Today, teachers, students, staff, and alumni walked out of their classes, offices, and homes to attend the rally at the football field at 1:15 PM. The media was already there before most people: 
People kept on streaming into the bleachers of the football field. Half of the bleachers were full by 1:22 PM. 
The media postioned themselves behind the FSSA leaders.  
Then the rally began. Noah Beckman, the president of the Student Body Government, talked to the crowd first. He said, "Don't stop." He said the way SBG is going now, they will get suspensed. "Gallaudet is willing to go that far, to suspend you all, you all are SBG." He said he was disappointed but firmly stated that "We will not stop." Student leader Leah Katz-Hernandez said that the walkout today wasn't just for fun; it was done to show that the university is not OK. Faculty member Laurene Simms explained that there are different groups of students on campus. There is a group of students that support the BOT's decision and Jane Fernandes as president. She said to leave them alone, to respect their decision. There is also a group of students who fully support the protest, who understands the issues, who understands that the system in place is wrong. And then there's the big group of confused students who are not sure what's going on. "We need to work hard to educate them," Simms said. "We need to work hard, to be clear, to educate them about their rights, to educate them about what oppression means, to educate them about social justice." Simms continued on to talk about other groups of students: those who just don't care and want to focus on their schoolwork and those who are afraid to really stand up and protest. "Communicate with us of your fears and your concerns, we will give workshops. Today, at 5 PM, we will have a panel about FSSA at 2nd floor cafeteria. We want to give you the information you need so you will make the right decision, we don't want you to just join in the protest without knowing the issues." The last group that Simms talked about was the group of students of color who have experienced a long history of oppression from the majority of the student body. "But now other students are asking them to join, to focus on diversity... they feel, bullshit. That's how they feel. But there are some students of color who understand and who are joining us." Simms asked the crowd to respect the students of color who don't support the protest. Then Simms brought up the football record. "We have a very good record so far," she said. "The football team here has black players. They play hard. Then every year, at graduation, I'm all dressed up in my robe and I'm sitting and waiting for a black football player to graduate. Almost none of them graduate. They play... and then they leave Gallaudet. Where are our players at graduation?" Simms said, "The university system needs to work hard for these players. The players work hard and sweat, and don't get anything in return. This is like slavery." She said that her biggest concern was black players graduating and that this issue is a serious one, "You all are responsible to work together on this." Donalda Ammons faced the crowd next. She said she's been here at Gallaudet for 30 years. "I've been here a long time, I've seen Gallaudet decline. It's awful, I feel depressed, every year it gets worse and worse." She said that she's focused on Gallaudet alumni and explained that the alumni is an important part of the university. She explained about the whole situation of the conflict between GUAA and the Gallaudet Alumni Relations office. [[Watch her talk about the situation on a VLOG at www.signcasts.com]]] "GUAA has sent three letters to the BOT and the administration... Did they reply back? No. Nothing. There's more letters coming in from different chapters of GUAA. The Bay area is writing a letter. There's a tent city there. This morning, I got a page from Wisconsin, saying that they have a tent city there too!" The crowd cheered. "I've been getting emails all day," Ammons continued. She said that the emails express shock and disappointment with the BOT. "It's like a big slap in the face, the alumni feel that they have been slapped too many times, enough is enough." Chris Heuer, a faculty member, said he's been working at Gallaudet for 7 yeras. "I'm scared everyday, I'm afraid I'll lose my job, I'm afraid I won't get promoted." He asked, how many are not here because they're scared? "Around 400, 500 of you are here. There's so many who are not here but want to be. They're scared. Is that good enough for you? Everyday, we live in fear, that's not good enough for us. That's why we are here now," said Heuer. Student leaders Tara Holcomb and Latoya Plummer came up together. Holcomb said that we've been expericing a lot of oppression, but some might ask, what oppression? "Here's one form of oppression -- You all got the email about the BOT meeting Thursday? Tomorrow, right? But they're meeting right now. Today. Why didn't they let us know? Now we can't go over there and protest, it is not fair." Plummer said that a student told her a remarkable thing today. The student told Plummer that even though this protest might influence students' grades, but this will impact only the students themselves, individually. Your actions, however, will impact many, all over the world. "Many countries are watching us, they have faith in us." Plummer encouraged students to bring their homework with them to Tent City. Faculty member MJ Beinvenu walked up with a letter in her hand. "This letter is from a staff member who's afraid to be here." The staff member asked her to tell the audience what was in the letter. "The staff has been told to not participate in the protest, so they're afraid of losing their jobs. Their jobs are not as secure as the faculty. They don't have tenure like we do. They see many wrong things happening here everyday, they see the BOT not listening to students, they see the BOT not listening to the alumni. The staff asks you, please don't give up. Help the staff members." Beinvenu told the audience that they all had a big job, to fight for the staff, to fight for the university, to fight for ourselves. "We will not stop." The audience cheered. Student leader Ryan Commerson told the audience, "I can't do my studies. I just can't." He said that everybody has been hearing about different things that has been happening, all the threats, all the oppression on campus. "I have gone to meetings, I have heard different stories... How can I do my graduate studies? All this stuff is in my head." He said that there was no point to going to classes. "We must stop university functions. Then when all this is finished, we can go back, with all this oppression out of our heads. I'm not going to classes anymore. Nothing. Until they meet demands. Are you with me?" The crowd cheered. "And also, faculty members want me to let you know that many of they support this, they will support you. Talk to your teachers, communicate, discuss, maybe you'll be surprised that they'll be okay with it." Commerson said that many will support students, but the students are the key to this protest. The mayor of Tent City, Chris Corrigan, was the last person to talk. He asked the audience if they thought Tent City was beautiful. The crowd responded by cheering. However, he said, "we're hidden from view. The administration seems to be fine with it... so, now, we all will go to Tent City and carry the tents to the Gallaudet Mall. Where I. King Jordan will see us everyday outside of his office. Where students in classes wil see tents camped out on the grass. There'll be lights, green grass that's been just mowed, and no fertilizer!" Then he led a big group of people who all walked over to Tent City and carried the tents to the Mall..! 
And now... Tent City looks like this! (well, 2 hours ago. already there's more tents here after this video clip was filmed!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TODAY: 5:00 PM -- FSSA PANEL @ CAFETERIA 7:00 PM -- RALLY @ TENT CITY | 
