Gallaudet's Fernandes continues to evade issues in public comments

At Gallaudet University, the world's only university for the deaf, in Washington DC, the president-elect, Jane Fernandes, who is scheduled to take office on Jan. 1, 2007, harbors a dangerous anti-philosophy of education, which is harmful to the emotional and intellectual well being of deaf students. Protesters are continuing in their two demands that she either step down or have her appointment rescinded, and that no reprisals be administered to the protesters.

(PressMethod) - Gallaudet President-elect Jane Fernandes is continuing in her efforts to deceive the American public regarding the issue of the continued survival of the state residential schools for the deaf.

In an e-m ail to DeafTimes, she dodged the issues raised in the six-part press release of June 30, 2006 and wrote the following obfuscatory e-mail:

QUOTE:

Dear Editor:

Contrary to what one [sic] of your contributing writers stated in today's edition, I am now, have always been, and will continue to be a strong proponent of the efficacy of the nation's public and private schools for deaf and hard of hearing children. As director of the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind, I withnessed [sic] first-hand the invaluable role these schools have in the education of deaf students. Today, the mutually beneficial relationship between Gallaudet and the nation's schools for deaf students is stronger than eer [sic]. I guarantee your readers that I am committed to making sure it stays that way.

Jane K. Fernandes
President Designate
Gallaudet University

UNQUOTE

She evaded the question as to whether or not the 2005 Strategic Goals policy statement approved by the Gallaudet Board of Trustees marks the official end of Gallaudet's historic role of being the center of the Deaf Culture Movement in the United States and the world.

She evaded the issue of whether or not she believes that the state residential schools for the deaf should serve as outposts for the Deaf Culture Movement and whether or not they should serve as feeder schools in order to provide students to Gallaudet University who will support the Deaf Culture Movement and who will support Gallaudet's historic role.

She continues to use obfuscatory language when she refers to the "mutually beneficial relationship between Gallaudet and the nation's schools for deaf students". This completely avoids the question of the survival of the historic residential schools for deaf students (which were created by members of the Deaf Culture Movement) and she completely avoids the question of the nature of the "mutually beneficial relationship."

This follows the pattern of the 2005 Strategic Goals policy statement, in that there is recourse made to generalized linguistic formulations which are so broad as to be uncontroversial and unresponsive, and which can then be used later as a cover for the implementation of specific unwritten policies which are inimical to the interests of deaf people and harmful to deaf students.

This fits the pattern of current Gallaudet President Jordan's manipulation of Congress and the Board of Trustees of the past eighteen years and it offers additional proof as to the existence of a very close mentor-prote'ge' relationship between Jordan and Fernandes, the existence of which is well known to other Gallaudet administrators and staff members.

In 1988, current Gallaudet President Irving King Jordan, Jr. launched an effort to hijack the worldwide Deaf Culture Movement when he became president of Gallaudet University. He played on the goodwill that existed in the deaf community and converted his political capital into a "disability rights" campaign, the effects of which are harmful to the emotional and intellectual well being of deaf students.

Jane Fernandes has been chosen by Jordan to be his successor at Gallaudet in order to continue the campaign to end Gallaudet's role as being the center of the historic Deaf Culture Movement and to withdraw Gallaudet from the respected ranks of the western academic tradition and the Greek-initiated Philosophy and Science Movement.

Jordan and Fernandes continue to mislead the public in their transparent attempts to mischaracterize the nature of and marginalize the importance of the Deaf Culture Movement and draw attention away from the movement's true role in the history of Western Civilization. As a result of the Deaf Culture Movement, Gallaudet joined the ranks of prestigious world universities in contributing to the advancement of world culture.

As part of the Jordan-Fernandes strategy, they have launched a vicious campaign to divide the American deaf community by using obviously false rhetoric which claims that the ongoing protest at Gallaudet is about whether or not she is "deaf enough." She refuses to stop the campaign, despite repeated and very emphatic statements from the protesters that it is false.

On her website, Fernandes reproduces a flyer of mysterious origins, and portrays it as having originated from protesters. It has been discovered that the format of the mysterious flyer matches the format used in documents printed as part of Congressional testimony. Readers are invited to download the Congressional testimony here:

http://tinyurl.com/qssmy

(Download requires a full minute using broadband or DSL and longer using dial-up.)

Readers are directed to examine the format of printed pages numbered 538 and 540 (which corresponds to Adobe page numbers 73 and 75), and then compare the format of those pages with the format of the mysterious flyer of unknown origin presented on the Fernandes Web site:

http://9thprez.com/docs/Not%20Deaf%20Enough%20flyer.jpg

The presentation of this mysterious flyer of unknown origins, coupled with Fernandes's refusal to specify its provenance fits the pattern of her dirty tricks campaign to hold onto her prospective presidency at all costs. A previous such incident occurred last May when Fernandes's close friend, Jane Norman, made reference in her blog to a mysterious document of unknown origin which protesters were supposedly intimidating people into signing. Norman has never produced a copy of the supposed document and has never identified any the protesters that were allegedly involved.

Fernandes also continues to refuse to release a copy of her employment contact, which insiders say contains a $2 million dollar buyout clause. The American public will be curious to know why the Gallaudet Board of Trustees rushed to provide her with such a clause in her contract.

Please see the previous six-part press release of June 30, 2006:
Part 1: http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/7588.htm
Part 2: http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/7625.htm
Part 3: http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/7626.htm
Part 4: http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/7627.htm
Part 5: http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/7629.htm
Part 6: http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/7630.htm

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