Gallaudet President
- Gallaudet's Next President Won't Bow Out -
I have been waiting to post something on this. This article seems to have some insight behind it and encapsulates the issues at hand, which are more layered than laid out flat. It's a complex issue that we have and difficult to say what the outcome will be, let alone the effects of said outcome.
Personally, I understand the necessity behind having a strong, defining president in the face of so many changes and threats to deaf culture, but it will undergo change regardless what happens. What we need, then, is someone who can adapt to the change and still manage to maintain a culture. Is Gallaudet's president assigned that job as an additional expectation alongside the regular position of university president? I think the answer is clearly yes according to the public's demand of that office. Should the president be responsible for maintaining a culture? In my opinion, no - that is the job of each and every Deaf person.
Still, the question is can Jane Fernandes be a strong figurehead for the Deaf to unite behind in the cause of strengthening deaf culture against the challenges it faces today? I really am not sure what will happen, but I know that the university having a president that can run the university well is the foremost necessity - cultural leadership comes second.
On a side note, I am upset that part of the issue is revolving around the fact that Fernandes didn't grow up with ASL, but orally until she was about 23. That is ridiculous and a sign that the deaf community is causing its own collapse by denying people cultural acceptance based on little, insignificant facts. Grow up.
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Kinzie, Susan and Ruane, Michael E. "Galludet's Next President Won't Bow Out" washingtonpost.com 5 May 2006. < http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050402095.html >
I have been waiting to post something on this. This article seems to have some insight behind it and encapsulates the issues at hand, which are more layered than laid out flat. It's a complex issue that we have and difficult to say what the outcome will be, let alone the effects of said outcome.
Personally, I understand the necessity behind having a strong, defining president in the face of so many changes and threats to deaf culture, but it will undergo change regardless what happens. What we need, then, is someone who can adapt to the change and still manage to maintain a culture. Is Gallaudet's president assigned that job as an additional expectation alongside the regular position of university president? I think the answer is clearly yes according to the public's demand of that office. Should the president be responsible for maintaining a culture? In my opinion, no - that is the job of each and every Deaf person.
Still, the question is can Jane Fernandes be a strong figurehead for the Deaf to unite behind in the cause of strengthening deaf culture against the challenges it faces today? I really am not sure what will happen, but I know that the university having a president that can run the university well is the foremost necessity - cultural leadership comes second.
On a side note, I am upset that part of the issue is revolving around the fact that Fernandes didn't grow up with ASL, but orally until she was about 23. That is ridiculous and a sign that the deaf community is causing its own collapse by denying people cultural acceptance based on little, insignificant facts. Grow up.
---
Kinzie, Susan and Ruane, Michael E. "Galludet's Next President Won't Bow Out" washingtonpost.com 5 May 2006. < http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050402095.html >