when a bus tried to drive through the entrance.
The students have said they wouldn't let the school reopen unless the presidential search process is reopened.
It was unclear whether university officials would try to move them. "Of course, we never want to use force," said university spokeswoman Mercy Coogan. "We hope to do this peacefully."
The protests began last spring when then-Provost Jane K. Fernandes was appointed president, starting this coming January, by the school's board of trustees.
Students intensified their protests on Oct. 5, when they took over Gallaudet's main classroom building — an occupation that was marred by complaints about rough actions by campus police. Since then, hundreds of students have been camped out inside and around Hall Memorial Building, forcing school officials to move or cancel classes.
The university's outgoing president, I. King Jordan, issued a statement late Wednesday warning the protesters of possible suspensions and arrests.
"This illegal and unlawful behavior must stop," he said.
Plummer, who signed through an interpreter, and other students and some faculty said they felt shut out of the selection process for the next president. Some also felt the field of candidates was not ethnically diverse.
"They have no idea who we are," Plummer said of the board of trustees.
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 until she was 23. Those who are against her presidency say she is an unsuitable choice for other reasons.
"I feel that this institution cannot move forward under Dr. Fernandes' leadership because there are too many disagreements about her as a leader," said Mark Weinberger, a professor of foreign languages at Gallaudet and also chair of the faculty's Senate.
The school has about 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students.
Hear Hear!
When asked, a protester said "8ydfosydfoisydfjh adfdulsfheoiuyf"
Huh??
This is a lot like Condi Rice not being "black enough."
You would think that the college would want the best possible president regardless of deafness.
My guess is that she is probably a republican or something horrible like that.
I know I shouldn't be laughing, but I can't help it!
I think it was a rude pun... "hear" in the context of the deaf...
Heheheheh!!
Oh damn here goes...
IT'S A QUIET RIOT!
They are also against giving implants to children of deaf parents. They want to perpetuate the "deaf culture," and believe it's discrimination to force a child to hear! Since the future president wasn't part of the "deaf culture" (sign language), she's not "one of them."
Obviously, not all hearing impaired people think this way.
Toss the deaf little twerps out by the lobes of their ears...see how they like the sounds of silence in the real world without a degree!
ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
This is a manifestation of the years of "grievance based" polictics that assumes if you are not one of us you are against us. It is bigotry in it's most ugly form. This kind of open hatred and resentment is blatant and unabated on the campuses of schools for sight and hearing impaired people across America.
The leftist faculty members at these schools are teaching these kids to hate and discriminate against those that are not impaired in the same way. It is disgusting and disgraceful.
PF
This is just bigotry. What if the most qualified candidate was blind or something else?
This is what happens when affirmative action-like intentions run amok!
Bwahahaha - say, did the article say liberal college? Maybe liberal ARTS was a misprint?!
Perhaps I should apply for the job. I learned sign language as a very young child because my great grandfather was a deaf mute. In fact both my great grandparents were. My grandfather only learned to speak when he spent a year livng with relatives in order to start kindergarten. But sign language was his first language even though he could always hear.
Nice movie reference to "Freaks".
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