A Gallaudet student responds about the current protests

Ben, a student at Gallaudet, commented on the entry "More about current Gallaudet student protests." His blog has more about the protest, and other links. Here's what he wrote:

good entry- learned something new regarding parallels to the position of gallaudet univ. president.

however, take what dr. jane fernandes says with a grain of salt. it's just spin control. never take anything she says at face value.

what u quoted is a perfect example. she's trying to portray the protesters and detractors as a nutty bunch throwing a hissy fit cuz she doesn't fit the prototypical deaf person fantasy held by a tiny minority.

reality? it has nothing to do with her not being "deaf enough". about 70% of gallaudet's students didn't grow up in deaf schools. 90% of deaf people dont have deaf parents.

yet 83% of the undergraduate student body voted her as unaccecptable in an official poll before the board of trustees made their selection. the protesters come from quite diverse backgrounds.

furthermore, if the protest had anything to do with the "deaf identity", why did 63% of the mostly "hearing" faculty voted her as unacceptable? they are the people who deal with her directly and got to know her leadership style.

the real reasons why we're protesting are complex. the best way to sum them up: academic mediocrity, corruption, incompetency, dictator-like leadership style (faculty members say she NEVER asks for input before making important decisions, in contrary to her claims that she has a "participatory style" leadership).

i really hope the washington post reporter will start asking faculty members questions.

thanks for ur entry.

Index Keywords: deaf-culture