The leader of the united Gallaudet movement's hunger strikers, David Simmons, came to Columbus, Ohio last Friday evening (Nov. 10th) to speak about his experience of being on hunger strike for 17 days (with only water to drink) in a difficult protest against the former president-designate Jane K. Fernandes and the Board of Trustees. In spite of being in a life-threatening condition, David Simmons remains in very good spirits and endured through the end when the Board of Trustees decided to revoke Fernandes from assuming the office of the University's president on Oct. 29th. The seriousness of the hunger strikers' health was on the Board of Trustees' minds when they casted the votes to terminate Fernandes as they do not wanted any of them to die on-campus while on hunger strike.

After the Board of Trustees made that decision, David Simmons and 6 other hunger strikers were taken to the hospital for 24 hours of medical care and observation. They were all released in good health and could not wait to eat again after days without food. David remarked that he lost about 19 pounds and was so happy to eat his favorite foods afterward.

David Simmons was born and raised in South Africa to a deaf family. In the early 1990s, the entire Simmons clan migrated to America, of which the two Simmons brothers and a sister attended Gallaudet University as students. David Simmons was majoring in art when I met and befriended him back in 1992 in an art class and we worked together for a time on a couple of art projects. Very talented and bright, I enjoyed his friendship and artworks. Before I graduated in 1995, he left Gallaudet - without a degree - to pursuit a career in cellular communication and Internet technology.

I did not see him again until the late spring of 1996 when he was with a technology company to develop and sell the early typeset pager versions of today's Sidekicks or Blackberrys for the deaf. After that, we both lost touch and he re-admitted to Gallaudet again twice but left again for some reasons. He's still a student at Gallaudet and is still working on getting a degree in computer graphic design, art and media. I saw him on Oct. 26th in person for the first time in years at the hunger strikers' tent while visiting Gallaudet. I could not believe my eyes that the man was almost wasting away but remains in very good, enduring spirits and I told him to hang in there, that it would be over soon.

The special guest speaker event was organized by the concerned Deaf Ohioans with the grateful supports by the representatives of the Ohio Association of the Deaf, the Columbus Association of the Deaf, the OSDAA, the Deaf & Deaf-Blind Committee of Human Rights, and the Buckeye GUAA, with special thanks to Robert Cooper and Dawn Watts for bringing in David Simmons. Danny Barrett was the excellent host of the event, in spite of his 3.5 years old son, Clark, attempting to upstage him. The event was taken place at the Columbus Colony complex (a retirement community for the deaf) in northeastern Columbus. About 75 people attended the event (which was actually put together at the last minute a couple days before). A question-and-answer session was provided for the attendees after David Simmons' and few associations' representatives' speeches. Cookies and sodas were provided and a social mingling-n-meeting with David Simmons and the associations' representatives occurred.











Good luck on getting the degree this time, David!