Another Gallaudet Board Member Resigns
January 12, 2007
From: Pamela Holmes, Chair
To: Campus Community
As Chair of the Board of Trustees, I would like to acknowledge the service of William Graham. Mr. Graham, a founder of ALDA (Association of Late Deafened Adults), joined the Board of Trustees in 1990, and he served most recently as Secretary. He graciously agreed to extend his service on the Board, recognizing the need for his experience. He was due to end his service at the conclusion of the academic year, and due to his other commitments he has done so earlier than expected; we accepted his resignation as of January 4, 2007.
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The following commentary is from Brian Riley [Adrian Apollo] who has had some lengthy recent conversations with William Graham. It’s a very interesting story, and a peek into the extensive behind-the-scenes activities that Brian undertook during the protests. / Ken @ BiblioMarket
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William Graham
In July of last year, 2006, I (Brian Riley) approached Bill Graham using my current everyday name, Adrian Apollo. I changed my name in 1999 when I decided to pursue a possible career as a writer. I liked my pen name, so I made it my everyday name.
Since Bill Graham knew me only by my current name, Adrian, and not by the name under which I attended Gallaudet (and also the the name I was using as a protester) he did not know I was a protester. I feel this is completely fair, because it was Jordan and certain members of the Board who were deceiving us. We had a right to investigate them and that is exactly what I did.
I interviewed Bill Graham in his office at Microsoft and came to like him as a person. I interviewed him extensively, filling three steno pads full of notes, even visiting his home and meeting his children and also meeting his close friend, a rehab counselor.
My opinion is that Jordan has been taking advantage of Bill Graham’s friendship. Graham admitted to me in his office that not much work was required of him being a Gallaudet trustee. He told me that mostly he just showed up at board meetings for a couple days, signed a lot of papers, then went home. This shows that Jordan and Kunkle were running the show all along, and the Board members were just figureheads.
Yes, it is true that Graham was the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and he was putting way too much trust in Jordan. This is probably due to naivete on Graham’s part, and not from any bad intentions or malevolence from him.
I really think that Bill Graham is a great guy. He told me about his struggles adapting to his deafness. I got to sit down with him and his best friend, both cochlear implantees. I was pretending to not know sign language, and I thought it was very interesting that the both of them admitted to me that they did not find it comfortable sitting and chatting with me. It was a strain for them to read my lips and listen to my voice through their implants. They were glad when I left so that they could converse between themselves, speaking and signing at the same time.
This is an example of how the benefits of cochlear implants are greatly exaggerated. Here were two men who were highly fluent in the English language and the most skilled lip readers you could find anywhere, yet they did not find it a comfortable experience sitting and chatting with me without sign language. We need to educate the general public on how the medical establishment is misrepresenting the nature of cochlear implants. Implants provide synthetic, not authentic hearing. It’s not a natural experience and it’s not a “miracle cure.” It’s not even close.
In his office at Microsoft, Graham told me about how he met culturally deaf people earlier in life and how he made the honest attempt to find points in common and establish a connection with them (in Chicago), but that he couldn’t change who he was. I found his candor refreshing. He had no animosity about the situation. He knew that the culturally deaf people whom he met were good people and that everyone had good intentions, but that he found it difficult to relate.
We need to cut Bill Graham a break. Jordan is the guilty party here. It was Jordan who was taking advantage of Bill Graham. Graham was being deceived and Jordan took advantage of his (Graham’s) good intentions.
Graham made a comment that they hired Fernandes, even though she wasn’t the ideal candidate, because they (the Board) didn’t think that they had a better alternative. He said that if there were a better candidate, then they would have hired that person. Clearly, this shows how Jordan was manipulating and deceiving the Board. Jordan and Kunkle had an elaborate scheme in place to push along their agenda. Board members allowed themselves to be fooled and suckered into the scheme.
I tried my best to win Bill Graham’s confidence and to convince him to allow me to fly to the Board meeting with him at the end of July. I even bought tickets to join him on his flights before he gave his approval (because I worried that the flights would fill up) and I even joined my reservation at the Dulles Hyatt to his, asking for adjoining rooms. Bill thought I was interested in writing about his life. It wasn’t a lie. I was interested, and I’m still interested. I am writing a book about the Gallaudet protest.
Graham turned me down, but I still had my flight reservations. I decided to fly anyway and be at the Dulles Hyatt when the Board meeting took place. Graham switched his flight out of Seattle at the last minute to be able to fly to Chicago with his wife, and I kept the original flight. But we met up again in Chicago O’Hare a couple days later. I was shocked to find him standing right behind me in line at the X-ray scanner. The address tag on my backpack was sticking right up in his face, and he could have seen my name there and known it was me!
It was a crazy experience that seemed like something out of a novel or a movie. When I sat at the gate, I saw another man walk up and begin chatting with Graham. I saw him say (speak and sign) that he didn’t think that culturally deaf people were mature enough to take over governance of Gallaudet. I saw it with my own eyes. He used the signs NOT MATURE. Later I was able to glance at the tag on his luggage and see his name: Ken Levinson from Moss Beach, California.
It’s interesting to note that Bill Graham did not express agreement with Levinson’s claim that deaf people were immature. He just stood there and kind of nodded his head, showing that he was following the conversation. Personally, I doubt that Bill Graham agrees with Levinson on that point. I don’t think Graham is a bigot at all. I didn’t see any signs of that in my dealings with him.
All three of us flew on the same flight, arrived in Herndon, Virginia then they took a cab to the hotel and I took the next cab behind them. Then I walked into Jordan and Kunkle’s lions den–the hotel. I had no idea that Kunkle lied to the Fairfax police. There were undercover police monitoring the lobby. I tell more about that experience on this link.
Bill, I know that you probably had good intentions. For your sake, I hope that you weren’t involved in Jordan and Kunkle’s mess. I didn’t see any signs that you were. According to everything I saw, you appeared to be mostly a victim of Jordan’s maneuverings and deceptions.
Yes, you should have known better. It’s just not kosher to hand the governance of a major board like that over to a few people who don’t even have voting privileges. You need to come clean and tell us publicly how you were involved and how you came to be deceived. If you tell us honestly what happened, I believe that the deaf community will forgive you.
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Wow! Write a book, Brian!
You are still poking at IKJ, my goodness. You are one of very few hearies who causes the chaos among the deaf society.
Write a book… Please. I’m sure it will be filled with the same lies and “obfuscations” to use your favorite word that everything else is. Get a life already. You are not part of our community. I’d take JK any day over you.
You are painting a very unfair picture of Bill Graham, a picture that you created in a deceptive manner.
Karen (or whoever you are),
What on earth is unfair? I am bending over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt and I expressed my opinion that he had good intentions.
BR
To “The Warden” (Irving? Kelly? or whoever you are),
I have already said a zillion, zillion times that deaf people behind the scenes are telling me what to do. At the appropriate time, they will reveal themselves, probably in a couple years after the permanent president is chosen.
BR
[...] I have to admit the posting of commentary from Brian Riley that discusses Gallaudet BOT member William Graham’s resignation bothered [...]
Deaf Firefighter’s Blog » Blog Archive » Deception or Fair Play? said this on January 12, 2007 at 10:27 pm
i have to agree with Neil on this, Brian. When i first read your commentary, i raised my eyebrows in disbelief. I was surprised you’d go to such lengths to talk with Graham and not tell him who you were. I’ve gotten to know you a bit over the past few months, and while i do appreciate some of the things you’ve done in the name of removing Fernandes, there have been times i felt you were going too far. This is one of those times. When i posted your commentary on BiblioMarket, i wanted to see how the community would tune in to your disclosure, because i wanted to see if i was the only one who felt uncomfortable with the strategy you used. Clearly i was not the only one, but… it’s also clear that some of the readers seem not to have been bothered by it. I guess it’s much like the real world out there - there’s multiple layers of political activism that we each choose for ourselves. Some could not care less what happens in Washington, and others live only for the down & nasty politics. Most of us are in-between. I guess what Neil is feeling is that you’ve gone too extreme in some instances. / Ken @ BiblioMarket
Ken,
I strongly disagree. Thousands of deaf students’ futures depended on the outcome of the protest. I am a writer. Look at Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes. Sometimes you have to use tactics to discover the truth and get the whole story.
Look at Susan Kinzie in the Washington Post. She disclosed the contents of private e-mail that Jordan sent to Board members.
This was an extraordinary situation that called for extraordinary actions. You shouldn’t be judging me based on normal day-to-day circumstances.
If Jordan wasn’t corrupt and if Gallaudet’s future wasn’t at risk, then I would agree with you, those would be improper tactics. But Jordan *is* corrupt and Gallaudet’s future *was* at risk. Therefore, it was a different circumstance and you should be judging me differently.
I spent a lot of money and endured a lot of anxiety for the protest. Even today I experience something similar to post traumatic stress syndrome at certain times. There were times during the protest when I actually felt like my life was in danger. I haven’t yet told the whole story.
I don’t deserve these kinds of negative attacks from Neil. He should have contacted me privately first to get the whole story and wrote his blog entry after that.
Brain,
we would easily believe you if you provide us the pictures that you might have your own digital camera while on the travel.
Without any proof of the pictures, it would make us harder to trust you.
Mookie
Mookie,
There were several people who knew what I was doing while it was happening. I also have my airline tickets and a copy of my reservation at the Dulles Hyatt. I have the name tag that I wore when I went to see Bill in his office at Microsoft. You have to check in at the desk and show your ID, then wear a name tag as a visitor.
If you are patient, you can read about it when my book is published. The publisher will verify my story before they publish it.
BR
It looks like Riley helped starting the protest in order to be wealthy from selling his fabricated book. He also has no right to label BoT as vunerable and ignorant, not only that but also painted people he does not like as monsters. It is time for him to stay out of the deaf community.
Dicutter,
That’s ridiculous. Books like that don’t bring in much money at all. I’ve spent thousands of dollars out of my own pocket and placed the existence of my business in jeopardy.
Please correspond with me privately before you jump to false conclusions.
My e-mail is brian.riley(at)yahoo.com
Since you were envious of their earning salaries so you “stole” the tax report to show the public and now you want me to talk with you privately via emails. What a man of nuisance and you should be arrested by now. IJK was a fool for not arresting you a long time ago!
What? The Form 990’s are public information and Gallaudet is required by law to release them to the public.
Please get your facts straight. I have done NOTHING wrong! I repeat, NOTHING!
How come I do not see senators’, congressmen/women’s, governors’ and others’ tax forms in public? Someone who wants to feel superior in deaf’s community would stoop low to do anything to excite protesters to follow him by labeling IKJ and JKF as monsters.
The world is not interested in Gallaudet right now. Maybe no more Gallaudet University but mainstreamed universities with interpreters for the deaf if JKF doesn’t get her presidency back after Devila.
Gallaudet is classified as a 501 (c)(3) under the rules of the IRS for nonprofit organizations. That means Gallaudet must release their Form 990’s to the public.
I just had a baby (on Jan 12th) and catching up on blogs..
Dicutter, your comments to Brian is unacceptable considering for so much work he actually did to reveal the truth that myself from the insider of the university for 10 years as an employee between 1990 and 2000 knew Brian is 100% right.
I and also many others are very grateful for Brian’s skills in finding information because to this day I have not seen any one else but him who digged up a lot of information. If it was not for having a family and pregnancy etc, I would want to be able to do some work myself. I would have.
What I see in information Brian has been providing are substantial to show that things cannot keep going on like this and I am really so appalled at your Dicutter jumping into conclusions. I also mean others like Karen and Bision Chaser..get real about IJK and his people or go and burn in hell. I am saying it so because I was in hell when I was there. GO TO HELL!
Neil, Ken and Mookie, I understand your doubts about Brian’s encounter with Bill Graham and his strategies. I cannot help but I cannot quite buy how Bill found Brian at the airport by seeing Brian’s name tag on his backpack. Brian, even if it did actually happen, as a writer I would not include this because considering audience’s point of view, a good chance many would not quite buy it. Instead I would say that Bill immediately recognized my face when walking by, this is common way how people bump into each others at the airport. If seeing Ken and Bill’s conversation, I would say that I see them at a bookstore or in the line waiting for their coffee.
I personally prefer less drama flairs and more straight facts, my recommendation and please Brian, do write the book. I will be happy to review your book!!
I just finished reading Neil’s blog, I am catching up..I agree with Jean’s view about using dual names as a necessary mean to attain information that it would not been possible with just an actual name. It happens anywhere and being always ethical will not get us anywhere. I support using alternative names for relevant cause so what Brian did is not so unethical. If I was Bill, I would be pissed but will settle with this rationale and accept knowing my own irresponsiblity for the oversight or rather be really angry at King for using me.
Brian, it will be helpful if you can try explain more about yourself how you really get to this point where we cannot help wondering about your passion and dedication that should have to take so much of your life. We do not really want to see anyone go to such extent to drain himself psychologically, financially etc. Honestly if I was wealthy, I would have asked you to send me all of receipts!
One suggestion, I find doing private investigation intriguing for me. How about few of you work with Brian to do pi things so that Brian does not have to do all work. E-mail him if you are interested to do few hours weekly, we really do need this to bring the truth to light.
Peace, Anne Marie
Dicutter, speak for yourself! Brian did a lot of good for Gallaudet University during the protest and he didn’t cause the protest to erupt. How ridiculous! With that remark, you dismissed the role of FSSA.
I guess you are still dreaming. Fernandes won’t be back. She burned all her bridges, especially after her “Not Deaf Enough” mantra. Thank goodness Davila proved her propanganda wrong cuz he didn’t become deaf until the age of 8.
Bill did not recognize me at the X-ray scanner. I was shocked to see him right behind me in my peripheral vision and thought about the name tag being visible. He didn’t see it.