Gallaudet University: Summary

On Sunday March 6, 1988 the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University released the next president via press release. This vote presidency was important because it was the first time there had been 2 deaf candidates. By this time the school had been around for 124 years and never had a deaf president. When the sole hearing candidate was chosen by the board the deaf community was outraged and confused. Since the Board decided not to announce the decision in front of the student body at the campus, many deaf people decide to march from Florida Avenue to the Mayflower Hotel, a few blocks away. When the crowd got to the hotel chaos broke loose and ultimately caused tensions to grow even greater. The next Monday is when the real protest started,

After a meeting with the Board and Protestors, no resolution was in sight and many protestors marched to the Capitol spontaneously. The three demands were that Elizabeth Zinser must resign and a deaf president put in her place, Jane Spilman must step down from The Board of Trustees chairperson, deaf people must make up of 51% on the Board of Trustees and there would be no repercussions on any person involved in the protest. On Tuesday people were allowed on the campus and free to do what they wanted, but rallies were held all day long. During Day 3 many local and national news outlet got wind of the protest, rallies were held all day and media flooded to the

If it were my school and my community, I would have done the same thing. I would not want somebody who knows nothing about my language or culture running my school. I find it completely offensive that they did think a deaf person could run a school. It said in the article that over 100 people had graduated from Gallaudet with a Doctorate’s degree, this shows that these people were not stupid. They are capable of anything hearing people