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RIT student center is designed to connect deaf, hearing worlds | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle
A new Rochester Institute of Technology student center is designed to bring students who are deaf or hard of hearing together with their hearing classmates in an exchange of cultures and ideas. The ribbon was cut Wednesday on the American Sign Language and Deaf Studies Community Center located inside the Student Alumni Union at RIT. The space will be used as a resource center and a meeting place primarily for students at the university's National Technical Institute for the Deaf and American Sign Language program.
"We envisioned it as a place where deaf and hearing students will come to gather — a place for students who are studying ASL can learn about ASL and deaf culture," said NTID President Gerard Buckley, who is deaf. "It's also a place where deaf students can come and teach, advocate and be a bridge between the deaf and the hearing cultures."
More than 1,300 deaf students are enrolled at NTID, started at RIT in 1968 with 70 students. The college also has nearly 200 hearing students in its interpreting and master's of education programs.
The center is open to all students on campus who want to learn more about the deaf community.
"Every year we welcome about 3,000 new hearing students to (RIT)," said Buckley. "They can come down here if they want to learn more about a deaf colleague in class or a deaf student who shares a dorm with them. They will have a resource to come here and learn."
RIT student government President Greg Pollock was born deaf. A fourth-year student studying Professional Technical Communications, Pollock said the center will provide a valuable opportunity for both deaf and hearing students at RIT. "Our communities have been looking for so many different ways to make a connection with each other and here we have an opportunity," he said. "I'm hoping that this place will really become a popular place for people to come, sit down and learn."
A new Rochester Institute of Technology student center is designed to bring students who are deaf or hard of hearing together with their hearing classmates in an exchange of cultures and ideas. The ribbon was cut Wednesday on the American Sign Language and Deaf Studies Community Center located inside the Student Alumni Union at RIT. The space will be used as a resource center and a meeting place primarily for students at the university's National Technical Institute for the Deaf and American Sign Language program.
"We envisioned it as a place where deaf and hearing students will come to gather — a place for students who are studying ASL can learn about ASL and deaf culture," said NTID President Gerard Buckley, who is deaf. "It's also a place where deaf students can come and teach, advocate and be a bridge between the deaf and the hearing cultures."
More than 1,300 deaf students are enrolled at NTID, started at RIT in 1968 with 70 students. The college also has nearly 200 hearing students in its interpreting and master's of education programs.
The center is open to all students on campus who want to learn more about the deaf community.
"Every year we welcome about 3,000 new hearing students to (RIT)," said Buckley. "They can come down here if they want to learn more about a deaf colleague in class or a deaf student who shares a dorm with them. They will have a resource to come here and learn."
RIT student government President Greg Pollock was born deaf. A fourth-year student studying Professional Technical Communications, Pollock said the center will provide a valuable opportunity for both deaf and hearing students at RIT. "Our communities have been looking for so many different ways to make a connection with each other and here we have an opportunity," he said. "I'm hoping that this place will really become a popular place for people to come, sit down and learn."