Galluadet protests spur student arrests

Gallaudet University faculty signed a resolution calling for the resignation of incoming president Jane K. Fernandes on Monday following the arrests of 133 student protesters and the school reopening after shutting down for three days, according to The Washington Post. The faculty adopted a nonbinding resolution calling for Fernandes to resign or be removed from her position. Gallaudet Provost Fernandes was selected by a search committee in May to replace current president I. King Jordan, The Eagle previously reported. Jordan was the first deaf president of Gallaudet selected as a result of student protests for a deaf president in 1988 and has been viewed as a heroic figure in the deaf community. However, he is now seen as a traitor by many for ordering the arrests of the student protesters, according to The Post. The faculty passed other resolutions, including asking the board of trustees to have an emergency meeting that includes students, faculty and alumni; calling for the search process to be reopened; requesting that there be no reprisals against protesters and requesting to include students, faculty and alumni on the board of trustees, according to The Post. Since the removal of former President Ben Ladner last year, AU also does not have a student representative on the board of trustees. However, AU currently has nominated three students for the position. Opponents to Fernandes' selection say she is not a strong enough advocate for deaf people and does not consult others when making decisions. Protesters say she is not qualified enough as a leader in the deaf community having been raised in an "oral" environment and learning sign language at the age of 23, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. In addition, protesters say the search process was flawed, student and faculty views were not heard and there was not enough racial diversity in the search process as the three finalists were all white, according to The Chronicle. The faculty's resolution followed the arrests of 133 student protesters Friday night. Student protesters had been occupying the main classroom building on campus since Oct. 5, but protests intensified as students lead by the football players blocked all the gateway entrances to the campus Wednesday night. After failing to convince the students to end their protests, Jordan requested police intervention in order to reopen the school. Arrests began after 9 p.m. Friday evening. Nearly 1,000 protesters demonstrated in front of the main gate Saturday and many returned on Sunday as well, according to The Post. Mercy Coogan, Gallaudet's public relations director, commented on the atmosphere on campus. "I think there's a lot of tension, which is affecting everyone," she said. "It's very distracting from a student's point of view - they are here to get an education. ... Our goal, as administration ... is to try to bring the campus back to as normal as possible, while at the same time give protesters freedom to protest." Coogan said the school is focusing on resolving the situation without tarnishing Gallaudet's reputation. "I know that for Dr. Jordan, all options are on the table," Coogan said. "Mostly, we want to resolve this in a peaceful way so that everyone concerned comes to a realization that we have to solve this together." Jordan still supports Fernandes' selection as the next university president, and Fernandes has said consistently that she would not quit, according to The Post.