The sense of victory at Gallaudet University this week after the removal of incoming president Jane Fernandes is reminiscent of the jubilation at AU following former president Ben Ladner's removal last fall.
Gallaudet students and faculty alike celebrated the success of their protests this week following Gallaudet's board of trustees vote Sunday to remove Jane K. Fernandes from her position as the future president of the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf. The board's decision came after a month of protests by students, faculty, staff and alumni who opposed the selection of Fernandes as the university's next president.
Students protested Fernandes' appointment by overtaking the main classroom building on campus and blocking the school's entrances, which eventually shut down the university for several days. As a result of the protests, over 130 students were arrested by the D.C. police, The Eagle previously reported.
Sara Collins, a junior at Gallaudet University who participated in the protests, said one of the initial reasons students protested was because they felt their feedback on the three candidates the trustees selected in May was not taken into account by the candidates.
"The polls even before the selection of Jane Fernandes clearly showed that out of all three candidates, Jane Fernandes was the least favorable," Collins said in an e-mail.
Collins said Fernandes was a well-qualified leader "only on paper."
"I felt that Jane Fernandes has had a lot of opportunities to demonstrate her leadership abilities - of which she did not appear to take advantage. ... The protests could have been prevented. ... Unfortunately, she is either rather inefficient in mobilizing people towards one vision or chooses the course of action that many disagree with in carrying out those ideas," she said.
After several weeks of protesting, the faculty voted to remove Fernandes from her presidential position. The faculty also expressed a loss of confidence in the board of trustees and current president of 18 years I. King Jordan. Ultimately, over 2,000 students, parents, alumni and supporters marched on the Capitol, according to The Washington Post.
The rallies were high-energy experiences, Collins said.
"The rallies that I attended were emotionally charged and inspiring," Collins said. "There was a true sense of community. The protesters supported one another."
Although students at both Gallaudet and AU protested against their presidents, the protests were for different reasons, Megan Linehan, an AU alumna of the Class of 2005 who organized the protests against Ladner, said in an e-mail.
"GU is much more about a larger culture and way of life, as well as education," Linehan said, "whereas AU was about education primarily, and things like accountability and transparency second."
Protests are necessary in order gain the attention from the board of trustees, Linehan said.
"Without the student protests, at AU or Gallaudet, I highly doubt any change would have been made because it's the student protests that get the largest chunk of media attention," Linehan said in the e-mail.
Mercy Coogan, Gallaudet's public relations director, said the administration is waiting on the board of trustees to determine how the transition will occur.
"Dr. Fernandes is not the provost at this time, but she is a tenured professor, so it's possible that at some point she will return to teach here," Coogan said.
Protest leaders said they would work to ensure that the next presidential search process includes views of students, faculty, alumni and other important figures in the deaf community and that the candidates come from a variety of backgrounds, according to The Post.
