Student efforts to raise money in support of protesters at Gallaudet University halted Sunday when the school’s board of trustees voted to rescind the appointment of incoming president Jane Fernandes.
The board’s move was in response to protests by students, faculty, alumni and others that rocked Gallaudet, the nation’s premier deaf university, this past month. Students were arrested Oct. 13 for blockading university entrances in a campus-wide protest that included taking over classroom buildings and staging sit-ins.
Opponents of Fernandes’ nomination criticized the presidential search pool’s lack of diversity and Fernandes leadership and personality qualities. Protesters claimed Fernandes was not in tune with deaf culture because she was able to speak at birth, unlike most of the university population, and did not learn American sign language until the age of 23.
GW student leaders helped protesters last month, after Student Association President Lamar Thorpe visited students at Gallaudet. Thorpe asked Andrew Cooper, SA vice president of public affairs, to chair the SA relief effort for Gallaudet students.
Cooper, a sophomore, personally paid for nearly $300 worth of supplies, including 20 bags of coal, 30 blankets, lighter fluid and matches.
“We also had people there, students who were particularly interested in Gallaudet themselves, to aid in their protests and their rallies,” Cooper said. “The initial amount of resources were donations given by private students.”
Because of opposition toward using SA funds for the relief effort, other student organizations such as GW Democrats were asked to help collect money and supplies, Cooper said. Although the situation was resolved before further help was needed, the GW Democrats were prepared to donate for the cause, said Todd Jasper, GW Democrats president.
“When it comes down to what we did, it was little. We didn’t raise a bunch of money, and we didn’t go over there and donate a bunch of supplies,” Jasper said. “We monitored the situation very carefully and were poised to act.”
He said he thought the protesters’ victory was important for GW’s own presidential search process.
“What’s ultimately good is that this could never happen to GW, and it should renew our commitment to being transparent and reaching out to the community and looking for support,” Jasper said.
The American Sign Language Club also started a campaign to help Gallaudet protesters earlier this month. The group, which brings GW students together to practice ASL and attend events to develop an appreciation for deaf culture, held a donation drive for pre-packaged food, coal, water bottles and blankets. The group received no donations before the protests ended, said Kelly Mahon, co-president of the club.
“We’re happy that the students got what they wanted,” Mahon, a junior, wrote in an e-mail. “We believe that the deaf community knows what’s best for itself, and if they felt that their representative was inadequate, then we respect that viewpoint.”
The club’s faculty sponsor, speech and hearing professor Curtis Robbins, also supported the Gallaudet student protesters. Robbins, a Gallaudet graduate and faculty member for 11 years, said opposition to Fernandes was not just about her disconnect with deaf culture.
“It’s a very legitimate protest, because in all the years she has been an administrator, she has caused a lot of academic problems,” he said. “She cut a lot of programs and didn’t relate to faculty at all.”
When Fernandes was administering pre-college programs and when she was provost, many programs were cut that angered parents and staff, Robbins said. He added that he believed the decision to reject Fernandes was inevitable.
He dismissed the idea that the protests occurred because of doubts about Fernandes’ deafness. “I seriously think that Jane Fernandes’ ouster is essentially not about her ASL skills or her deafness, but about her administrative and people skills, which left a lot to be desired.”
