a lot of talk

I arrived at the gate at noon as more and more people were flowing into the gate area. The blankets and pillows that were laid out last night were still there. 

Then a SUV drove in and students provided water to others...

Then I saw this -- a policewoman from the DC metro police department -- and she was signing in ASL with Tawny Holmes!

Then I saw this interview between the director of Public Relations at Gallaudet and Ryan Di Giovanni, the PR Director for the SBG, that was being filmed by the media -- the video quality is not that great but you can make out some things that they are saying. Ryan emailed me and said that they were "discussing a startling finding with the PR person for Gallaudet, we discovered that the PSC did not nominate Jane K Fernandes and the Board of Trustees twisted things around."

More and more people kept on streaming into the gate area, until Tawny Holmes stood up on the gate and gave a speech.

Then Tawny explained the ground rules... no vandalism, no illegal activies, that sort of thing...

... then announced the two demands:

Tawny continued on signing to the crowd, saying that student organizations on campus are behind the protest 100 percent, including the SBG, GSA, BDSU, ELISO, among others. The fact that the BoT ignored all of us shows that something is wrong, she said. Tawny also cautioned the crowd to be careful with the media and be careful to not say anything that would hurt the cause. Two pages of reasons why Fernandes is not fit to be president was formed and distributed -- Erica Parker took the stage and signed each line that was on the 2-page report. [if you want to see this, check out www.notwithoutus.org]

Tawny announced that the Provost was coming... she said, yes, the provost, we are not calling her our president. She also announced that there would be another rally at 4 PM.

Then someone paged Tawny and she said, "Breaking news!!" The PEP Unit - Professional Education Programs Unit - had just passed two resolutions, because they were concerned about the integrity of the presidential search process. They respectfully request Fernandes to resign and for the presidential search to be started again from the beginning. Later in the day I was able to film a short part of Carol Erting's interview with a media outlet (CBS, I was told later) about the PEP Unit's resolutions.

Tawny made another announcement -- that she had received information from a very good source that the Presidential Search Committee did not recommend Fernandes to the BoT as president. They did act in the best interest of Gallaudet... so Tawny said, "Blame the BoT. Add another group that the BoT did NOT listen to!"

Then... Tru biz.. a elite-looking crowd came walking towards the gate. This crowd included Fernandes, I. King Jordan, the SBG president Noah Beckman, BDSU's David King, GSA's president Alex Z., and other student representatives. They lined up around the DPS kiosk...

Noah Beckman was the first person to talk. He said that they was in a meeting and the two demands were presented and discussed. Noah said, "The first demand is out of the picture, the BoT will not back down." He also said that Jordan assured him and the other student representatives that the president search process was fair.

In this video, Noah is saying that the 6th street gate and the MSSD gate will not be blocked anymore due to safety reasons. Also, you can see Fernandes, who looks like she's trying to hide behind student representatives.

Then Jordan faced the crowd. How strange it must have been for him...

I whipped out my pager and furiously typed everything I could take in -- Here are my notes.

Jordan said that he had convinced the student representatives that the process was fair and it worked from the start to the end. He said that he, at first, disagreed with the idea that the BoT would have no say or involvement in the search process until the very end... but now he sees that it has worked and so he agrees with the decision. "During the whole process, I didn't know what was happening," he stated.

Jordan also said that three big stacks of feedback forms plus videos of the open forums including the question/answer section were handed to the BoT, and based on that along with other information, the BoT made their decision. They also had interviews with each candidate, averaging an hour and a half.

Jordan kept on saying again and again, the BoT read all the feedback you gave them, but they also know more information that nobody here knows, and they made their decision based on both the feedback and the knowledge they had. The BoT told Jordan their decision before it was announced to the public and then asked Jordan if there would be a protest. Jordan told them that there might be one. "The BoT still made the unanimous decision. I asked them if it was their final decision? They said yes. I asked, will you change your decision? They said no."

Jordan emphasized that the committee was very committed to diversity and Fernandes was a woman, so therefore that is "diverse". He also questioned whether the protest is really about the process or maybe it's about the person? He stated, "Some of you are not happy with Fernandes being appointed to be the next president, so you used the process argument."

Jordan said, "This is not an election, this is not a popularity contest, they did not elect someone to lead the deaf community, they picked a president of an university."

Jordan said, "Did the BoT listen to you all? Yes. But they made their own decision."

Then there was an awkward pause... everybody stood around, looking at each other. Jordan started talking again, saying that the BoT will not change their decision and requested for everybody to join together and show Fernandes support.

Then Jordan took a few steps back and turned to Fernandes and told her to take the stand. All throughout Jordan's speech, Fernandes continued to stand behind two student representatives, looking scared.

Jane faced the crowd and said, "I want to say that I understand clearly that you all are not happy with my selection.." She went on to say that she made some decisions that wasn't popular, but as president she will change and grow and become more visible and more sociable. "I will do what I need to do to become a good president..." She paused, looked around...

Then she resumed talking, saying that she would be glad to meet with students to talk and listen to their issues... "I will take your issues seriously, we all care about what's good for Galluadet. I hope that we can start a new dialogue..."

David King said that in the meeting he found the process to be fair and he feels that he trusts I. King Jordan's word that the process was fair.

Tara Holcomb went to the front of the kiosk and said, "We still know what we want and what we don't want. Polls show that both students and faculty say Jane Fernandes is not acceptable. Stay with it, we are not backing down!"

For the first time since Jordan started talking, the crowd cheered.

Chris Corrigan said, "Jane is not acceptable, PERIOD."

More cheering.

Jordan took the stand again and said that he is authorized to speak for the BoT. He said, "Fernandes is not just acceptable but they believe that she is the best person for this job."

"Jane is now the next president."

"Will she resign? No."

Then he went on to talk about Fernandes' lack of friendliness and social skills and said that she would improve... Fernandes, standing on his right side, signed YES, YES to every sentence Jordan said.

My stomach began to boil. Did they really think all this was just about Fernandes' lack of social skills? Come on, there have been several issues that have been brought up concerning Fernandes' lack of skills in many areas, more than just being unable to say hi to students (which in itself is a EASY skill, in my opinion).

Jordan concluded with the statement that everything he's heard about Fernandes that was negative were all personal.

Then a freshman girl jumped on the grass in front of the kiosk and signed to the crowd, "Did the BoT listen to us? Did the BoT respect us? NO. Why? If they don't listen to us, don't respect us, why should we listen to them? Why should we respect them?"

Behind the girl, Noah looked at Jordan and shook his head at what the girl said. He came forward and said, "Please be considerate of others," even though the crowd cheered at what the girl said.

Then several students came up on the kiosk platform and presented questions and/or statements to Jordan, Fernandes, and the crowd.

Neisha Washington of the BDSU said that there was not enough diversity on the board, that there were only four people on the search committee that was of color. Jordan said that they were given names of people to be on the committee, they did not pick the people themselves. Niesha said to Jordan that she did not believe that the process was fair and that it was not acceptable.

Don Tropp, the 2005-2006 Editor-in-Chief of the Buff and Blue said to the crowd, "The BoT did not listen to us. DPN happened because the BoT did not listen." He said that the faculty and students both had made it very clear that they did not want Fernandes, but the BoT still didn't listen. He said that the BoT screwed us over, so stay with the demands.

Jordan responded to Tropp's comment by saying that there was a difference between the BoT not agreeing with the faculty and staff or the BoT not listening. He said the BoT listened, but just did not agree.

Tropp said, then maybe we need a new BoT.

Then it was Adam Jarashow's turn to speak. He said that the BoT didn't only disagree with students but they also disagreed with the faculty, the alumni, and the international deaf community. He said that Gallaudet has been our beacon of hope, but now it is shattered and it will be very hard to heal. Jarashow said, Jane has everything except the support of the Deaf community. It will be very hard to get that support.

Jordan responded, saying that the BoT made their decision after hours and hours of debating. He said that they made the decision with information that we don't know, so how can we tell them that they made the wrong decision if we don't know all the information?

Jarashow said, We will never know, but how will you regain our trust?

Jordan said, "We are ready to work with you all to regain your trust. I know Jane is ready too..." Jane nodded her head, saying nothing. Jordan continued, "...I will do anything I can."

Jarashow said, "It's going to be a long process." He left the platform.

Jordan was visibly upset that Jarashow had left so abruptly -- he said, "He didn't respect me.. He didn't respect me.." and then said something I couldn't see. Then Noah came to the front and said, "Please use tact to your advantage."

Chris Corrigan came to the front and addressed Fernandes. He said, You cannot change who a person is. You say that you will change when you are president, does that mean that you are not a good person now? What do you mean, you will change?

Fernandes answered, My personality is a part of who I am. She said, to be an effective president I must be myself, so I will remain myself. The roles of Provost and President require different kinds of decisions, interactions, behaviors...

Chris responded, "You mean that as Provost it is okay to approach problems the way you have in the past, because its your role, but you won't use the same approach as President?"

Jane said, "I think, as Provost, I have made some decisions that were tough, but they were part of the job." She talked about the goalpost incident last fall and called it a "big issue" and said that "students interpreted my behavior as unrespectful, I apologize for that."

[Extra Info: During the townhall meeting about the goalpost incident, she made some faces at some students' comments when they were on stage.. she was also on stage herself. Some students did not appreciate this because they felt that she was not respecting them.]

Jane continued on, saying that she would work with Chris and every student here...

Chris turned to Jordan and said that during DPN, the BoT said that the hearing president they appointed was qualified but students decided she was not qualified because she was not deaf. And now once again, the students have decided that Fernandes is not qualified enough.

Chris said, we chose you (Jordan) as president. And you have been successful.

Jordan composed himself and said, "You must know that this is different." He stressed that the students did not pick him, that he was not the favorite of the students. The issue of DPN was that a hearing person leading a deaf university was wrong, and he was a supporter of DPN, but now this is different.

Fernandes laughs and nods. She said, "She was hearing!" (referring to Zinser) with a "come-on-give-me-a-break" expression.

Jordan continued on to say that he was not a very good role model because he became deaf at 21 years old, still signed like a hearing person when he was appointed, and used SimCom while giving presentations. He said that when he started giving presentations, people fell asleep as they watched him, so he worked to improve his public speaking skills.

Chris turned back to the crowd and said, Keep on! More cheers.

There were more students who had statements/questions, and it seemed that every time Fernandes responded, she said something like, I have learned that I have to be more social with students. Again, again, and again.

What about the other issues that were brought up? She kept on focusing on the social part, as if we little students were sad that she wasn't that friendly to us and were protesting entirely based on that fact. Maybe she got her information from the Washington Post article.

I couldn't watch any more of this, so I walked around and watched the media interview various faculty, like Carol Erting and Barbara White. They were talking about the PEP Unit's resolutions (see earlier in the blog for more information) and the fact that the Social Work department had developed a petition against Fernandes.

Then I turned back to the kiosk and saw Rebecca Goldbaum signing very fast at the front. She said, Listen to us, staff and faculty are discussing this in private but many are not voicing their opinions. Many of us are alumni, she said, and how can you (Fernandes) improve relations? Not only relations with students, but with faculty and staff as well?

Erica Parker and Tawny Holmes stated some facts -- 2/3 of the faculty do not support Fernandes, some of them feel that they have a gun to their head with Fernandes and Karen Kimmel in power..

Erica pointed out a man in the audience holding a sign - it was Dr. Zoltan, holding up a sign that said something like Stop Babying Down Education.

Tawny said, some teachers lost their opportunity to get tenure, and their voices have been oppressed. She added, the Provost's responsibility is to work with academic issues.. but in the past 6 years with Fernandes as Provost, the ELI program has been struggling, international students have been frustrated with lack of support, the retention of students has not been good and not improving.

Tawny concluded that all these facts says a lot about Fernandes' work capabilities and the problem is more than just her personality.

A man said, BoT made this decision, let them come and explain this to us. He was told that they would be here next Thursday, but then Jordan stepped in and said that the BoT will NOT come.

Joshua Walker signed a question in rapid but clear ASL and Fernandes answered, "I know I'm not the most social person..." and continued with the same statement that she would work harder to be more social.

Walker said, see, she did not answer my question, she did not even understand me.

Noah tried to put the assembly to a close and said, thank you for being involved.. but students and others kept on going on the kiosk to address the crowd and both Fernandes and Jordan.

I got tired of the same message from Fernandes and Jordan. Fernandes' message today was, "I will be more social." Jordan's message today was, "The BoT will not change their decision."

The crowd regathered nearer the gate, most of them staying under the shade. A student came up with the cool idea of bringing music equipment to the gate area.. and last I heard, people are relaxing and enjoying the music (or the vibrations from the music) in this beautiful weather...

If Jordan and Fernandes hoped that their assembly would quiet things down, they were wrong. The students are not giving up.