More from Our Frontline Reporter, Erin Land
Report from Erin Land using Sidekick!
press conf . . .
bobbie beth scoggins started by saying that jk has taken the medias for their meeting so we are waiting for medias to arrive for our press conference…
a man said go ahead and stand on the streets and dirksen bauman and bobbie beth said no because then the university will use it against us by saying “seee…..” at the protesters standing on the street blocking cars from its way…..
the student leaders are in the meeting with jk
tim rarus explained that the leaders brought king to the office and now he’s ignoring the leaders… and most hearing universities have committee that agree on selection of provost… while gallaudet… king picked his own provost and of course the 6 years of jane as a terminator, her resume scintillates over others, but if it weren’t for 6 years ago, jane would have never been selected as the unversity president. “think about it” he said.
I’m sitting next to greg hlibok… he told me this protest is on a different level from dpn in 1988… 1 of the reasons is that dpn had one clear message: deaf president now from the beginning… and only one person are allowed to be interviewed by the medias, each person had their own roles…. while this protest … the message at the beginning
was ambiguity and medias interviewed anyone last may after the students walked out by saying “jane doesn’t say hi… she has cold shoulder” etc… so that msg ruined it. now the message is clear.
bobbie beth scoggins will correct 2 articles: abt bot split and late deafness. group of faculty will explain that late deafness has always been here for so long time… and there’s also been rumors that one of faculty is going to replace jk, bbs said we are not at that point yet… we are talking abt interim, but no one in mind yet.
bbs said that gally won’t be closed because of the protest. and she wants us to stay on with same principles 1-jk resigns, 2- no reprials…. that is the only principles we are asking… since medias and ppl are saying different stories.
she also said the university has been trying to make the protest to seem like local problem, but really its more than just local…. many of us are impacted by the selection of jk as our 9th president. this situation is getting nationwide attention which can get the worldwide attention and she wants us to stay with the same 2 demands…. again 1-
jk resign 2- reopen search process… and they are 4 concerns 1- where’s bots? 2- any questions, refer to faculty (I missed other 2)
group of parents met with kind this morning… 26 parents (both deaf and hearing) from all over the country met with king this morning… they made statements . they felt that the university’s leadership has failed. basically, we felt that the kids protested very nonviolently and adm used it to seem like it was a violent protest…. the parents are supporting the students…. and they told king to stop with
misinformation and sending wrong msgs to the medias. I’m sure zibby can fill in more as she was there not me 
bbs emphasized that the university will still go on regardless and she introduced the students who are on hunger strike for 6 days…. those students have been staying in the canopy without food for several days. kenny berrigan introduced himself and said he hasn’t eaten for 6
days and he plan on continue the hunger stike and hope we all are in with him. other students are david simmons, al jimenez, kat roberts jarashow, christine roschaert and one woman I didn’t catch her name. bbs said the hunger strike students are on medical attention in case anything happens…. and she thanked them and for them to maintain their health.
mj bienvenu…. she said she, kitty baldridge and bob johnson contacted to meet with jk…. and waited and waited for jk so they went up to her office.. she she said she didn’t know have meeting… and can’t find email…. then all day mj bienvenu has been waiting for jk to page her… finally she got page so she went to the meeting. purpose of meeting: 82% faculty demanded her to resign. jk said she won’t resign and that she’s the only 1 can lead university, and if she resign, university will go downfall… mj called her arrogant…. a
question asked how can you effectively lead the university when nobody is behind her…. jane said “I can’t share my plans at this time” crowd jeered. basically, jk said refused to resign. period. mj was heartbroken & upset… and she trusts “you” to keep on going.
(a professor) want to say something about jane said her goal is making gallaudet an inclusive unversity…. “excuse me!” she said… and said gally has always been and always will be an inclusive university. she shared her story that she entered gally 1966 and guess who was her classmate??? KING! she learned sign language 1 year before she entered
gally… and king just became deaf… did gally reject them? never.
noah beckman talked abt press conference with king and jk…. and they were concerned abt education and noah scratched his head and said “hmb is open….” everyone laughed…. then noah said everyone will continue not recognize jane fernandes as our 9th president…. then he
explained that congress has no reason to stop funding gallaudet cuz the 2006 fiscal year has been approved and now is working on fiscal year for 2007.
bbs announced that latoya will have 90 seconds on news with katie couric!! she will send strong messages.
zibby came up to talk abt march this saturday. we finally got approved… we will walk on capitol on saturday…. will be on website but spread the words…. make sure march will be LOUD with number of people and wear gallaudet shirt…. and this will be a very peaceful walk…. and there are rules we must follow… and we are to meet 8am for rules…. meet 8am here college hall.
bbs said several other universities will join us in the march.
homecoming is cancelled. sports cancelled. all festivites are cancelled. king will have all buildings closed & locked. people will still come anyway and we are still in the planning stage about what to do about the homecoming. andy lange came on stage and said plans always change every 30 minutes so as of now all homecoming related
activties are cancelled… sac will be open…. class reunion still on at multipurpose room…. that’s the only thing that is really going on for homecoming. homecoming ball will be in espnzone and money has been deposited and too late to cancel so espnzone will be open for anyone. ticket $$ hasn’t been determined. andy said that king said hc is postponed, not cancelled so maybe will have another one later on, but
alumni will be out in coming.
bbs mentioned we will have rally at capitol when we march there.
and she thanked us for coming.
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