Deafweekly October 25, 2006 deafweekly October 25, 2006 Vol. 3 No. 2 Editor: Tom Willard Deafweekly is an independent news report for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community that is mailed to subscribers every Wednesday and available to read at www.deafweekly.com. Please visit our website to read current and back issues, sign up for a subscription and advertise. Deafweekly is copyrighted 2006 and any unauthorized use, including reprinting of news, is prohibited. Please support our advertisers; they make it possible for you to receive Deafweekly at no charge. ++++ADV+++++ADV+++++ADV++++ Come Home to IP-VRS! With Homecoming season fast approaching, you can connect with friends by using IP-VRS! Homecoming activities remind us that friendships are important. IP-VRS is the perfect way to stay in touch. Our fast, friendly, and certified interpreters are available day or night to help you keep connected. Program your VP-100 or other videophone to connect to tv.ipvrs.com and begin calling today. If you need help programming your videophone, just watch our instructional video for step-by-step instructions on how to add tv.ipvrs.com to your speed dial list. For more information, please visit our web site at www.ip-vrs.com. IP-VRS – We’re working for YOU! For service terms and conditions, please go to www.IP-RELAY.com. ++++ADV+++++ADV+++++ADV++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ GALLAUDET CRISIS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DEMONSTRATORS MARCH TO CAPITOL HILL A large crowd of demonstrators angry over the selection of Jane K. Fernandes as Gallaudet University’s next president marched Saturday from the school’s Northeast Washington campus to Capitol Hill. Estimates of the crowd size ranged from “hundreds” (Associated Press) to “about 2,000" (The Washington Post) to 4,000 (several deaf blogsites). Many of the marchers were Gallaudet alumni who came to Washington despite Gallaudet’s cancellation of homecoming. “This is deja vu all over again,” said Greg Hlibok, one of several http://www.deafweekly.com/backissues/102506.htm[6/15/2011 2:44:29 PM] Deafweekly October 25, 2006 speakers at Saturday’s rally and a student leader during the Deaf President Now movement of 1988 that led to I. King Jordan’s presidency. STUDENTS STAGE BRIEF TAKEOVER OF COLLEGE HALL Protesters took over the first floor of Gallaudet’s main administrative building, College Hall, just after midnight Tuesday night, covering windows with newspapers and spelling “J.K. OUT” in masking tape to the front door. They left Wednesday morning after campus police surrounded the building and cordoned it off with yellow tape. The same morning, Gallaudet employees attempted to reopen two gates that students had blocked, using a bulldozer to scoop up tents, clothes and bedding, injuring several students in the process, including two who were taken away in an ambulance. “That shows how they treat us and that shows what they think of us,” student Erin Moran told The Washington Post. HUNGER STRIKERS ENTER THIRD WEEK OF PROTEST Seven protesters remain on a hunger strike at Gallaudet. Their last meal occurred two weeks ago on October 13, “Black Friday,” the day 133 demonstrators were arrested. One hunger striker, a woman with Usher Syndrome, dropped out this week when her vision began to deteriorate. The remaining strikers have stopped drinking nutritional supplements such as V8 juice and vow to stop fluids altogether next Monday if Jane Fernandes is still in office. “To this day, Dr. Jordan and Dr. Fernandes have not once come out to see the group or contacted them for a meeting,” said a statement on the Gallaudet FSSA (faculty, staff, students and alumni) website (www.gufssa.org). TRUSTEES PLAN SPECIAL MEETING THIS WEEKEND The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Gallaudet’s Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting Sunday “if they can ensure the security that will be needed.” The meeting will reportedly take place at a hotel near Dulles Airport in Virginia, about 30 miles from Gallaudet. Protest leaders were making plans to charter buses to bring demonstrators to the hotel. Late in the week, it was reported that the meeting will actually occur on Saturday. MURDERS OF 2000-01 REPLAYED IN WAR OF WORDS The father of a Gallaudet student who was murdered on campus in September, 2000 wrote an article for The Washington Post titled, “When My Son Was Killed, Jane Fernandes Came Through for My Family, and the School.” Craig Plunkett of Portland, Ore., whose son Eric was one of two Gallaudet students killed by Joseph Mesa Jr. during the 2000-01 school year, said Fernandes “did a wonderful job of trying to make the campus safe” during Mesa’s “reign of terror.” In response, several former students who lived through the experience shared their own memories. Among their revelations: Fernandes left over 100 scared and hungry students in the cafeteria after the second murder, of Benjamin Varner in February 2001, because, as she said, “I forgot all about it.” ++++ADV+++++ADV+++++ADV++++ Make relay the BEST it can be! This is your chance to make the best relay services even better. Sprint Relay wants to make your relay experience the BEST it can be. But we need your help! Tell us what is good, what is bad, and what things you want to see. http://www.deafweekly.com/backissues/102506.htm[6/15/2011 2:44:29 PM] Deafweekly October 25, 2006 You just might find your suggestion used in the near future. Don't be shy! Please, take a moment to click on one of the links below to complete a short, online survey about one (or all) of these Sprint Relay Services: · Sprint IP Relay · Sprint IP Wireless Relay · Sprint Video Relay Service · Sprint CapTel Relay Service · Sprint State Relay Services Sprint Relay values your feedback and appreciates hearing from you! ++++ADV+++++ADV+++++ADV++++ ‘SNIPPY’ FERNANDES DOES ONLINE CHAT WITH POST Jane Fernandes did an online interview with The Washington Post on Monday. Among her pronouncements: “As the first deaf woman president of Gallaudet, my appointment should be cause for celebration. This protest is against me.” Just one week earlier, Fernandes told the Post, “I believe it's not really about me.” The interview was widely derided by observers. DCist, a popular Washington, D.C. blog, titled its report on the interview, “Gallaudet’s Fernandes Gets Snippy in WaPo Chat,” and concluded: “Fernandes certainly didn’t help her cause with this chat.” TENT CITIES SPREAD TO SEVEN OTHER COUNTRIES There are now more than 80 “tent cities” throughout the United States and in seven other countries, organized to provide encouragement and support to the Gallaudet protesters. Eric Hamlow of Stockton, Calif. is offering a T-shirt with a map of the tent cities for $20. To learn more, go to www.deafeye.com. STUDENTS SAID TO VOTE FERNANDES OUT OF CLASS Blogger Ricky D. Taylor (www.ridorLIVE.com) reported Tuesday on a First Year Seminar course being taught this semester by Jane Fernandes. Quoting a Michigan freshman in the class, Taylor said Fernandes quickly lost control as students bombarded her with questions about her performance. Fernandes reportedly told the students take a vote, and all but one of the 15 students voted her out. As a result, said Taylor, she is no longer teaching the class. “If she cannot control 15 students, what makes you think she can control 1,800 students at Gallaudet?” he asked. GWU PRESIDENT: ‘LET THIS WOMAN BE PRESIDENT’ Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., weighed in on the Gallaudet controversy in The Daily Colonial this week. “Gallaudet cannot afford to have anarchy and student riots every time they turn over a president,” he said. “They’ve done it once and now they’re doing it again.” He criticized GWU Student Association President Lamar Thorpe for supporting the protesters and spending $141 on blankets and food. “You can’t go around getting into every fight that’s going on in every neighborhood,” he said. Trachtenberg’s conclusion: “They should let this woman be president for a few years and see how it goes.” TRUSTEE: ‘I ALWAYS THOUGHT DEAF PEOPLE WERE DUMB’ http://www.deafweekly.com/backissues/102506.htm[6/15/2011 2:44:29 PM] Deafweekly October 25, 2006 Gallaudet Board of Trustees member Ken Levinson met with alumni Butch Zein, Robin Horwitz, James Brune and Bridgetta Bourne-Firl in San Francisco last Tuesday and reportedly ended the meeting by saying, “I always thought deaf people that use sign language were dumb people but eventually I learned they weren’t, and I enjoyed chatting with you all.” National Association of the Deaf President Bobbie Beth Scoggins recalled Levinson making a similar comment 20 years earlier. Levinson quickly issued a statement saying, “the recent negative statement attributed to me about deaf peoples’ abilities is totally inaccurate.” ++++ADV+++++ADV+++++ADV++++ Passages Deaf Travel presents Deaf Freedom Cruise 2007! 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