After demonstrations at GKUCC, protestors flocked over to the Washburn Arts Building to protest the unveiling of the new name of the art gallery: Linda Jordan Art Gallery. The unveiling celebration was to take place at noon, but protestors started taking their places in the building as early as 11:30. They put up signs and set up a black coffin with the words "JUSTICE" spraypainted on it.

Flyers (see below) were passed out to the crowd. More and more people kept on streaming in. DPS officers came in and asked if people could move and make room for people to pass through on the side. Nobody would move, so they just left. However, the crowd parted in half in the back so other people could go through.

These pictures doesn't even express the high number of people who were there. We all crowded into each other, everybody trying to get a good view of what was going on. Different students came up on the platform to speak out against the new name of the arts gallery.

A student said that it took four to five years for students to finally get Ely Auditorium to be renamed the Andrew J. Foster Auditorium and now it just took the BOT and Gallaudet a few months to name the art gallery.

Another student, Jesse Thomas, asked the audience what exactly Linda Jordan has done to deserve the art gallery to be named after her. Nobody knew.

Gallaudet alumna Tawny Holmes said that  Debbie Sonnenstrahl had worked at Gallaudet for 33 years as a Art History professor. The current art history professor was inspired by Sonnenstrahl, said Holmes. Sonnenstrahl promoted deaf students to love art; before she worked at Gallaudet, deaf people did not value art. "And now we're disgreading that? She graduated from Gallaudet, came back to Gallaudet to teach, worked hard to write a book on deaf artists, made a name for herself in deaf art history, and now we're shooting her down by picking a president's wife, a president who hasn't even retired and hasn't done anything good for Gallaudet. It's not right!"

At 11:58 PM, Chris Corrigan looked at his watch and remarked, "They're late for their own celebration. They know its our celebration!"

Donalda Ammons came up on the podium to talk more about Sonnenstrahl - that she is Beth Benedict's mother, that the alumni is very upset about this situation. She also said that Sonnenstrahl worked hard to add museum studies to the art program at Gallaudet. "I'm here for thousands and thousands of alumni and friends of Gallaudet." She held up a sign of Sonnenstrahl. "We should have been celebrating and honoring her today." She shrugged and walked off the podium.

Then some BOT members came in. They were seated in the front of the crowd... Some protestors talked to them, and some of them accepted flyers from the protestors and read them.

Corrigan started a conversation with one of the BOT members - or rather, he tried to. He said to him, "You have been hearing us, but you haven't been listening to us..." but the BOT member looked away to look at the flyer that another BOT member was holding. Corrigan was upset and said, "WOW - You looked away? You have disrespected us again and again and again!" The crowd screamed at him so loudly...

Another protestor pointed out that it was interesting that the BOT member had to have an interpreter to tell him what the protestors were signing. "These are the people who make decisions that affect us everyday, and they rely on an interpreter?"

Then I. King Jordan and his wife made their way through the crowd. They stood around for a while, looking for seats. Some people gave up seats for Linda Jordan and his grandson (?). They sat down, but Jordan remained standing, looking uncomfortable.

Student leader Leah was next to him, and handed Jordan a flyer. Jordan declined to read it. Then Jordan noticed the sign on the podium that said "Resign Jane Resign" and walked up to it and took it down.

The first speaker came up on the stage and started his speech about how highly he thought of Linda Jordan. He began with, "This is a special event for me, I'm sure it is for you too." At this, the crowd screamed, NOOO... and the speaker flatered and stopped and looked down. Then he began again, talking about how he met Linda Jordan. The crowded chanted, DEB DEB DEB and pointed at the signs of Sonnenstrahl. Throughout his speech and another man's speech, the crowded chanted DEB DEB and NO NO, along with screaming.

Then finally, Jane Fernandes came in. Everybody screamed and chanted, RESIGN RESIGN RESIGN...

Fernandes ignored everybody and just sat down on the floor (there weren't any chairs available for her) and stayed focused on the speaker, not looking at anyone else.

The next speaker was the chair of the BOT, Brenda Brueggemann. She stood up on the stage, along with an interpreter. She began doing SimCom (which is signing and speaking at the same time), with the interpreter translating for her into ASL. The protestors screamed that she was using SimCom, that Brenda is the chair of the ASL dept at an university and she still needs an interpreter. They began chanting again, DEB DEB DEB.

Then Brueggemann announced that the art gallery would be named the Linda Jordan Art Gallery. There were screaming and chants of NO NO NO. Brueggemann made a face of distaste and then stepped aside for a moment, and then came back to the podium to ask Linda Jordan to come up on the stage. She asked for the crowd to move aside so they could unveil the new name of the gallery. Everybody refused to move. Then Brueggemann asked for someone to please take down the blue cloth that was covering the new name. The protestors refused, but an administrator went behind the protestors and grabbed down the cloth. The protestors huddled around it and used their arms to cover up the plaque. (Later, they taped this poster over the plaque)

Linda Jordan, now on the stage, looked at the crowd for a quite moment. Then she began in SimCom with, "Thank you very much. This day, this beautiful October day is full of joy for me and my family." The protestors screamed again, but she ignored and continued to thank all of her friends who believed in her and her work, etc etc. The protestors chanted, SELFISH SELFISH - but Linda acted like the protestors weren't there.

Linda looked into the eyes of the protestors and said "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." over and over again. Then she said for everybody to go to the "Jordan Center" to celebrate the new name of the building.

People flocked over to the SAC building for another name ceremony....