Editor:
On Friday, October 13 at about 9PM, I. King Jordan decided that the
barricade at Gallaudet University had to end, and he asked campus police
and the Metropolitan Police Department to take the actions necessary to
reopen Gallaudet. Here's his statement!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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. Both President-Designate Dr. Jane
Fernandes and I have been available to meet with students and other
concerned individuals throughout the protest.
Other
senior administrators, such as the Interim Provost and the Dean of
Students, also have been available and have met repeatedly with groups of
protesters to try to understand their grievances and work toward a common
resolution of them. At times, the protesters have refused to meet with
either Dr. Fernandes or me, and at other times they have demanded to meet
with Dr. Fernandes or me. The have failed to honor agreements arrived at
through negotiation and compromise and changed their demands repeatedly.
The protesters' actions have deprived the university's students of the
education that they expect and deserve, and they have denied education to
the children who attend the university's pre-college programs. The
university 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 and the pursuit of
knowledge. The university can no longer tolerate behavior that denies the
rights of students, faculty, and staff.
Gallaudet
University will continue to allow students to protest at the front of the
campus at the Florida Avenue gate, but access to the campus must be
restored to students, staff, faculty, alumni, and visitors. The university
is requesting that actions that interfere with educational processes,
including the unimpeded movement of individuals into, out of, and
throughout the campus, cease immediately.
I
have asked the Gallaudet University Department of Public Safety, their
consultant, and the Metropolitan Police Department to take the actions
necessary to reopen Gallaudet University for educational purposes. 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jordan
Is Criticized For Approving Arrests
October
2006
Gallaudet
University reopened yesterday, the morning after 133 protesters were
arrested to break up a three-day shutdown of the nationally renowned
school for the deaf over the choice of Jane K. Fernandes to be president.
Although the arrests resolved the immediate crisis, the university remains
as deeply fractured as it ever has been, and no one sees the reopening as
an end to the bitter confrontation with the school's leadership. Last
night, about 1,000 protesters stood shoulder to shoulder from the front
gates of the school in Northeast Washington up a hill to Chapel Hall.
Fernandes remains the target of their wrath. But the current president, I.
King Jordan, who has been hailed as a heroic symbol of deaf
accomplishment, is now viewed by many as a traitor for ordering the
arrests by campus police.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Jane Fernandes
October 2006
It was 3 a.m. on Tuesday. I had been up all night
negotiating with student protesters occupying Gallaudet University's Hall
Memorial Building, home to classrooms, department offices and labs.
Negotiations had broken down. The protesters did not approve of my
appointment by the board of trustees to be the next president of Gallaudet
University. How had things at the world's premier university for deaf and
hard-of-hearing people come to this? Our Gallaudet community is varied.
There are many kinds of deaf people. Some are born to deaf parents; most
are not. Some are lucky enough to grow up using American Sign Language.
Others -- like myself and increasing numbers of Gallaudet's students --
learn and embrace ASL later in life. Some are deaf from birth; some become
deaf later in life. Some benefit from the use of hearing aids or cochlear
implants; others don't. Some have visual impairments or other
disabilities. Full
Story
The faculty at Gallaudet University gave overwhelming
endorsement last night to a proposal calling for Jane K. Fernandes to
resign or be removed from her position as incoming president of one of the
world's premier colleges for the deaf. Meeting in Gallaudet's Andrew J.
Foster Auditorium surrounded by signs of the protest that has drawn
worldwide attention, the teachers adopted the nonbinding resolution by a
vote of 138 to 24. Six abstained. Full
Story
