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· West Central Tribune ·
Tim Rarus decided to return to his alma mater, Gallaudet University, this semester when he learned that students might be arrested during protests at the nation's only liberal arts college for the deaf and hearing impaired.
Then he joined in and was arrested himself.
For Rarus, 40, it was a flashback to 1988, when he was a student protest leader in demonstrations that helped bring in the private school's first deaf president and galvanized support for deaf civil rights.
"The spirit of 1988 is very much alive," the Sioux Falls, S.D., resident said of the protests this fall that pressured the school's board of trustees to revoke the appointment of incoming president Jane Fernandes last month.
Much like 1988, when the Gallaudet board initially selected a hearing president despite protests, students and faculty protesting this year said they felt ignored during the presidential search.
"Deaf people had to fight to be heard in 1988," Rarus said. "We are fighting to be heard again in 2006."
The board is now searching for an interim president, with input from students, faculty and alumni.
LEADERSHIP BATTLE
Fernandes, 50, would have been the school's second deaf president, but opposition mounted over her leadership style as Gallaudet's provost over the past six years. The faculty voted by an 82 percent margin to ask Fernandes to resign, but she refused. Opponents said she was divisive and ineffective.
Fernandes would have followed I. King Jordan, who became the school's first deaf president in 124 years after the 1988 protests.
Rarus and his fellow leaders from 1988 returned to campus to protest, partly because Gallaudet is widely viewed as a center for deaf culture.
Passions run high over the school's leadership and whether American Sign Language will continue to define its future. And the campus community wanted a say in the school's governance, said graduate student Ryan Commerson, who helped lead this year's demonstrations.
Commerson and others mobilized hundreds of students to shut down the Washington campus, and 2,000 students, faculty and alumni marched through city streets Oct. 21 to the U.S. Capitol. Dozens of protesters camped out on the university's front lawn for weeks, and some staged a hunger strike.
It was more intense than anything that happened during the protests 18 years earlier, said Greg Hlibok, who was the student body president in 1988.
"We will not back down," protest leader Commerson signed, drawing cheers a few days before Fernandes was removed. "We will not give up! We will keep fighting!"
___
A TRADITION OF PROTEST
Commerson says the students drew inspiration from the removal of American University's president across town a year earlier over questionable spending. But the American University protests were much smaller.
"Protests are not unique to Gallaudet," said Nancy Bloch, a Gallaudet alumna and chief executive officer of the National Association of the Deaf, which supported the protests. "These happen at universities across the nation."
But the activism at Gallaudet is unique, she said, because this university "is family to many within the deaf community."
Supporters said Fernandes was part of that "family," especially when she helped lead the university through two shocking murders on campus in 2000. Fernandes said her opponents lobbed personal attacks and hurt the university, rather than uniting around an ideal -- as she said protesters did in demanding a deaf president in 1988.
"The 2006 protest divided the deaf community and puzzled the general public," Fernandes said in an e-mail interview. "I think that underlying all of this is a fear of change."
Gallaudet, which receives more than $100 million in funding annually from the federal government, was rated "ineffective" this year by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The report cited problems with the school's retention of students, with fewer than 50 percent of undergraduate students reaching graduation.
Fernandes argued the 1,800-student school needs to reach out to a broader population of deaf students, 81 percent of whom attend mainstream public schools rather than specialty schools for the deaf. That may mean admitting students who aren't fluent in sign language.
Fernandes' opponents say the Gallaudet administration's strategy has failed to improve academics and has ignored problems with racism on campus.
"Gallaudet's reputation has to be based on quality, not quantity," said Hlibok, who is now a government lawyer in Washington. Gallaudet should raise its standards, he said, "even if it means a drastic drop in enrollment."
___
WHAT'S NEXT
While the protests have quieted, the debate over Gallaudet's future -- including who will lead the university -- continue. And it seems that the protests have influenced how a new president will be chosen: The university has invited students, faculty, staff and alumni to offer their thoughts on the qualities they want in a new leader.
It's difficult for a university president to be effective when the faculty and students are against them, said Madeleine Green, a vice president at the American Council on Education who has served on university boards in the past.
"Ultimately governance is shared by the board, the administration, the faculty and, to some extent, the students," Green said. "It can be a fragile balance, and sometimes it gets out of whack."
Tim Rarus decided to return to his alma mater, Gallaudet University, this semester when he learned that students might be arrested during protests at the nation's only liberal arts college for the deaf and hearing impaired.
Then he joined in and was arrested himself.
For Rarus, 40, it was a flashback to 1988, when he was a student protest leader in demonstrations that helped bring in the private school's first deaf president and galvanized support for deaf civil rights.
"The spirit of 1988 is very much alive," the Sioux Falls, S.D., resident said of the protests this fall that pressured the school's board of trustees to revoke the appointment of incoming president Jane Fernandes last month.
Much like 1988, when the Gallaudet board initially selected a hearing president despite protests, students and faculty protesting this year said they felt ignored during the presidential search.
"Deaf people had to fight to be heard in 1988," Rarus said. "We are fighting to be heard again in 2006."
The board is now searching for an interim president, with input from students, faculty and alumni.
LEADERSHIP BATTLE
Fernandes, 50, would have been the school's second deaf president, but opposition mounted over her leadership style as Gallaudet's provost over the past six years. The faculty voted by an 82 percent margin to ask Fernandes to resign, but she refused. Opponents said she was divisive and ineffective.
Fernandes would have followed I. King Jordan, who became the school's first deaf president in 124 years after the 1988 protests.
Rarus and his fellow leaders from 1988 returned to campus to protest, partly because Gallaudet is widely viewed as a center for deaf culture.
Passions run high over the school's leadership and whether American Sign Language will continue to define its future. And the campus community wanted a say in the school's governance, said graduate student Ryan Commerson, who helped lead this year's demonstrations.
Commerson and others mobilized hundreds of students to shut down the Washington campus, and 2,000 students, faculty and alumni marched through city streets Oct. 21 to the U.S. Capitol. Dozens of protesters camped out on the university's front lawn for weeks, and some staged a hunger strike.
It was more intense than anything that happened during the protests 18 years earlier, said Greg Hlibok, who was the student body president in 1988.
"We will not back down," protest leader Commerson signed, drawing cheers a few days before Fernandes was removed. "We will not give up! We will keep fighting!"
___
A TRADITION OF PROTEST
Commerson says the students drew inspiration from the removal of American University's president across town a year earlier over questionable spending. But the American University protests were much smaller.
"Protests are not unique to Gallaudet," said Nancy Bloch, a Gallaudet alumna and chief executive officer of the National Association of the Deaf, which supported the protests. "These happen at universities across the nation."
But the activism at Gallaudet is unique, she said, because this university "is family to many within the deaf community."
Supporters said Fernandes was part of that "family," especially when she helped lead the university through two shocking murders on campus in 2000. Fernandes said her opponents lobbed personal attacks and hurt the university, rather than uniting around an ideal -- as she said protesters did in demanding a deaf president in 1988.
"The 2006 protest divided the deaf community and puzzled the general public," Fernandes said in an e-mail interview. "I think that underlying all of this is a fear of change."
Gallaudet, which receives more than $100 million in funding annually from the federal government, was rated "ineffective" this year by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The report cited problems with the school's retention of students, with fewer than 50 percent of undergraduate students reaching graduation.
Fernandes argued the 1,800-student school needs to reach out to a broader population of deaf students, 81 percent of whom attend mainstream public schools rather than specialty schools for the deaf. That may mean admitting students who aren't fluent in sign language.
Fernandes' opponents say the Gallaudet administration's strategy has failed to improve academics and has ignored problems with racism on campus.
"Gallaudet's reputation has to be based on quality, not quantity," said Hlibok, who is now a government lawyer in Washington. Gallaudet should raise its standards, he said, "even if it means a drastic drop in enrollment."
___
WHAT'S NEXT
While the protests have quieted, the debate over Gallaudet's future -- including who will lead the university -- continue. And it seems that the protests have influenced how a new president will be chosen: The university has invited students, faculty, staff and alumni to offer their thoughts on the qualities they want in a new leader.
It's difficult for a university president to be effective when the faculty and students are against them, said Madeleine Green, a vice president at the American Council on Education who has served on university boards in the past.
"Ultimately governance is shared by the board, the administration, the faculty and, to some extent, the students," Green said. "It can be a fragile balance, and sometimes it gets out of whack."