Gallaudet Faculty Votes ‘No Confidence’ In Board, Jordan

Protests Continue At University As Campus Opens

POSTED: 6:08 pm EDT October 15, 2006

UPDATED: 9:53 pm EDT October 16, 2006

WASHINGTON — As tension heightens around the protest over the naming of Dr. Jane Fernandes as president of Gallaudet University, the faculty at the school has voted no confidence in Board of Trustees and no confidence in current president I. King Jordan. The faculty is also demanding Fernandes’ resignation. Students and faculty returned to campus as classes were held Monday at Gallaudet University, but protests continued at the school’s entrances. The school’s faculty held a meeting Monday afternoon to discuss some of the recent events at the university. The meeting was not open to the public, but some faculty members said they were meeting to discuss possible resolutions to the protests, which included possibly asking the university’s president Jane Fernandes to step down. In the largest turnout ever for such a meeting, 82 percent of the faculty members present voted to demand that Fernandes resign or be removed. In a similar vote last spring, 68 percent of the faculty voted no confidence in Fernandes. The school had been shut down since Wednesday, when students protesting the selection of the new president formed human chains at the gates leading into campus.

More than 100 protesters were arrested Friday night but many of them returned Saturday morning. All but one entrance to the university remain blocked. Protesters surrounded Fernandes’ car Monday morning as she and university spokeswoman Mercy Coogan arrived on campus. “We deserve to be heard as deaf people. I mean, if you look at how many other deaf universities there are in the world, there are very few. So, we as deaf individuals want to be involved in the decision-making process,” said student Christine Roschaert, who’s also on a hunger strike. Students signed for Fernandes to resign but eventually allowed her to go onto the campus. “My reaction was surprised,” Coogan said. “I didn’t expect that, needless to say. But we got here, we’re fine, and we’re ready to work the day.” Some alumni joined the student protesters Monday to show their support. “We’ve known there were many issues at the university,” alumnus Kevin Kovacs said. “But we couldn’t do anything. But now with the change in presidency, we know the time is right to improve the university. And they want to maintain the status quo. That cannot happen. We have suffered enough.” University President I. King Jordan allowed Friday’s arrests, disappointing some protesters who called him a great leader. “The world no longer looks at him the same way,” said Andres Piedrahita, who was arrested Friday. “He was a leader in the deaf community. A leader in the deaf world. But now that’s not so.” “From the long list of issues that they brought up that we negotiated, many of which I agreed to. But, in the end their only demand was that Dr. Fernandes resign and it was non-negotiable,” Jordan said. On Monday, faculty members are expected to meet and vote on whether they’ll call for Fernandes to step down. But the university’s governing board of trustees said it will support Fernandes regardless of that vote. “Last night, the board of trustees’ chair … sent a statement to the campus in which she reaffirmed the board’s support of Dr. Fernandes as the ninth president and in which she asked the community to come together and give Dr. Fernandes a chance starting on Jan. 1.”