Even with the unpopular quagmire Iraq war, American college campuses have been rather calm in recent years. With one glaring exception: Gallaudet University, the federally-funded, somewhat-federally-run deaf university in Washington.
  As of this week, confrontations between authorities and protesting students at Gallaudet have resulted in the injury of (at least) one student, arrests of several, and the place effectively being shut down for days. And it’s not the first such time there. 18 years ago, similar protests forced out newly-named college president Elizabeth Zinser almost as soon as she was appointed.
  What’s this only-in-Washington circus all about? Like in 1988, it’s about student demands that any president of the deaf college himself be deaf.Â
  It’s bizarre in many ways. First, it’s bizarre that Gallaudet still exists at all in an era in which handicapped people are seeking equal access to jobs in America and largely getting them if they can do them. It’s bizarre that Gallaudet still exists 20 years after a time when it wasn’t unheard of to see a blind student in a law school at a regular college. But second, it’s bizarre that Gallaudet students want discrimination against the non-deaf (as administrators at Gallaudet) and equal job opportunities for themselves when they graduate.
  The answer isn’t to forcibly reopen Gallaudet with a massive police presence if necessary or a deaf president to pacify the protesting students. The answer is to shut the place down and tell its students to go to regular colleges in their home states.
2 users commented in " Why is federal deaf college such a circus? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackWhat are you? Deaf, Blind, Wheelchair user, someone who has muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy or any of the many disabilities?
If you ain’t any of those, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Going to colleges in other states are a choice, the same as the choice of going to Gallaudet. Try finding one that will allow free-flowing communication facilitation between a deaf student and the majority of students/faculty – how often does this happen, nearly nil. That is because the universities put a communications barrier up everytime there’s an accommodation made. What happen to being human? A human with flaws is a greater thing than a perfect human.
Are you also talking about Howard University – you wanna tell the black folks that they gotta go to college in their home state because Howard U. is centralized on a particular minority?
Think about what you’re saying before you presume to speak appropriately.
I think it’s funny how critical people can people be. Funnier is how people make up their own statistics to support their argument. Where did you get your statistics, Mr. “FedUpinNorthCarolina?” Do “handicapped” people really get equal access to jobs in America, if they can do them? What do you mean by “handicapped” anyways? And what do you mean by, “if they can do them?” Do you mean to say that if a person is competent in completing the job assignment they are capable, or do you mean that if they can communicate in order to accomplish the assignment they are competent? And do your statistics prove that those who do not fit into the “white and privledged” group really have an equal chance at getting a job? Look at history.
And why is it funny that Gallaudet still exists? Do you mean it’s funny that someone would want to go to Gallaudet? If that is what you mean (since I have to interpret your elementary attempt at Logic), then I guess a fair question to ask is—Why would someone want to go to a school where they are promised equal access to communication and education? This is where you argue and say they can get that by going to a college in their state. However, have you ever shadowed a deaf student who attended a hearing university? Have you ever counted the times that bits and pieces of information have been missed, either because the interpreter missed them or the students were all talking at the same time?
And secondly, are the students at Gallaudet University acting in reverse discrimination towards non-deaf employees? I believe they are arguing for equal access to communication, not whether or not an administrator is deaf. However, in the president’s case it’s a different story. Let me ask you a question: Would it be appropriate for a person from France who can only speak French to be the president of an English University? Would it be appropriate for an atheist to be the president of a Christian University? Would it be appropriate for a white person to be the president of an all black university? Would it be appropriate for the leader of ANY group not to resemble the needs, desires and goals of the group in which they are leading? Therefore, would it be appropriate from someone who does not sympathize with the desires and goals of the Deaf community to be a leader of that Deaf community? And, if no one is willing to follow, should that person still be the leader?
I don’t really know why I’ve wasted my time answering such a silly commentary? Do you really think shutting down a university is going to solve the problem? Do you even know what the problem is? Have you ever been dented access to communication? Have you ever been denied a right to education because your educator couldn’t speak your language? Have you ever been oppressed simply for not being able to hear, or for any other difference that separates you from another? What about skin color….we know of that history.
This is a university for the Deaf, is it not? Then it should be a parallel educational experience that hearing people. My question is—have you ever done a lick of historical research on the Deaf community, on ASL or on this protest? If you have not, and I reckon that you haven’t, then I suggest you keep your comments to yourself. They are a waste of time.
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