US university for deaf reopens amid bitter row over next president

LovelyBlkGal

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Messages
4,423
Reaction score
2
I m not sure if it's right this place so you can move my thread to somewhere thanks!


WASHINGTON (AFP) - A leading US university for the deaf reopened after the arrest of student demonstrators who had shut down the campus for three days in protest against the choice of a new college president.

ADVERTISEMENT

News media reported that Gallaudet University had reopened following the arrest of 133 students Friday night after the outgoing president said he would not tolerate further protests that prevented the university from operating.

The protesters, backed by some members of faculty and university alumni, are opposed to incoming president Jane Fernandes, appointed to the job over the summer break. They argue she was selected too quickly in a process that overlooked several other qualified candidates, including an African American.

Outgoing president King Jordan, who heads the prestigious university that first opened during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln in 1864, was unswayed.

"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," Jordan said in a statement.

"The protesters have failed to honor agreements arrived at through negotiation and compromise and changed their demands repeatedly," and their actions "have deprived the university's students of the education . . . and . . . denied education to the children who attend the university's pre-college programs."

Gallaudet "fully respects and is committed to free speech and the free exchange of ideas, but the protesters' own actions are in violation of these fundamental principles of academic life."

University officials will still let students protest at the front of the campus, but access to the campus and any protests that "interfere with educational processes" must "cease immediately."

Jordan said he has asked campus cops and Washington D.C. city police "to take the actions necessary" to reopen the university.

"I deeply regret being forced to take this action. I realize that it may lead to arrests, but the protesters have left me no choice," he said.

Protester and finance major Andreas Piedrahita, 22, opposes what she describes as Fernandes' authoritarian management style and intolerance for other viewpoints.

"They don't listen to us," said Piedrahita. "We want the presidential search to be reopened and to respect diversity," she told AFP.


:eek3: i m not superise about that!

US university for deaf reopens amid bitter row over next president - Yahoo! News check out in yahoo
 
That lady Jane is a pit bull, isn't she? I don't see her going NOWHERE. Maybe she's the kind that just thrives on negative energy. If so, she's got it out the wazoo.:pissed: :pissed: :pissed::rl:
 
Back
Top