Concened Parents of a Freshman Speak Out

I am the mother of a third generation Gallaudet student. As an alumnus, I’ve followed closely the President Search process and even with little personal contact and experience with the current college administration, my reaction to the news of Jane Fernandes’ selection was one of keen disappointment and a sense that it just “didn’t feel right”. However, I wanted to be careful about basing my feelings on what I’ve learned over the years through conversations with family members and friends associated with Gallaudet and what I read in publications and websites.

With my daughter entering Gallaudet and watching events unfolding the past six months, it’s gotten personal.

First, in retrospect, it is my opinion the President Search process should have been boycotted immediately after the announcement of the three finalists. The selection did not adequately represent the diverse pool of qualified applicants and appeared to be stacked in Jane Fernandes’ favor given her advantages and privileges over the other two. Cries of discrimination and such by groups should not have gone unheeded and the façade of the final selection process gone on as long as it did.

I expect even if students express dissenting opinions, that their safety and well- being will continue to be ensured. Therefore I am greatly concerned when students are denied access to interpreters, foul smelling fertilizer is spread over the selected site of the scheduled Tent City protest, and students, some of which are children of my friends, are handled roughly by the DPS. Ordering the cafeteria shut down despite a willingness to let food service personnel pass was an unnecessary and mean-spirited thing to do.

I resent also the demeaning treatment of the students, faculty/staff members and alumni in recent months. I recall the incredulous look on my daughter’s face when she read IKJ’s “We all must support….” Post It on the letter from the Board of Trustees Chairperson and the angry muttering of an alumni friend, “We’re…not children!” I resent the blocking of the alumni mailing list. I resent IKJ announcing at the NAD convention that Gallaudet is not in crisis. I resent the Washington Post editorial minimizing the issues at Gallaudet. I resent the “not deaf enough” issue being exploited when leadership issues are at question. I also resent and find insulting Jane Fernandes' comment that she is the “only one who can lead the university".

I recognize that Jane Fernandes has given years of committed service to Gallaudet and should not be expected to go quietly. And that the Board of Trustees may have felt they made the best selection given the circumstances.

But clearly deep rooted issues have been festering at Gallaudet over the years and a pervasive sense of oppression is apparent that the current university administration and the BOT have failed to recognize or address. Even after the selection of the new President-elect.

And we worry about a drop in enrollment and donations, an inability to recruit top quality faculty/staff members and maintain the academic integrity of the university, and the severance of alumni ties with the university if steps are not taken to address the issues and unite a community very much affected by the BOT's decision.

As parents residing in California, we have to say CSUN with its new leadership and having our daughter closer to home is looking good. But Gallaudet is the beacon of higher education for the Deaf and represents the academic hopes and dreams of many throughout the world, and if our daughter wants to remain there, we would like nothing better. But our trust and confidence placed in the current administration and the President-elect given the current climate and their treatment of students have been shattered.

We sent our daughter to Gallaudet to learn...to get an education to help her enter the working world and to grow as a person. With the tactics of oppression, purposeful mis-communication and distortion of facts, we are afraid she is instead learning how to cope with an oppressive environment not at all conducive to learning or growing. She is learning that it is okay for people in power to abuse that power if it gets them what they want. Our daughter will have plenty of opportunities to face this during her working career as an adult, but we did NOT expect and do NOT accept that she is facing this now at Gallaudet.

There are no easy solutions but these are times that call for a re-evaluation of the decision made by the Board of Trustees. We support the FSSA’s call for Jane Fernandes’ resignation and the President Search process to begin again.

Sylvia J. Wood, Class of ‘77

Max Malzkuhn

Parents of Mallory Malzkuhn, Freshman