What bothers me as an outsider viewing this situation, is that the students appear, in part, angry because they were not included in the process to select the new president. Now, I went to a fine institution of higher learning (University of Nebraska, where the Big Red "N" on the side of the football stadium stands for "Nowledge"). While I was in attendance, we had a selection process for a new President (or Chancellor, I don't remember which, but for this situation it doesn't matter). As a student I did not agree with the choice. I was VEHEMENTLY opposed. I was in Environmental Studies, involved in Ecology Now, helped start putting recycling bins in all the buildings, that sort of thing. The guy tapped was partially selected because of his closeness to certain companies that would funnel money to the school for agricultural research, specifically research to develop and promote genetically modified seeds and crops. Yeah, I had a problem with that. LOTS of students had a problem with that.
Did we have a say, as students, in the selection process? No. The selection was the responsibility of the Board of Regents. They reviewed applicants, interviewed, and selected. No input from the student body at all. Of course, that's just how it was. Their job was to make sure the school functioned, our job was to study, learn, become adults, and graduate. We all did our job. School went on. The Gallaudet situation is troublesome because it appears that the students are complaining because they didn't get to pick the president or didn't have a voice in the selection. Guess what...that's the way universities function. Get over it. Quit whining and move on. It just smacks of too much of an expectation of getting exactly what you want, all the time. Maybe I'm being too harsh...maybe things are different in the deaf community. I don't know. But I know of NO other university where the students have an active part of a selection process of such a position at the school. Why should it be different at Gallaudet? --- In [email protected], "Ellen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > thanks, that was my impression, but it isn't clear what the > protesting are hoping will happen, other than the incoming president > be ousted. Many people president-age learned ASL as adults, as > you're saying. That's not their fault--at least they know it. Isn't > that better than not knowing it? How do the protesters know anyone > else would be any better? To at least this outsider, both culturally > and geographically, they appear to be overreacting, but who knows. > Out of hand because if the school is shut down I would think that > would be most people's definition of out of hand. But they could > just be thinking OK the protesters won because they forced us to shut > the school. Are they happy now? I hope this gets resolved soon and > that it isn't the beginning of the end of Gallaudet. > > > --- In [email protected], "Daria Akers" > <daria.akers@> wrote: > > > > It depends on what is out of hand. I will give you what I understand > > but I am not deaf so I in now way want to speak for those who are > but > > I am very interested in deaf culture so I might have some insight to > > offer. > > The first deaf president of Gallaudet (I. King Jordan) was ushered > in > > on the back of protests. That was almost 18 years ago. Now he is > upset > > at this one...seems odd to me. > > There are many different issues. Some believe that the cultural > > diversity of the student body is not being considered enough > > (representatives on the Board and in school officials), some people > > say that there is discrimination on campus, some people think the > new > > president is a bad representative for the deaf community, some think > > that she isn't a strong leader. > > The deaf community has changed significantly in the last few > decades. > > It used to be that in the 50s and 60s deaf people would learn to lip > > read and attempted to integrate into the non-deaf community by > > learning to talk. Many deaf people never even used ASL (American > Sign > > Language). Older generations are looked at sometimes viewed by young > > deaf people like black people who used to pass as whites. Like they > > weren't proud or accepting of who they were. Now most deaf people > > learn ASL and request interpreters to talk to non-deaf people. The > new > > president didn't learn ASL until she was in her 20s. > > So that's my 2 cents (okay more like 50 but...) > > Daria > > > > > > On 10/12/06, Ellen <ellengoodman6@> wrote: > > > Can someone please fill me in on the Gallaudet situation? > > > Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/weingartenchatters/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/weingartenchatters/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
