Gallaudet Faculty March

Gallaudet Faculty March was so important to the university it represented academic freedom. It is now becoming a central theme in the history of Gallaudet University. The march must not be more invoked than deeply understood. The faculty march spoke about 82% of the faculty demanding JKF out of business.

Not everyone will agree with Gallaudet Faculty March, but it is essential for three critical reasons. (1) It is necessary for Gallaudet University; (2) it is necessary for the Deaf community; and (3) it is necessary for the quality of higher education for the Deaf. I will discuss each reason here.

Gallaudet Faculty March becomes necessary. Gallaudet University needs to be the place of the free exchange of ideas in the language and culture of the Deaf. Unless students and faculty are provided liberty to use ASL without misunderstanding, no genuine higher learning and teaching is possible at Gallaudet University.

Gallaudet Faculty March represents the best of the Deaf community. Gallaudet University is to be the primary source for dissenting ideas and vibrant debate in exclusive ASL. Nowhere else are intense intellectual debates in ASL a common part of Deaf Culture. When ASL is not understood, Deaf Culture is silenced.

Gallaudet Faculty March delineates the quality of higher learning and teaching to attract the best students and professors to the academy where ASL is inevitable. While Gallaudet University today is where professors and students have far less respect for ASL, it declines into a poor rank within higher education comparisons—as pointed out by Professor Donalda Ammons.

Although not everyone will agree with these three above reasons, I doubt we would agree that ASL can be compromised. As long as ASL exists, it must be addressed for our learning style at Gallaudet University. Gallaudet Faculty March is important!