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Editor: You may have seen that there's been some concern about the
Gallaudet University's accreditation. Here's their statement on this
issue.
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February 2007
Gallaudet University is accredited by the Commission on Higher
Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSCHE).
Accreditation by the Commission follows intensive self-study by the
University itself. There is then a site visit and report from the
Commission. The cycle of accreditation follows a ten-year cycle, and
Gallaudet, which was initially accredited by MSCHE in 1957, last
underwent a full re-accreditation in 2001. At the mid-point of the
accreditation cycle, the University must submit a Periodic Review Report
(PRR) to the Commission, which is followed by a decision on
reaffirmation of accreditation for the remaining 5 years of the cycle.
Gallaudet submitted its PRR to MSCHE in June of 2006.
Following submission of its PRR, Gallaudet experienced a period of
protests and a brief closure of its campus following selection of a new
president. The contract of the president-designate was subsequently
rescinded by the Gallaudet Board and an interim president, Dr. Robert
Davila, was appointed and took office on January 1, 2007. Because of
issues that were raised during the protest and what MSCHE felt were
inadequacies in the University's PRR, the Commission decided to postpone
its decision on reaccreditation pending receipt of additional
information from the University addressing concerns that were
communicated to Gallaudet by MSCHE.
Gallaudet is currently working closely with MSCHE to compile and
submit the information that MSCHE has requested, and the University
expects to submit a report by the end of March or in early April. The
Commission on Higher Education will act with respect to reaffirmation of
accreditation following receipt of that report. In the meantime,
Gallaudet University and its programs are fully accredited.
Copyright (c) 2007 Gallaudet University
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March 2007
Pamela Holmes, '74, chair of the Board of Trustees
announced a request for nominations of new members of the Gallaudet
University Board of Trustees following today's meeting of the Board. New
trustees will be selected to serve terms beginning in October 2007.
"We are seeking individuals who are dedicated to making Gallaudet a
model of academic excellence and diversity," Holmes said. "We
want dynamic individuals who are committed to active participation in
Board and committee meetings and other many other activities crucial to
Gallaudet's mission." Three documents have been made available by
the Board's Committee on Trustees for those interested in submitting a
nomination for themselves or another individual. Full
Story
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March 2007
Just in case there was any doubt about how Gallaudet's leaders view
the roll of ASL at Gallaudet, they made it very clear in Bob Davila's
Video Log entry of March 1. (Dr. Davila is Gallaudet's Interim President
and he has been creating a weekly video log entry since he assumed this
role. For this week's entry he invited Dr. MJ Bienvenu and Dr. Thomas
Allen, two of Gallaudet's department chairs to offer their views. The
topic was the new Sorenson Language and Communications Center (SLCC) and
the six departments that will be located in this new facility.
One of the departments is the Hearing Speech and Language Sciences (HSLS)
Department, which, among other activities, provides audiological
services to folks both inside and outside Gallaudet University. Dr.
Davila remarked that, "the SLCC represents a truly exceptional
opportunity to position the speech sciences directly within an ASL
environment. So, for example, parents who bring their children for
audiological screening and testing will enter a beautiful, visually-rich
building full of people using ASL."
He goes on to say, "Since its founding in 1864, Gallaudet has
cherished the culture and language of deaf people and the community they
represent. This proud tradition will continue unchanged. It will be the
very foundation of our past and also our future."
Dr. Bienvenu reinforced this theme with her statement that Dr. Davila
"just mentioned that Gallaudet perceives the importance of ASL;
that ASL is the heart of this university. That has been the case, and
always will be."
Here's
the English transcription of this entry of Dr. Davila's video log.
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May 2007
Gallaudet University's accreditation is still at
risk months after protests shut down the campus in Northeast Washington
for several days in the fall. An accreditation team visiting this week
noted that progress has been made under the new administration but that
serious concerns remain, according to President Robert Davila. The
school has until November 2008 to achieve compliance, Davila said. . . .
Now, as teams of professors and administrators work together on plans to
quickly improve the chronically low graduation rates, enrollment issues
and ways of measuring student progress, the school is under scrutiny
from several agencies at once.
Full Story
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May 2007
School's New President Hasn't Been Waiting on
Ceremony
For a month after Robert Davila was named president
of Gallaudet University in December, he didn't leave campus. There was
too much to do. He was taking on a school that spent much of the fall in
chaos, shut down by protesters for days, venomously divided over the
presidency. A federal agency had criticized the school for the deaf, and
its accreditation was at risk. Davila was 74 yea rs old, with a
grandfather's warm smile and funny stories, but instead of retiring, he
was launching into the toughest job of his life. . . . The clock is
ticking on accreditation, he said recently. "We have to do it,
because, long term, the impact on the university is most serious. The
consequences are too frightening to ignore." Full
Story
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July 2007
Gallaudet University was put on probation today by
its accrediting agency, a warning sign that problems persist months after
protests shut down the school for the deaf. School officials described a
campus in the midst of a rapid transformation as they rush to meet
standards set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The
core curriculum has been revamped, admissions standards have been raised,
and a more united campus community has been rethinking the mission at a
turning point for deaf education. But probation is a blow to a school
hobbled by recent events. Gallaudet remains accredited but must prove by
November 2008 that it is again in compliance with eight of 14 standards,
including its leadership, integrity and retention. One higher-education
expert said that is "not a good set of numbers."
Full Story
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July 2007
The world-famous school for the deaf and hard of
hearing has been placed on probation by its accrediting organization. In a
statement made public last week, the Middle States Commission on Higher
Education outlined a list of deficiencies. If the school doesn't meet
standards for leadership, academic rigor, student retention and integrity,
it may lose its accreditation. That could spell the end, since students
wouldn't be able to receive federal loans or transfer credits to other
schools and Congress might withhold the $108 million in annual funding on
which the school depends. The commission's action caught by surprise those
who thought Gallaudet's unique status as a center for deaf culture would
protect it. . . . . . . Then came the protests over the selection of Jane
K. Fernandes as president; the trustees eventually surrendered abjectly, a
move that raised questions about school governance. Protesters claimed
victory, and some observers saw virtue in the attention focused on the
school. In fact, immense damage was done.
Full Story
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July 2007
The national academic community and the media
declared that Gallaudet's student protesters, though they had the support
of most faculty and alumni, had overstepped their bounds. However, such
condemnations will pale in comparison to the likely reactions from the
accreditation issues. Probation is proof of a fact that the signing
community seems to resist: Society has evolved and separatism is no longer
viable. Resisting this change, the deaf community will find itself further
and further marginalized and powerless.
Full Story
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July 2007
What I am suggesting is that the signing deaf
community embrace technology, starting with cochlear implants, and carve
out a new future in which it shows the nation new ways of using technology
to communicate and build communities. Now I知 going to unfold what I mean
by that. I知 going to be making three points. First, I知 going to suggest
that over the next few decades, the signing deaf community could shift
from focusing on deafness to innovating new ways for everyone to hear,
using technology. Second, I知 going to suggest that Gallaudet could focus
on developing new ways for people to communicate, again using technology.
Third, I知 going to suggest that Gallaudet could take leadership in
teaching the nation how to form and sustain healthy communities.
Full
Story
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November 2007
Gallaudet University is no longer on probation,
its president, Robert Davila, announced last night. "We are not finished,
but we are on our way back," Davila said. The school in Northeast
Washington, known internationally as a center for deaf education, was put
on probation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education this
summer after a turbulent year. In October 2006, protesters angry over the
choice of a new president shut the campus down for several days by
blocking the entrances. The unrest brought greater scrutiny of academic,
enrollment and other problems, and accreditors warned that the school was
out of compliance on eight of 14 standards. The school remains accredited,
but it awaits a 10-year renewal of that status. Being on probation made it
more difficult to attract and retain students at a school where enrollment
had been dropping.
Full Story
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June 2008
A year and a half after student protesters shut
down Gallaudet University for several days and accreditors warned of major
problems, the school for the deaf got good news today: Its accreditation
will be reaffirmed. It's a stamp of approval from the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education that caps months of work and transformation
on campus: new leadership, a new curriculum, a new emphasis on sign
language, a new push to prove results with solid data, and a new
tranquility at an institution torn apart over a presidential selection.
The Middle States vote Thursday to reaffirm Gallaudet's accreditation is
an important step for the school. It never lost accreditation, which
higher-education officials said is effectively a death knell for a
university, but the past months of probation and then a warning from
Middle States have hobbled its ability to recruit students and keep up
enrollment.
Full Story
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November 2008
In recent years, deaf authors Josh Swiller and
Michael Chorost have won praise and recognition for their writing. Today
they find themselves teaching together at Gallaudet. The authors are
co-teaching a fall semester course called "The History of Change," which
examines the stories of communities, companies, and even species that
found ways to evolve when faced with crisis. The course, under the
auspices of the Department of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies,
includes careful analysis of the signing deaf community, whose future is
uncertain. In the first three-hour session of "The History of Change,"
their presupposition that the signing deaf community is in danger had been
passionately debated. Although a premise of the class suggested that
extinction was a very real possibility for the community, about two-thirds
of the students vehemently disagreed.
Full Story
