Drama at Gallaudet University

Stay! There has been no curtain call. Not yet!

"The play's the thing," said Hamlet, "wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." "Catch" is indeed the word. For conscience moves swiftly or withdraws within itself. It has to be caught in words "the king" uses. The everyday man does not enjoy tarrying and parrying.

In order not to feel pity for the Gallaudet University administrators, we must now be extremely careful how we introduce them to public. They did not avoid call us names more than twice-anarchists, terrorists, law breakers, bullies. The minute we try to pin them down, they continue to surprise the media about us.

We took it for granted that we have asked ourselves in these trying times what it all means at Gallaudet University. What does it all mean? And why don't they tell us? A few months ago we asked these two questions: Will JKF resign? And will there be reprisals? We are not alone in our indignation. The editors all over the world also would like to know why JKF never resigned and what kind of reprisals might be.

For, as you have discerned, I have decided to take the reprisals seriously. Why don't the administrators tell us what reprisals could be? The answer is simply. They don't know. And we don't know much more than 135 arrestors do.

JKF never resign; she was terminated. There are reprisals; what are they for? We need to catch more words from the Gallaudet University administration.

Nature of the Deaf: Our Own Nature

Nature is God’s greatest teacher. –Leinani Melville

In the Deaf community, like in any other society, words are very important: they are often seen as the distinguishing characteristic of nature of the Deaf—our own nature. Words are a very strong agent of change for our nature. They focus on developing the different implications to foster the force of directed consciousness. This force can be incredibly powerful, such as depicted by the biblical story in which a word makes a deaf man hear: “Ephphatha.” Gallaudet University has this Christian word in its official seal. The idea is that it “contacts” the Almighty. Very powerful, indeed! (And very discriminating, too! Jews and Muslims could never associate themselves with this word in the university seal.)

Words have such power that they can bring respect or they can bring disrespect, as is shown by this Gallaudet University administration that has referred to the protestors as anarchists, terrorists, law breakers and so forth. It has alienated Deaf people, and their words could never help us to concentrate on our own nature. Their words are associated with the charging of ongoing oppression.

There is another crucial point to make about words, which we do not wish to talk about. However, we need to talk about our nature. What is wrong with it?

One of the reasons we may find nature of the Deaf hard to believe in—even when it has been demonstrated to us—is that we have lost our connection to nature. The words of Gallaudet University, expressed during the recent protest, would be unlikely to hold true for most Deaf people today, for the way we think of nature has changed.

Until today most people think of nature of the Deaf as something outside and separate from them. And they don’t see our nature as natural. They continue to try and fix our being Deaf with “hearing aids and hearing tests.” These practices are not conductive to understanding our nature.

To be able to understand our nature, we need to expand our perceptions. If we could see the sad account of the way our language is bastardized, we would find our own ways to refute. We did… at Gallaudet University where the Board of Trustees, together with President I. King Jordan’s support letter, selected Provost Jane K. Fernandes on erratic priorities with the most dangerous vision of all: “All deaf children should learn all languages and modes of communication.” The selection of JKF as the next president was not of our nature. We protested.

At Gallaudet University, nature is considered part of the family. Every alumnus, although we don’t generally talk about it to hearing people, has our own guiding spirit. And we know that if it happens to any Deaf person, it can happen to all of us! That is our own nature.

Gally Administration & Operations Manual Revisited

Listen! Listen to this! Hey, stop celebration! Listen now!

The Gallaudet University Administration & Operations Manual introduces that the administrative officers are the President, the Provost, and the Vice President for Administration and Finance. They are the top three at Gallaudet University. All other administrators are glorified gofers, acting as if they were also top.

President Jordan is retiring... in disgrace, of course! His fault! He has lost his presidential credibility, and he’s now begging to drop the weapon of words. Dr. Moore is an interim provost, and, as agreed by the Board of Trustees, he is not to become the provost. Paul Kelly is what? WHAT?

Oh my dear! Paul Kelly MUST GO!

In the history of Gallaudet University, something unthinkable went wrong at the administration in early 1980s when President John Lloyd was kicked out of his office by the Board of Trustees. Jerry C. Lee, then Vice President for Administration and Business, was made the next president, not Dr. Catherine Ingold, the Provost.

Is Gallaudet University about to repeat its history in the near future? With President Jordan gone out, Paul Kelly is the remaining top administrator that is completely spared of the vote of no confidence. He has a clean slate and is ready for the presidential spot. Will the Board of Trustees tap Paul Kelly’s shoulder to take the helm? The Board of Trustees would assert that it is how the Gallaudet University Administration & Operations Manual is set up. Is Paul Kelly the same guy who grinned when sleeping students were awakened by a bulldozer? Yes, he's this bully who habitually badgers or intimidates Deaf people!

Stop celebrate because the protest is only half done. Fight on! No reprisal now!

And finally capture the Manual!

Zero Understanding...For "Deaf"

Dear Readers:

I took this liberty to publish the following email correspondence because I can understand this fellow alumnus when he mentioned that Gallaudet's Paul Kelly has "zero understanding...." I've deleted the names because I haven't requested their permission to disclose their names.

Carl

Aloha, Bxx!

I'm back from reading so many things in DeafRead. I was thrilled to see your name once again...again and again! It continues to amaze me that we got reconnected through this internet which is very good, indeed.

I'm more concerned about my daughter being arrested and doing what is called a little community service. I just need to know if it would show up in her transcript. I've seen numerous transcripts through the nature of my position being a program coordinator. I've seen some transcripts that shed serious doubts in my mind prior to interviewing them. I don't really like to think about my daughter suffering such consequence like this to show up permanently in her transcript. Well, there are two people on campus who are completely indifferent--Carl Pramuk and Paul Kelly.

That's why I insist that the protest be continued till all people receive complete amnesty for their social justice activism.

Just two cents for my thoughts...now your turn!

Carl

--- On Mon 10/30, Bxx <> wrote:

From: Bxx [mailto: xxxxxxx@yahoo.com]

To: kal1952@myway.com

Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:05:45 -0800 (PST)

Subject: Fw: End Protest while #2 demand not met?

Carl,

Your article "Gallaudet University: Be Bold Again" rings true to what I want the coalition to consider. My email (see below) was sent out to a few people this morning but one of them replied that some trusted BoTs assured them the arrestees will do light community work. Now that Paul Kelley is mentioned, I am even more scared! What did he do when people called him prior to October? What did he do when the DC Police intervened at Brentwood gate? This man can exercise an iron fist because he has zero understanding, cultural sensitivity and tolerance for "Deaf" people challenging Audists.

The Tent Cities must continue and we need to hold our grassroots contacts and stand up for FSSA if there would be any unfair reprisals or even retaliations.Keep watching and sharing with the coalition and its communities.

United for Gallaudet,

Bxx

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Bxx

To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cc: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:58:06 AM

Subject: End Protest while #2 demand not met?

Hi Friends United for Gallaudet!

While you do not know me, we are together in this! Thanks for providing the tools, leadership and communication to make a difference for the Future of Gallaudet and the Deaf Communities worldwide! :-)

Good job you all have done!!!

I hope you can respond or refer a link or contact to answer the question for me. I am arranging a Tent City this Saturday so I need some help in telling what is going to happen next and how we can help the coalition.It's a time to celebrate because the main obstacle is removed. It is sooo good to hear the BoT make the right decision. Everyone is getting tired and wanting to get back into routine. But are we finished??? I am not sure what is happening. Can you help?

Since the BoT chose jkf, they brought shock, disbelief, loss of hope and distrust to Gallaudet, the Deaf Community and our friends. They stood by their decision for long and probably have not received the messages by the community as it may have been screened out by IJK. Whatever... but they key problem is the BoT's apathy, lack of leadership, and failure to exercise appropriate their governing responsibility has caused others to take on what they failed to do. The FSSA sacrificed many ways and may still have to pay the price. Really? It should not happen! It was the BoT and IKJ's doing that was wrong and resulted in people intervening for greater good.

Therefore, the #2 demand needs to be met. I am afraid some students might be expelled, some punished, or given to do community service that is not deserving. Their academy progress might be jeopardized by some faculty who aren't sympathetic to FSSA.

Staff and Faculty might have severed relations with their supervisors, face a more insecure employment status or could be demoted/fired? Who knows if the administration would hold FSSA liable of more things, including the costs for the PPD to open Brentwood gate last week?

My question is this- Is there any negotiations or Plan B of protests if Demand #2 is not minimized or met? It affects FSSA individually and collectively, and the future of Gallaudet.Your feedback or any overlooked links addressing this would be appreciated. Keep it up and let us not give up ever!

Unity for Gallaudet,

Bxx, Gallaudet 1982

A Letter from the Honorable U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye

Daniel K. Inouye
United States Senate
Suite 772, Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1102
(202) 224-3934

October 23, 2006

Mr. Carl Schroeder
41 Hale Lio Place
Haiku, Hawaii 96708-5655

Dear Mr. Schroeder:

Thank you for your recent letter opposing Gallaudet University's selection of Dr. Jane K. Fernandes as the new president.

Gallaudet University is an exceptional institution and a leader in undergraduate liberal arts education, career development, and graduate programs for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students.

I realized that this is a complex matter with many parties and interests involved.

However, Dr. Fernandes was chosen by a presidential selection committee compromised of members of the Gallaudet Board of Trustees. The Board members are elected into their positions and have the students' best interests in mind, and therefore, I defer to their expertise and judgement in this matter.

Thank you again for your letter, and please be assured that I will keep your concerns in mind.

Aloha,

(signed)

DANIEL K. INOUYE
United States Senator

DKI:vlm

Gallaudet University: BE BOLD AGAIN!

E-mail I recently received reads:

I keep reading blogs... They will face the consequences. What can we do? I am worried about a few staff members I keep sending them the messages to fight for no reprisals…Paul Kelly will have field days to punish them. Carl, Paul Kelly is your best friend? If not, do something...I know you are 5000 miles away. I would love to see the picture of him. He s a big part to destroy the Deafhood... Albert

Albert is not alone here. There are several other emails sent me about similar concerns about retaliations and reprisals for everybody at Gallaudet University. Fear is so huge we must stop it at once! It is both wrong and wrongful!

Paul Kelly is Vice President for Administration and Finance. He’s also IKJ’s closest friend--they are jogging buddies. Three hats: Administration, Finance and IKJ-buddyhood hats. Triple power! The pig! My recent blog about capturing Gallaudet University’s Administration & Operations Manual* is actually about driving Paul Kelly out of business. The Manual is in the auspices of Paul Kelly’s Administration and Finance office, advising IKJ’s office in dealing with oppression through penalty. Paul Kelly is not deaf, not Deaf, not deafened, not hard-of-hearing… nothing! He’s a hard working opportunist and he’s on not only OPM (other people’s money) but also DPV (Deaf People’s Vulnerability). Wrong!

IKJ is an icon—a figurehead, a spokesman, a ribbon-cutter, a fundraiser, a photo opportunity. Today IKJ’s iconic days are gone no more. IKJ is a lame duck that does not “flip its wings symmetrically.” The only hope IKJ is having right now is to beg us all to lay down "the weapon of words" so that Paul Kelly, his only top colleague who is without the vote of no confidence from students, staff, faculty and alumni, could still be spared. Wrongful!

As long as the demands are not fully met, the protest is not over! Not half over! The campus unrest must continue. Tent City must continue. Rallies must continue.

Be bold again! Be opened again! Be heard again!

*"Administrative officer refers to the President, the Provost, and the Vice President for Administration and Finance." --Introduction to Administration & Operations Manual

Gallaudet University's Administration & Operations Manual: The Time Has Come to Capture It

After decades that saw Gallaudet University denying and neglecting Deaf people’s linguistic and cultural heritage, the GUFSSA protest brought a renewal of passion in American Sign Language. A set of policies at Gallaudet University, Administration & Operations Manual, is often seen with projecting and practicing the irreversible oppression of the Deaf. A bold statement for Gallaudet University, it says absolutely, I repeat absolutely, nothing about ASL as the language of instruction and scholarship.

Before going into details this thumbnail history of the GUFSSA movement, it will be helpful to insert some background on development between the Native Americans and the federal government. In 1954, for example, unbeknown to most Americans, the federal government, through Congress, adopted a policy of termination of tribal government. It was in effect until 1970, forcing many tribes to terminate their status as nations. They were detribalized and powerless.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was successful but Native Americans came to realize that they had already fought against what was wrong. They began to educate themselves and study politics and social philosophy. Young Native Americans became attorneys, and they learned how to challenge the federal government and to use American law to protect and advance their tribes. In some cases they have retribalized with far more than they had when they were forced to detribalize.

What do we learn from Native Americans? We do have Deaf attorneys. We can now capture Gallaudet University’s Administrative & Operations Manual—the Bible of Oppressive Campus Policies. We need to be presented a number of possibilities for future Gallaudet University, and to have the time to explore the Manual. The time had come to claim ASL as the language and culture in higher education. This language addendum to the Manual will serve as an important prototype of Deaf Education everywhere.

We must keep abreast of latest happenings and to see through problems and smoke screens at Gallaudet. Through DeafRead, we can disseminate views on what is really happening behind the scenes, along with updated news of Gallaudet. Hopefully, DeafRead will be broad news coverage, and the stories of the GUFSSA movement and the Manual will finally widely be told beyond the campus of Gallaudet University.

We the Deaf can become involved. We can become a real part of the process--even at the greatest distance. Most of the people around the world are totally unaware that there is any problem in the Manual. Talk about it. Get others interested and concerned for Gallaudet University. Follow the progress of the ongong GUFSSA protest. But most importantly, write letters to Congress about capturing Gallaudet University's Administration & Operations Manual.

Time to Heal

From the Buddhist perspective, the Dalai Lama, in keeping with his philosophical beliefs, advises people not to become attached to their anger. I have a criticism that is leveled against the expression of anger because it has the potential for endlessly dwelling on or recycling the same anger. We must heal from our anger, and to heal gracefully we must aspire to become wise and beautiful Deaf people.

I have need to share my personal and professional experience in this healing process. After 9/11, for example, one of the most difficult challenges I faced as a professor at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland was helping my students learn the value of healthy interdependence. They were upset about unthinkable attacks on World Trade Centers, and they sometimes perceived them as an anathema, something to be avoided at all cost. Often, these students had not considered that such a thing was possible, let alone factual, for the WTC attacks to have happened. Through classroom discussion in exclusive ASL, they learned that it was not only unacceptable but appropriate for them to depend on each other to heal.

We need to depend on each other to heal. In healthy interdependency, we must not loose our sight of the value of it—the form of interdependence that is not only healthy but absolutely vital for the well-being of all GUFSSA members and the maintenance of our Deaf communities across the nation and around the world.

I believe that when anger is expressed in a healthy and direct way, our action can lead to both a greater sense of personal power and a higher degree of self-esteem because it demonstrates that one feels good enough about himself or herself to demand something better or higher from the world. The healthy interdependency can be accomplished by expressing the feelings in open, and in that way, the anger flows through. This flow helps one move from a place of oppression to empowerment.

Let’s be wise. Heal ourselves for we are beautiful people!

New Possible Job Opportunities for JKF

Dear Jane:

There are several other opportunities you can explore. The following positions are possible pitfalls for you. Here are some useful tips for you to always bear in mind.

Your appearance at the NAD Conference this past summer was not very successful simply because you were already in a wrong character costume and you got cornered.

Summer Advice: In the future, just decline any job that has summer break.

You might think that being a former Miss Deaf Iowa is the key to the Deaf community. Deaf beauty contest is always tough because it is ASL-friendly, ASL-oriented, ASL-commanded that you lack. ASL does not have a spoken counterpart and by matching spoken words with signs you bastardizes ASL.

Skill Advice: Do not marginalize ASL anymore.

A Letter from Dad to Daughter: You Taught Us

Dearest Vivienne,

I was doing grocery when a friend of mine Larry Littleton of Kaua’i paged me: "Jane is OUT." Wow! I thought of writing you this letter, because through your October 13, 2006 arrest you taught us.

You and I are not in this alone. Our willingness to grow and our intention to live in alignment open us to support from unexpected quarters, especially Tent Cities across the nation and around the world. Spirit will help us in many ways. Guidance will come from within us and from other people. Situations at Gallaudet University that used to seem vague will become clearer. We will face challenges, both old and new, with more strength and alignment. Insights will come when we least expect.

Accept the help. Allow the miracles. Accept the fact that we are more than our body, more than our thoughts and feelings, more than our deafness, whether total or only partial. The way we love Gallaudet University is part of our intellectual path. Let it lead us to the fullness of our own selves. Let it help us join the Gallaudet University community in creating a new intellectual reality.

We’re creating this new reality already. Last May, after the protest began, we had a vision of a university, a community of Deaf intellectuals who’d come together to share wisdom, namely GUFSSA. At the time, we imagined that the university existed somewhere on the level of dream. Now it is on the level of reality. What a change!

We are on this path. We were born in this intellectual community, born to be great. Dare to hold our vision with our whole being. Dare to be who we are, to live, dream, create, and enjoy being Deaf we are. Above all, you’ve taught us to dare to be ourselves.

Vivienne, I am very proud of you. I love you very much. Thank you very much!

With aloha always,

Dad

A Letter from Tent City - Hawaii to NCHE

From: FSSA Hawaii
To: nche@nea.org
Cc: media@gufssa.com; kal1952@myway.com; mikeytomita@yahoo.com
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 12:15:33 AM
Subject: Support for Gallaudet University FSSA

President Kathy Sproles
National Council for Higher Education
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

October 29, 2006

Dear President Sproles:

We are writing to express our deep concerns about Gallaudet University in Washington , D.C. We seek your wisdom and enterprise in addressing the problems faced by Gallaudet University faculty, staff, students and alumni. Like your organization, National Council for Higher Education, we are committed to promoting academic justice and excellence at Gallaudet.

As you know Gallaudet University in Washington , D.C. , is right now in big, huge, enormous trouble. The group of faculty, staff, students and alumni, so dubbed GUFSSA, is protesting the selection of the next university president, Jane Fernandes. While the university public relations speculates various objections against the person of Jane Fernandes, the protest is about flawed procedures in selecting a new president and two demands that Fernandes resign and the presidential search restart. The Washington Post has featured a disturbing new article that attempts to eviscerate the actual grievances by the Gallaudet University FSSA activists.

Gallaudet University is just more than a university; it is, in the broadest sense, unique in that its products are Deaf scholars. Gallaudet is also historical. Edward Miner Gallaudet and his Deaf mother Sophie Fowler Gallaudet were instrumental to the establishment of the first National Deaf-Mute College back in 1864 to promote intellectual life of all the Deaf, and President Abraham Lincoln signed the charter that started higher learning and teaching exclusively for the Deaf.

Fast forwarded to 1988, Gallaudet University , so evolved, staged a civil rights protest which resulted in the installment of the first university alumnus, Dr. I. King Jordan, as the university president. For 18 years, he was running the university on erratic priorities. One of President Jordan's worst mistakes, for example, was appointing Dr. Jane Fernandes as the university provost without consulting with the faculty. President Jordan has overstayed his welcome, and last year, he has finally submitted his resignation by the end of this year. President I. King Jordan wrote a support letter for Provost Jane Fernandes’ application for his job so that she appears qualified “on paper.”

Very awkward! Unethically so! No one on the Board of Trustees could even dare to come and tell this "historic" President Jordan that his letter of support for "no confidence" Provost Jane Fernandes is tepid. Now president designate Jane Fernandes has set out numerous erratic, wild notions that people come to Gallaudet University for “hearing aids and hearing tests.” She suggested that there will be “a new order” of Deaf people at Gallaudet in the future. She rationalized that all Deaf people need to learn “all languages and modes of communication.” She also fabricated that we the Deaf are “not ready for change” that she has visualized. She praised her own inventive skills in “combining signs with spoken words” so that we could understand her. Jane Fernandes’ Trivial Pursuit has upset a great many of us, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and Deaf people everywhere into fighting this uphill battle to have her non-academic, non-intellectual leadership removed from the university.

There are over 80 Tent Cities across the nation and around the world to rally for Gallaudet University . You may visit http://www.gufssa.com/ and http://www.deafread.com/ for detailed information including numerous votes of no confidence for the university Board of Trustees, outgoing president, I. King Jordan, and incoming president, Jane K. Fernandes.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Mahalo,
Carl Schroeder,
Tent City – Hawaii Mayor

Ten Reasons Why Deaf People Are Wrong*

Here it is. The ten top reasons Deaf people should not be right.

1. Intellectuality is not natural. Hearing tests show that, and hearing aids replace it. Cochlear implants is sound.

2. Deaf people should not use American Sign Language. All modes of communication are possible. All languages are hard!

3. Educating Deaf children will open the door to all kinds of stupidity. Individualized Education Program (IEP) is designed to leave them all behind. No Child Left Behind is not about them.

4. Hearing people have been around for a long time and haven’t changed at all. Deaf people are not ready for change. Hearing people are always ready.

5. Cochlear implants will be less workable if American Sign Language was allowed. Deaf people using ASL are dumb. The word deaf-mute is no more.

6. Signing and speaking simultaneously is valid because it needs interpreters. It’s hard to be voice-to-sign AND sign-to-voice interpreters.

7. Obviously Deaf parents will raise Deaf children, since hearing parents only raise hearing children. Don't dare to forget Deaf-Blind parents!

8. American Sign Language is not supported by religion. In theocracy, the values of one God are imposed on the entire Deaf community. That’s why God is not Deaf enough.

9. Deaf children can never succeed without a hearing role model at home. That’s why Jane K. Fernandes can speak fluently but sign not fluently. Her mother is not a role model.

10. Deaf people will change the foundation of society; they could never adapt to a new order of the Deaf. But Jane K. Fernandes is the only one who can lead....

*11. Eleventh reason? Well, it is not exactly counted as one of the above reasons. Criticism is necessary but comment is better.

Gally PR = Herr Goebbels of Hitler's Germany

-----Original Message-----
From: Vonne Gulak

To: Shawn Broderick

CC: Carl Schroeder, Guy Vollmar, Patty Juchno, Nancy Kennedy, Kina Forman, Polly Gulak, RM Adams

Subject: Re: Nice letter from Dr. Johnson

Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:12:09 -0700 (PDT)

Wow! I signed all of that letter to Barry. He summed it all up: It is all propangada. PR = Herr Goebbels of Hitler's Germany. All those simple lies just won't wash. Lies are the main spinning of propangada all over the world, in all cultures. Truth will come out. Hopefully, it will not be too late.

President I. King Jordan Simply Blew It

In 1988, Dr. I. King Jordan was inducted as the first Gallaudet University alumnus as president of Gallaudet University. It was a civil rights victory for many of us, the Deaf.

Gallaudet University is a well known reference to the attitude of honest acceptance for which deafness is the raison d’etre. It is a place where we the Deaf accept and celebrate all Deaf people. However, it also refers to a powerful way to resolve any problem, accomplish any goal, and to achieve any state of mind or body that affects all the Deaf.

In our own language, ASL stands for much more than just American Sign Language. It’s deeper meaning is our culture, that is, Deaf culture.

As we share this energy with President Jordan since 1988, he continues to become attuned to erratic priorities for the Deaf. Among them is Dr. Jane K. Fernandes. Although she is deaf, she does not have this incredible leadership power for attaining true health, happiness, prosperity and success at Gallaudet University. She has destroyed many Deaf people in the past to benefit not only herself, but also President Jordan and his jogging buddy Paul Kelly.

The way to tune into writing a support letter for Dr. Fernandes’ application for the university presidency, President I. King Jordan made her appear qualified “on paper.” Ultimately, President Jordan simply blew it.

Gallaudet University is ours! It is our academy. It is not just a place for people to come for “hearing aids and hearing tests.” President I. King Jordan, President designate Jane K. Fernandes and Fellow Jogger Paul Kelly must go!

10 Reasons Why JKF is Doomed*

* See only one reason why JKF will be the 9th university president below.

1. JKF is deaf but she does not know the language and culture of the Deaf till she was 23 years old. For 23 years of psychological stages of implicit denial, her parents did virtually nothing on promoting her being deaf, and now JKF is doing little more than paying it lip service.

2. It is nearly impossible for Gallaudet University and the Laurent Clerc National Center faculty and staff to afford to create a good and sincere working relationship with JKF. She has burned down so many bridges they need rebuilding without her. No one could trust her leadership instinct, and there is a leadership vaccuum.

3. It is again impossible for the students to communicate sincerely and intellectually with JKF. She’s reputed for her Teflon leadership with a repeated phrase, “I don’t know.” There exists an intellectual vaccuum.

4. We Deaf people have had low turnout in intellectual communication at Gallaudet University, which is likely repeated in the JKF administration. JKF advocates “hearing aids and hearing tests” to minimize our intelligence and maximize our ability to hear.

5. Signing not fluently and speaking not clearly at the same time is bad in the Deaf world and seems to be getting worse today. Though JKF likes to say her skills in ASL is not fluent but everybody is made to understand her. JKF is seen to challenge David Reynolds whether he objects her ability to speak. How can David object when he's totally Deaf? It’s probably one of the worst insults JKF has in store.

6. JKF gives the impression that she cares more about the diversity of Deaf people than what is best for them. She loves to exploit quotations from people of color to suppress the Deaf. For instance, she is holding her $800K purse for her failed appeal to dividing up the campus community to discuss their diverse yet mutual silence and respect.

7. There are simply more Deaf people (faculty, staff, students and alumni) than hearing people at Gallaudet University but JKF does not know about it.

8. In 2000, JKF was made a university provost without faculty input. She was given the vote of no confidence. She was taught to dismiss and belittle the university faculty. It is still felt today. In the Deaf Nation video interview, she emphasized that it was not faculty that selected her as president. JKF has had a bad, disrespectful mentor, IKJ.

9. Remember two murdered students? Yes, we all know JKF was indifferent, insensitive and inconsiderate of the students involved. Well, not really nothing: The letter from Craig Plunkett has angered our fellow oppressed alumni into coming out to shock the entire Deaf world. JKF does not know about it.

10. JKF often uses the argument that only she can lead Gallaudet University into the 21st century. She’s done her own but to develop many strategies, including President Jordan’s support letter, to arm-twist the Board of Trustees into declaring she’s qualified “on paper.”

* Only one reason why JKF will be the 9th president of Gallaudet University

1. JKF is richer than God. She is the only one who can lead both Gallaudet University and the Board of Trustees-turned-Rubber-Stamps.

Let's Imagine a University

Imagine a university different from Gallaudet University in which Deaf scholars are treated with honor. Imagine a Board of Deaf Regencies who sit together in order to share wisdom and advice with the entire campus. Imagine going to this Board the moment you first recognized your own language there. Imagine sharing your concerns with the Board, the Deaf members like yourself who listen to you with respect. Imagine how you’d feel about yourself if you could call on this Board’s guidance, insight, humor, and perspective when you need it.

Wake up! Do we really have this kind of imagination at Gallaudet University today? The Board of Trustees is powerful in the human psyche. Indeed, at this level of archetype, they have failed to live within our imagination now. In recent BoT expressions, for example, they embody Jane Fernandes' considerable authority. Through their roles, they have rejected us and taught us to embrace Jane Fernandes' communication speculations and to cherish them.

If we are lucky, we already know other Deaf people who embody rather healthy traits of higher education. Sadly, though, they are often hard to find. Many of us don’t even know where to look and who to find. Images of empowered Deaf people are rare in our community as a whole and rarer still in our youth-oriented Deaf community. I suspect that many of us are much more familiar with the negative aspects of the archetype developed at Gallaudet University today. When I recall my own first impressions of Deaf leaders, for example, there’s not a positive image in the whole lot.

Deaf Gallaudet leaders as I recalled them in 1970s were Barbara Kannapellen, Yerker Andersson, David and Polly Peikoff and to name a few. I was told that they couldn’t speak and write clearly. On the other hands, Deaf leaders such as Jerald Jordan, Richard Phillips, Harold Domich and so on could speak and write clearly. From early on, I noticed a strange phenomenon at Gallaudet University. The campus scene appeared to be inhabited by two very distinct species. First were the users of ASL. Youthful, exuberant, natural and frantically frivolous, they made the scene. Second were the oppressed Deaf people. Matured, dispirited, unnatural and frantically frightful, they usually dominated the scene. The latter group has now gone off campus—retired. Today we are new breeds of the leadership that rejects Jane Fernandes.

Jane Fernandes is not within our imagination, and she never has. She does not represent our intellectual life. She represents “hearing aids and hearing tests.” She represents the speaking world rather than the signing world. Throughout her history at Gallaudet University and in Hawaii, she is completely outside our imagination. Our imagination has to be rare, pure and honest.

Deafness Has Its Own Raison d'Etre

GUFSSA Warriors are Deaf people and their friends who love Gallaudet University with the tremendous passion. GUFSSA is a journey of intellectual transformation for these people who believe that loving Gallaudet University wholeheartedly is a cause for protest against the selection of the ninth university president. The protest is for these people willing to move beyond conformity and stereotype, to turn deafness into strength, and ASL into intellectual discourse. It is for people ready to resolve doubts, put aside self-judgment, and honor the unique gifts they were born with.

The protest at Gallaudet is just the tip of an iceberg, the most visible part of a way of being that goes far beyond Deaf people and ASL. We have an incredible number of gifts to enjoy and share—an enormous range of talents, dreams, and desires that can make our life rich—and we want to explore them. We want to feel good about our language and culture, to walk in the world with pride and respect for our deafness.

What is it about “pride and respect for our deafness” and why do I bother to mention it? In the cochlear implant age, our Deaf identity has lost its raison d’etre—from French, meaning “reason for being.” Deafness is our human rights! Jane Fernandes is quoted in the October 30, 2006 issue of TIME: “They’re crying at the thought of a deaf baby receiving implants…” Her statement is very stereotypical and misleading. For years, we are crying about the human rights of deafness itself; we are demanding that deafness has its own raison d’etre.

I will conclude with this, since deafness has its own right to exist, I think, the very question raised in Jane Fernandes’ apparent violent leadership: hearing tests and cochlear implants are human rights violations, implicitly and costly. They have no role to play in our university. These violations are not medical, they are just a choice of cosmetics. Gallaudet University must not be responsible in dealing with these violations. We the GUFSSA warriors demand that Jane Fernandes be removed from Gallaudet University and that we find a new university leader who supports raison d’etre of our existence. Deafness has the right to exist; it is our raison d'etre - our reason of being.

A Letter for an Angry Comment

I recently received a very, very angry comment to my blog, and it reads:

You do not understand or "KNOW" our hawaiian culture. You've been in Maui only a year. Our Deaf community welcome JK as our ohana since she saved our Deaf school and established our departments at KCC. So why does she deserve to be out of Gallaudet? The protest itself provides too many pointless reasons doesn't convince our community enough. They're making it worse out there JUST LIKE YOU. Your statements, your articles are already NOT aloha nature PERIOD.

While I respect her anonymity, I will simply call the comment maker FK for the purpose of this blog because it would be very hard for me to write to someone anonymous.

Dear FK:

A German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) wrote: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” I found this wonderful quotation in Rosa Say’s book, Managing with Aloha. FK, it's a good book to read.

But why would we the Deaf want our own university? We fought hard for American Sign Language. Can it be that we the same people who are so anxious for our language and culture at Gallaudet University now eager for a new leader with an erratic idea of "modes of communication" for our intellectual development?

For the most part, NO, it is not those of us who want Dr. Jane K. Fernandes. Those seeking ASL are Deaf people—Deaf people whose language and culture is widely appreciated by many other people and many more!

We are the same people seeking Deafhood—we are the people with whom the United States government provides money. But the Gallaudet University administration use the money to coerce us into dividing up our Deaf community and instituting us as diversity groups in the same manner the white man had the Hawai'ian royal household coerced into dividing up the islands and instituting private land ownership. Hawai'ians became vulnerable with no money and so are we. But not anymore! Money is power we the Deaf MUST claim to define our language and culture. Hearing aids and hearing tests can be done in any teaching hospital around the country but not at Gallaudet University.

Jane K. Fernandes may save the school or start programs in Hawai'i. She has gone away for many years, and, listen, who runs these places today? Deaf people? FK, be honest. NO! My friends learning ASL on Maui told me they need practice in ASL because classes at KCC are mostly spoken. HCDB is in the auspice of Hawaii Department of Education, and there is no one in DOE who can cater to the Deaf. No one!

I came to Hawai’i with hopes and dreams of how things could be better if I were sensitive to the place; how my personal objectives and the values of this place could be mutually compatible—to create a win for all. I think I'm pretty successful, and I even received a Hawai'ian name, Kalalau, from a native Hawai'ian who perceived me in her ancestral spirit tradition, Aumakua.

I shared this angry comment with some of friends from different islands, including this Aunty who named me Kalalau, and they suggested that I post it in this blog with a pseudo name for you, FK.

FK, I will now close this letter with a prayer chant about day and night by Martha Warren Beckwith:

Hanau ka po i ka po, po, no,
Hanau mai a puka i ke ao, malamalama

With aloha always for Hawai’i,

Carl

Building an Altar to Honor Students

I recently saw Eric's DeafEye vlog. It is great! This following is my email message to Eric about collecting stones from different Tent Cities to build an altar. I'm happy that Eric and I agreed to initiate this project, and we welcome ideas and suggestions. Message us!

"Aloha my fellow alumnus, Eric!

"My name is Carl Schroeder. I assume that you've read my blogs under Kalalau's Korner in DeafRead. I have followed your vlogs as well.

"I am writing to you because I have a proposal. If you second it then we can co-propose it to all Tent City dwellers. I do not have any particular artist or sculptor in mind but would like to identify someone to help the completion of it. We can talk about it eventually.

"Motion: I move that we the Tent City dwellers build an altar.

"Seconded by: __________________

"Rationale: I think it is time for us to build an altar--a symbolic representation of our social justice journey, a touchstone to remind us of our intentions, our commitment to social justice, and the extensive support we have for Gallaudet University.

"Because the word may have some old connotations, let me clarify what I would like to build. The altar is not something we are worshipping, not praying to, nor is it meant to take the place of any other spiritual tradition. The altar is merely a place that acts as an outward symbol of what we are doing to promote social justice at Gallaudet University. Our altar will reflect Gallaudet University students’ progress in this social justice journey. The altar will hold together all the colorful, natural, dissonant, harmonious, separate pieces of their progress. Jimmy Carter writes: "We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams."

"We can go back to our Tent City site, find a nearby stone that is as big as a loaf of bread, clean it, and then ship it to an artist.

"How will the artist place them together to build an altar will become important philosophically and psychologically. When the altar is done, we will arrange with Gallaudet University during a better time (of course) to transfer it to a specific place on the campus. From time to time, we may visit Gallaudet University and we will be happy just to see it, to sit by it, to reflect on our process for social justice. Our altar will become an enjoyable and effective means to honor the students of Gallaudet University.

"I was also very much intrigued by Robert Frost's lines in "Mending Wall":

"And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'

"Eric, do tell me what do you think of collecting stones from 70+ places and build an altar in honor of GUFSSA activists.

"Carl Schroeder"

Gallaudet: Viva la Revelucion

Vonne and Barry-

I must admit, it's true...many people never like your thoughts. You do think, I do think. We are thinkers. I always love your thoughts. Everybody's thoughts are very important to me. It's their loss, not ours. "Is it a rebellion?" asked Louis XVI of the count who informed him of the fall of the Bastille. "No, sire," came the reply. "It is a revolution."

Yes, I agreed. Castro is not president, he is a dictator. That will separate him from Plato's Republic, an ideal leadership style. Gallaudet practices Fidel Castro's leadership. For your thought, Gallaudet accepted million dollars on donations from speech therapy, cochlear implant, cued speech, etc... I am sure there are some people in the administration are on their payrolls. They are afraid if Gallaudet gets a "real deal"deaf as president, those programs would lose their faces because GallaudetUniversity would not support their organizations. I believe its all about money. If you decided to open Fidel's bank account, you would find plenty dirty money in his account. I can picture IKJ and JKF are doing same thing. They are trying so hard to hide from the deaf community.

Let's go out and say, "Viva la Revolucion!" Yes, it is a revolution, not rebellion.

-----Original Message-----

From: Juchno
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:54 AM
To: Stan Juchno
Subject: ENJOY READING FROM BARRON/VONNE
ANSWER ME WHAT YOU THINK OF FIDEL Castro of Cuba

-----Original Message-----

From: Vonne Gulak
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:50 AM
To: Juchno
Subject: RE: Our views are never popular.

You and Stan know that.
Know what! I was shocked when Barry said, Viva la revelucion! He was reading about history of Fidel Castro of Cuba. Viva la revlucion means "Live the revolution!" He explained to me that Castro has no power over his people but he has guns, ready to shoot people if they don't like his administration. Well, Cuba had revolution from Spain and wanted Castro. Then they realized that Castro was not a good leader and Cuba became worse and worse. Quality and economy are gone! Education is gone! People refuse to keep Russian culture---communist culture, they are still keeping the Western culture, a mixture of Spanish and USA culture. Still they can't do anything about Castro and his "power."

Well, Gallaudet had its "Viva la revolucion!" in 1988. Picked IKJ. It was not a good choice, but they picked him. Now he has the "guns" and the deaf community are just like the rest of Cuba. The deaf community keeps its deaf culture, but doing something about IKJ & Fernandes. I don't know. All I know is that, Gallaudet is in the good ole USA, not Cuba. But then,...we shall see. And hope for the best.

Sydney is Remarkable

Sydney is Remarkable

Sydney Dirkensen is Principal of Hawaii Center for the Deaf and the Blind and also a board member the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs of the Deaf (CEASD). I was very much intrigued to see her name in the CEASD letter to Gallaudet University that expresses how “deeply dismayed, concerned and even frightened” the ongoing and escalating crisis at Gallaudet could be. It is very important that our educational leader is up to par with current events affecting all of us frightfully.

I have come to know Sydney through my professional interaction with her. She is one remarkable individual whose skills in ASL are exceptionally high. I always enjoyed interacting with her and talking about just everything from living with her new husband to dealing with teacher’s laxity. She is as humanly as she could possibly be. I also enjoyed watching her communicating with Deaf students fluently and naturally. Just wonderful!

Her participation in the CEASD letter expressing profound concerns is what we all need. We can never be isolated but we must not overlook the fact that we the Deaf have our own linguistic repertoire—American Sign Language. With our eyes to see, there can be no doubt that ASL remains a perpetual, educational source of information and knowledge we the Deaf need for communication.

In many respects, Sydney Dirkensen is just more than a well-intentioned giant, she is our friend. We must never fail to support her hard work at Hawaii Center for the Deaf and the Blind. Thank you, Sydney.

An Embarrassed MSSD Alumnus Speaks Out

I was one of the first graduates of the Model Secondary School for the Deaf at Gallaudet University. I was the class valedictorian. I loved my high school days there.

The letter from MSSD seniors who saw the fight between the university students and the campus security officers angered me. They witnessed our democracy in process that met with unnecessary violence. That was how they would always remember about their high school days.

Today we cannot walk far in the company of intellectual people without listening to our faculty of “intellectual oppression” either exalted or scorned. The reason for the latter attitude is that the term “oppression” has always carried the scent of impropriety of Deaf and ASL discourse at Gallaudet University. Having been regularly disgraced by its appearance in colloquialisms like Deaf experiences, or otherwise directly contrasted with “all modes of communication” as currently promoted by Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, the next university president, the word now seems to conjure up all that is cloying and irrational within the university gates. That is embarrassment.

I am embarrassed to admit that it is also true that intuitions of the Gallaudet University administration have been known to fail. Indeed, many of their deliverances of reason do not seem reasonable at all. When asked how the students felt, for example, most of us imagine something about being neutral is a good thing to be. A little democracy reveals, however, that such neutrality would be as bad as the known oppression.

If we’ve learned anything in the last three weeks of the GUFSSA activism, it is that a person’s sense of what is reasonable sometimes needs a little help finding its feet. The fact that what MSSD seniors saw yesterday morning does not make the Gallaudet University administration any more respectable.

Gallaudet: A Branch of Human Ignorance

Let me survey the discontents and declare that JKF’s claim of “all modes of communication” is at the root of language oppression. Faculty and students at Gallaudet University have offered the same diagnosis, and belated users of ASL themselves regularly assert that the Gallaudet University administration has offended their dignity, their pride, and their honor. That's a branch of ignorance at Gallaudet.

What should we make of it? Can anyone point to a greater language offender JKF than the IKJ administration itself? For a modern example of the kind of Deaf community that can be fashioned out of an exclusive reliance upon ASL. Who are those creatures on the Gallaudet Board of Trustees ostracizing Deaf people as being dumb for using exclusive ASL? What is obvious, however, is that the university administration must either win the linguistic argument of ASL or abandon ASL for communication speculations.

Is the difference between ASL and communication speculations just a matter of what any particular group of human beings says it is? Consider that one of the greatest sources of amusement in the early nineteenth-century Paris was sign language show. Abbe Sicard of the Paris Deaf School would regularly entertain the audience by showing off the results of his school’s teaching methods. With deaf people signing and writing on stage, Sicard and his group made an exhibition trip to London in 1815 where the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was in their audience. The rest became history of all the Deaf of all times.

Many people appear to believe that linguistic truths are culturally contingent in a way that communication truths are not. A rational approach to ASL becomes possible once we realize that question of right and wrong are really questions about the pursuit of happiness. ASL is our form of speech—our pursuit of happiness. We are the community with our own linguistic repertoire, ASL.

The fact that Deaf people of different or older times disagree about linguistic questions should not trouble us. It suggests nothing at all about the status of ASL. Imagine what it would be like to consult the finest Deaf thinker on question of which mode of communication: “What,” he might be asked, “is ASL? And how do Deaf people communicate with each other?” We would surely encounter a bewildering lack of consensus on these matters.

Even though there is no shortage of brilliant minds in the Deaf community, we are simply oppressed by Gallaudet University for it has selected a next university president, Jane K. Fernandes, who believes she can talk and sign… though not fluently… at the same time. That’s an ongoing branch of human ignorance. This has to stop now!

Your Child Is Being Hurt at Gallaudet University

“Ohana is the word for family in Hawai’i.

From culture to culture we share

the commonality of being human beings,

and human need to be in family groups

of other human beings: The history

of humankind repeatedly has shown us

that we were not intended to be alone.

We need connection to each other,

it nurtures and sustains us.”
–Rosa Say, Managing with Aloha

It is often argued that beliefs are somehow distinct from other claims to knowledge about social justice of the Deaf. There is no doubt that we the Deaf are treated differently—particularly in the degree to which we use American Sign Language exclusively—but this does not indicate that beliefs are special in any important sense.

What do we mean when we say that a leader believes a given proposition about the Deaf? As with all questions about ASL, we must be careful that the familiarity of our language does not lead us astray. The fact that we have one word for “belief” does not guarantee that believing is itself a unitary phenomenon. An analogy can be drawn to the case of memory: while Deaf people commonly refer to their dumbness or failures, decades of oppression have shown that it comes in many forms today. At Gallaudet University!

Our Deaf brain is a prolific generator of beliefs about the world. In fact, the very humanness of our brain consists largely in its capacity to acquire the language and culture that is visual. ASL must play a large role, of course, but the challenge will be to discover how our brain brings the products of perception, memory, and reasoning to bear on individual propositions and magically transforms them into the very substance of the Deaf life.

For this reason, it seems undebatable that the power that belief has over our emotional lives appears to be total. For every emotion that we are capable of feeling, there is surely a belief that could invoke it in a manner of moments. Consider the following proposition:

Your child is being hurt at Gallaudet University.

What is it that stands between you and the absolute panic that such a proposition would loose in the mind and body of a person who believed it? Perhaps you do not have a child, or you know him to be safely at Gallaudet, or you believe that Gallaudet University is renowned for its congeniality. Whatever the reason, the gate to belief has not yet swung upon its hinges.

The link between belief and emotion that I have developed about my daughter Vivienne at Gallaudet is so scary that we must continue "connection to each other" as ohana to spill blood in what is, at bottom, social justice at Gallaudet University.

A New Order of the Oppressed: "Don't Mean Sheeit!"

You know that to take off, let’s say, 20 pounds and keep them off you must change your life. It may be the hardest thing you ever do. It seems such a trivial thing. This is like attempting to take off bloody moments off from Gallaudet University's history, which is going to be the hardest and most trivial thing to do. It has angered Deaf people everywhere.

What is more ludicrous than perfectly effective the Gallaudet University administration living off the fat of the richest budget in history? Almost none of them are particularly caring. Bleed these students; bleed them as anarchists, terrorists, and lawbreakers. And they did.

But the content of Gallaudet’s quest—its public relations—is not the important thing, is it? If PR says it was a matter of not following laws, then that would be just a renewal form of entertainment for the university administration. It’s not the content, but the order. Gallaudet University wants a new order, and if one way of changing the order is to select JKF who announces that only she can lead the university into the 21st century with a new order of the Deaf--an educated euphemism for "a new order of the oppressed", why not protest against her order? One way could be as good as another so long as no one gets hurt. However, our fellow Deaf people got hurt at Gallaudet… with blood!

I am seldom at a loss of words in this unfortunate situation. When a friend of mine asked me in all seriousness, “What was it all for?” I instantly shot back, “If it wasn’t fun, it’s too late now.” That might have been a cruel thing to say to him, but he’s as though as nails. Maybe I need to read a psychohistory of Adolph Hitler or Richard Nixon to really size up all the players at Gallaudet University. It's leadership that is failing there.

What does it all mean? And I admit that I am often tempted to reply that the university administration doesn't... in the words of Mr. Natural, Robert Crumb’s great underground-comics characterization of God, who when questioned about the meaning of the cosmos answers, “Don’t mean sheeit!”

Blood, Shakespeare and Gallaudet

nchomes2: yes, shakespeare once said, if you shed a blood with me, you shall be my brother. i cant remember how he said it.

nchomes2: once blood shed, more unity for gallaudet

HonuGuy: good piece.

HonuGuy: Can I quote you?

nchomes2: sure, you can quote me anytime. Lol

(mother nature... )

nchomes2: found right quotation:

"We few. We happy few. We band of Brothers. For those who shed their blood with us today shall always be our brothers. This time will gentle the harsh and strengthen the weak. Those who were laying in their beds will think themselves accursed they were not here with us."

nchomes2: from shakespeare

HonuGuy: great...let me copy this

nchomes2: sure

A Taste of Blood at Gallaudet

There goes a saying, “Once the team had tasted blood, there was no preventing them from winning by a wide margin.” It has been almost 43 years since I first learned about Gallaudet University, and I’d think that the riot would feature more than just a taste of blood. It is October 25, 2006, after all.

Guess what? The world need to taste blood; it is symbolic. It is a bloody battle.

First is the curious case of why it had to happen. The first time we realized the protest, it is about a massive oppression and declares an unfair and biased presidential search which resulted in selecting an inbred administrator, Jane K. Fernandes. Change the focus and realize her erratic vision of the university because we already know everything we need to stop the oppression.

Nevertheless, for almost two centuries since the 1817 establishment of the First Deaf School in Hartford, Connecticut, we learned that we are Deaf people with numerous challenges in developing our own language and culture. Oh, and in case we had forgotten that we do not need amplification and cochlear implants, please note that they do not mean our intelligence. They are just scientific marvels.

Even less successful in the university leadership, Deaf Education is about ASL, the linguistic vehicle through which we understand the world around us. According to our ASL linguists, ASL is a human language.

Gallaudet University has sternly gone on record that signing and talking is possible and that the joke is that a Deaf person using ASL is dumb. Interesting, then, that the last time we heard from Kevin Levinson, the author of the “Deaf so dumb” statement, was his twisted “I did not say that and I thought JKF was not…” denial on the Inside Gallaudet PR.

Presumably Gallaudet University, no matter how supportive, would at least need to taste blood. It happened today.

The problem with the Gallaudet administration is that they are addicted to the money associated with cochlear implants and speech language. Without the ability to have these students walk in and announce, “I can sign and talk fluently,” the university continues to rely on stereotypes to fill in the blanks. One of these blanks is bloody.

JKF, Find a Piece of Aloha

-----Original Message-----
From: mikey.tomita

To: KAL1952

Subject: read this from Billy Kekua

an open letter to JK

Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:28:34 -0700

(PDT)19 October 2006 An Open Letter to Dr. Jane Kelleher Fernandes

Dr. Fernandes-

With a grave trepidation for me as a Native Hawaiian to write, but I decided to come in the light and offer you my request. I ask of you to explore in your heart and find a piece of aloha that may guide you and decide what is best for Gallaudet and not only but worldwide as well. I am aware of your accomplishments in Hawai`i such as you established the successful Interpreter Training Program at Kapi`olani Community College, and prevented the Statewide Center for Students with Hearing and Visual Impairments from the possibility of closure.

However I have my reservations for Board of Trustees' appointment of you as the next president because of the fear that you will bring many disastrous results to the university. Your leadership is in the question that I do not want to experience again when I was a high school student under your administration at the Deaf school in Hawai`i and as an undergraduate student at Gallaudet.

Dr. Fernandes, you served as the administrator of Statewide Center for Students with Hearing and Visual Impairments (now known as Hawai`i Center for the Deaf and the Blind) for six years, and your wealth of experiences should have prompted you to be a better leader when you assumed the position of Vice-President at the Clerc Center. But the evidences of your poor leadership at the Clerc Center for first 5 years and as the Provost for last six years were wholly unacceptable.

You had seventeen years to prove yourself that you could have been an effective leader. But to my eyes it is such unfortunate that I regret that you lost the opportunities to gain my support. Again, I would like you to please heed the request and find a piece of aloha within yourself, and sacrifice for the sake of Gallaudet University's future.

Thank you.

William-Kalani C. Kekua Graduate Student

This message was sent from a T-Mobile wireless phone.

An Open Letter to Deaf Hawai'i

The human psyche has two great sicknesses:

the urge to carry vendetta across generations,

and the tendency to fasten group labels on

people rather than see them as individuals.
—Richard Dawkins

It has been nearly six months since the protest first started at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. We have read continuous messages in various internet systems, expressing everything from apparently ecstatic support to speculatively homicidal threat. Many thousands of Deaf people around the world must have read everything now in DeafRead, and millions more have heard its contents discussed in the media. In response, letters and emails and comments have come from Deaf and hearing people at every stage of their lives.

I myself have also heard from some of embattled and angry people living on Oahu who wrote me nasty and disrespectful messages, all of them in the form of anonymity. They told me I was wrong about Tent City, about Joseph Mesa, and about Jane K. Fernandes. Judging from this particular group of correspondents, the American spirit of freedom is fast becoming as blinkered as the oppressors at Gallaudet University.

Having written my argument against the selection of the ninth president of Gallaudet University, I would like to take the occasion of posting this blog as an opportunity to respond to these angry people on Oahu. There are by no means straw-man arguments; these are what real people told me that was devastating about JKF. From three courses in journalism, I have learned to simply report them. Their reactions are understandable since they suffer the NIMB (Not in My Backyard) syndrome - an element of the oppressed.

As I argue in my blogs, certainty without evidence is necessarily divisive and dehumanizing. In fact, respect for evidence and rational argument is what makes peaceful cooperation possible. As human beings, we live in a perpetual choice between conversation and violence; what, apart from a fundamental willingness to be reasonable, can guarantee that we will keep talking to one another?

One comment I received from an angry Anonymous on Oahu began: “You have no business to be in Hawaii.” Both this statement and the anonymity are un-American… and not of the aloha nature! I even doubt to high heaven that JKF would be proud of this anonymous comment.

Do Not Sign a Minority Report, JKF Tells BoTs

“It is clear to me that the protesters are giving a total lack of attention to established rules of order,” says president designate Jane K. Fernandes, a deaf individual and apparent suppressor of "a Minority Report.”

Background: Oppression and Fear

As the GUFSSA protest drags on into its fourth week, the university administration continues to miss its mission of academic freedom. On Friday, October 13, 2006, 135 people were arrested and made convicts for a peaceful protest.

The situation for Gallaudet University looks even worse for all the Deaf. President I. King Jordan writes in his October 22, 2006 memorandum to the campus community: “I know you are aware of how important MSA accreditation is to the University and to our graduates as they seek employment and further education.” His office is also releasing new PR efforts geared toward “influencers”—parents, students, professors. But there is no indication in Middle States Association that Gallaudet University is having any problem on the accreditation.

ASL behind Ousting JKF

There is no doubt what is behind the GUFSSA demands that President Designate Jane K. Fernandes resign and that there be no reprisal: the deterioration of the language bigotry, hegemony, and oppression at Gallaudet and the growing sentiment of American Sign Language. Fernandes informed us that she can combine signs with spoken words, expecting thunderous cheers from the Deaf community. That is a lie!

We Were Lied To

We were lied to. And even worse, we were being exploited. Most of us were from failed Deaf Education backgrounds ourselves, and we were being exploited to keep down our intellectual life—scholars who just want to have a decent intellectual life and use ASL exclusively. We are not pacifists—we think there are times when there are things worth fighting for… and living for, too!

JKF is Secretive and Manipulative

JKF is a paranoid who is secretive and manipulative. “I hope you will not resign your position as Board members; I hope you will not sign a Minority Report; and I hope that you will not suggest that the solution to the current problems on campus is my resignation,” she wrote in the e-mail to the Board of Trustees, a copy of which was intercepted by The Washington Post. “The problems at Gallaudet are too deep-rooted for us to resolve them so simplistically. If any of you resign your position on the Board, I believe it will be a concession to law breakers.”

Do Not Sign What…a Minority Report

Those familiar with oppression tactics know well that this is not an isolated event. In fact, lying, threatening, and other dishonest practices are becoming more common at Gallaudet University. By JKF’s own advice “not sign a Minority Report,” there is something that goes awry and wrong! What is this “Minority Report” about? People of color? JKF’s email may indicate that the Minor Report include falsifying information.

We must fight oppression and fear. We must stop the university administration to continue practice based on lies and fraud. Get Congress investigate JKF’s hush on a Minority Report—signed or not!

A Paranoid University President? No Question!

Paranoia is about severe personality disorder characterized by a constant suspicion that people have sinister motives against an individual. Anyone with this disorder tends to have excessive trust in her own knowledge and abilities and usually avoid close relationships with others. She usually shifts blame to other people and criticizes others.

Paranoia is a two-edged sword, both protective and destructive. It drives this individual to manipulate others so she can control them, especially those close to her, and to control situations. Jane K. Fernandes is an perfect example. She was recently selected as the ninth president of Gallaudet University because of her high paranoia.

Here are examples of the Jane K. Fernandes two-edge sword that appears in The Washington Post Online Discussion. Fernandes seems protective of the students by saying: “I am heartened to see deaf students becoming activists and speaking out for what they believe in.” On the other edge of her sword, she seems destructive of the students: “I used the word anarchy to describe the protest. It is clear to me that the protesters are giving a total lack of attention to established rules of order” and “I also used the word terrorism. Perhaps it would have been better to use words like ‘discord,’ ‘tumult,’ ‘riot,’ and ‘insubordination.’ The dissenters at Gallaudet have demonstrated a complete disregard for social order.” With her split tongue, she describes her augment about 135 people arrested at the 6th Street gate on Friday, October 13th in the evening: “It pains me deeply that students decided to be arrested rather than allow the University's mission of education to continue.” Were KDES, MSSD and Gallaudet University open on the next morning for "education to continue"?

There are also some other paranoid factors observed in Jane K. Fernandes which include her suspicion that there are threats or attack on her character and family: “An image of me has been burned in effigy. My family has been stalked. There have been threats on myself and my family.” These threats are groundless and senseless.

Although Jane K. Fernandes is not popular, she is valuable to the university administration and the Board of Trustees. The best example of her manipulation can be seen in the Deaf Nation video interview where she criticized the vote of no confidence by the university faculty by emphasizing that it was not faculty but the Board of Trustees that selected her as the next university president. What a bigot! Jane K. Fernandes asserts in the Post discussion: “A successful leader works with a coalition of people to promote policies and activities that benefit the whole. Because I have been and remain a successful leader, I have worked with many others to bring about the very accomplishments just described.” With the vote of no confidence by the university faculty, her self-importance and manifest in a persistent self-referential attitude do not hold water.

I’ve demonstrated more than three characteristics that make President Designate Jane K. Fernandes a paranoid. It's not very healthy, no question!

A Story Told in Tent City - Hawai'i: We Remembered!

As a former professor at Gallaudet University, all I could say was, here we are again. Why must we protest at Gallaudet University today? Because… we remembered!

In 1988, we had a protest—so affectionately dubbed as Deaf President Now civil rights movement. In the beginning of the campus unrest, Academic Affairs Dean I. King Jordan arrived on campus and met with the students about new president, Dr. Elizabeth Zisner who was hearing. He listened to them and told them he supported them. The students cheered.

Due to his nature as the Dean, he went to meet with the university administration. There was no president when we protested, and there was indeed a leadership vacuum on campus. We heard that Dean Jordan had switch his support to the Board of Trustees for selecting Dr. Elizabeth Zisner who had decided to come to take the helm immediately. Gallaudet University needed a president.

The Deaf President Now protestors rejected President Zisner by claiming that there was discrimination against two Deaf finalists. The faculty voted no confidence for the Board of Trustees. They closed the university. There was no police to arrest them. It was peaceful. The weather was perfect and warm. Dr. Zisner heard them.

In a few days, Dean Jordan returned to the students and told them he supported them. The students were not sure how to acknowledge his support but welcome him anyhow. It was very awkward, and he definitely had no balls. He became an instant campus joke. We questioned whether he had his head on the shoulders. We also questioned what was within his heart.

Of suddenly, President Zisner resigned, and Dean Jordan was declared the first … ok, let’s say the first alumnus… to become president of our alma mater. There was a group of campus jesters, fools, and clowns who were jubilant. They celebrated. They told us President Jordan was a compromise between the hearing and Deaf worlds. By culture, he was “not deaf enough” but he was not hearing anymore. It was all weird… all wrong!

We remembered! We were never exactly comfortable with the outcome of the 1988 Deaf President Now demonstration because we’ve got a new leader who switched support between the students and the Board of Trustees and who switches signs between left and right hands. Remember, today we saw President Jordan in his own making. His own successor Dr. Jane K. Fernandes declared herself “not deaf enough” and campus jokes abound with grims.

Enter GUFSSA. We are here again! We remembered!

Good for the Future of Gallaudet University?

Let me react to The Washington Post Online interview with President Designate Jane K. Fernandes. Gallaudet University is a bureaucrat’s heaven. I read her responses—from her qualification to her perspective of present campus unrest—and noticed how often she was asked to shoehorn every morsel of individual problem into a series of rigidly defined boxes—race, deafness, anarchy, terrorism, and so forth. Diversity agenda!

Of all the categories, the one I’m perhaps most conditioned to take for granted is my being Deaf. I got it from day one. I don’t hear. I use ASL. Anyone who doesn’t fit my expectations corresponding to the Deaf community is immediately an outsider. Guess who doesn’t fit. Jane K. Fernandes, of course!

By setting boundaries on appropriate behavior, discouraging Gallaudet students, for example, from standing up for their beliefs, Jane K. Fernandes chose to justify the Administration’s decision to keep them from expressing the full range of their talents and sensibilities. Not only do Deaf students suffer, but the Deaf community as a whole becomes more vulnerable.

President Designate Jane K. Fernandes has a propensity for turning the Deaf community upside down. She seems to explore the extremes and opts for cochlear implant users as a new-coming-into-a-true-power group when we claim ASL to move beyond “language speculations.” When the students were able to express every part of their own beings with enthusiasm, Gallaudet University tapped the power of having them arrested and thereby coerced into silence. 135 people were booked as convicts, and among them might make a great university president. Good for the future of Gallaudet University? No!

As an archetype, President Designate Jane K. Fernandes embodies them as anarchists, terrorists and dissenters, and by depriving them from reaching a state of intellectual empowerment; she becomes a bureaucratic oppressor at Gallaudet University.

Eric Plunket's Friends

Date:
Mon 23 Oct 2006 08:54:02 PM EDT

From:
MELISSA WOODEN rosewolf_2000@yahoo.com

To:
kal1952@myway.com

Subject:
eric plunkett scholorship fund

Could you read this link and post it on your site I tried to post it but was unable to. I really enjoy your blog. This is information on the Eric Plunkett scholorship fund created by MSAD alumni in his honor. All the work was done by us, but Jane credit herself as the founder. You may find this information useful for your site, if not at least I feel proud in passing on this important information.

http://sonnyjames.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-story-dr-jane-fernandes.html

Thank you.
MSAD/Gallaudet alumni
unity for Gallaudet

My Deafhood Journey

Whenever I set out on a journey, it pays to prepare carefully. If this were a trip by car, I’d check the oil, fill the gas tank, and be sure to put air in the spare tire. I’d take a good road map and pack clothing to serve me in a variety of situations. In the same manner, as I embark on my path of Deafhood, a few simple preparations will make the time I spend much more meaningful and enjoyable.

First of all, I honor the fact that my path is unique. Even though I may have Deaf companions to travel with, no one else can take the Deafhood journey for me, nor can anyone tell me exactly what I will discover. Certainly, I may face many issues in common with other Deaf people. Still my own background, needs, desires, and goals are distinctly personal.

Second, I attempt to cultivate an attitude of openness throughout my Deafhood journey. In terms of language, I’d start with defining American Sign Language. It is a human language that is extremely fluid. As a fellow linguist, I am fully aware that coming up with a single definition of ASL is nearly impossible, and I wouldn’t let the terminology get in my way. ASL is my identity.

Third, I need to remember that my Deafhood journey is an experiential process. It won’t always understand what I’m doing. My mind likes to keep things safe by organizing every experience into a nice, neat package. For my mind, “safe” means whatever it already knows, and in my Deafhood journey, I’ve connected with my whole self—body, heart, mind, and spirit. I’m exploring not just new ways of thinking, but an entirely new way of being...my being Deaf.

Last but not least, in my Deafhood journey, I've discovered that my friends, Deaf and hearing alike, are like mirrors that show me different parts of myself. Because I share something in common with each one, different friends mirror different parts. I have my own parts that are best summed up in a reaction written by one of my ASL students at Maui Community College:

Well, I have to say it was quite scary and overwhelming the first evening in class. This is because I thought that I was the only one that had no idea of signing. When I entered the classroom I noticed that several of the students were signing to each other and I instantly felt that this was going to be over my head. I wondered for a moment if I read the brochure correctly. Then I took my eyes away from the class and noticed you coming towards me signing. I understood what you were communicating to me. There was a peaceful, calm and patient gesture about you that made me feel this is something that I have always wanted to learn and it was going to be alright. I knew that I needed to come out of my shell, stop feeling intimidated and embarrassed and just do it.

My Deafhood journey has no destination; it is an ongoing process of putting together different parts of my being Deaf.

Anonymous Flowers for JKF?

In my Kalalau's Korner blogsite, I received this following and I would like to elaborate it:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Yet Another Failed Gallaudet University PR Effort":

Carl, Can you just give up and start the healing process? JKF is an excellent interview with the Washington Post today. I just sent her a bouquet of flowers to show her some support.

A Deaf of Deaf (5th generation)

Why did this "Anonymous" happen?

Being anonymous is something that we have been for many years. Why do we want to claim our intellectual life? Well, let’s look at the GUFSSA protest that we suffer from. We looked out across the educational landscape and saw this oppression practice and thought, “OK, what about American Sign Language at Gallaudet University?” A broad number of Deaf people would say, “You know, I can be anonymous for that.”

The comment does not explicitly refer to oppressed people.

It does. It just says that any Administrator can expect flowers and cards without an immediate solution. But I don’t care if our name is in it or not. What I care about is that if you are an oppressed mother, for example, and your children are Deaf, now they are going to be oppressed, too.

The GUFSSA protest is often criticized for not achieving broad intellectual victories. Do you feel vindicated?

No, I don’t feel vindicated, because I think criticism is born out of frustration with Gallaudet University—and we are the biggest product in front of it, so we get the criticism. But yeah, this is going to be a huge victory and a wonderful thing for our Deaf community. It’s a step in the direction of intellectual equity that all people should be able to appreciate our language, that is ASL within the institution of higher education.

Will this make it easier to go out and fund-raise?

I think we are looking forward to celebrating the victory and making sure members of our university community know what to do as a result of this GUFSSA protest. For many years, a lot of us don’t have dignified self-concept to tell our name which represents truth. Being anonymous is not very helpful.

We need to make sure our contribution goes to Gallaudet University Alumni Association, not Gallaudet University Alumni Relations and that we have a clear sense of what their contribution is used for so that we are in a position to navigate Gallaudet University. The world needs to know us as the product of Gallaudet University. We are great Deaf people and ASL is the best the world has yet to see.

What about flowers and cards?

Flowers and cards are very nice and they will go into JKF’s scrapbook for the university archives or the Library of Congress for future research and contemplation. I certainly hope these flowers and cards are not anonymous.

Yet Another Failed Gallaudet University PR Effort

Gallaudet University is fully accredited by MSCHE. No mistake!

I just made a phone call to Middle States Commission on Higher Education. It was a very nice conversation and I was reassured that the post by President I. King Jordan is inappropriate. It begins unnecessary rumors about MSCHE. She told me that my phone call was her second call, and she is fully prepared to inform us that MSCHE has no intention to discredit Gallaudet University. It is always good to check something like that.

From www.msche.org:

"The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is a voluntary, non-governmental, peer-based membership association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer-evaluation and accreditation. As a recognized leader in promoting and ensuring quality assurance and improvement in higher education, the Commission defines, maintains, and promotes educational excellence and responds creatively to a diverse, dynamic, global higher education community that is continually evolving.

"The Commission supports its members in their quest for excellence and provides assurance to the general public that accredited member institutions meet its standards. The Commission achieves its purposes through assessment, peer evaluation, consultation, information gathering and sharing, cooperation, and appropriate educational activities. The Commission is committed to the principles of cooperation, flexibility, openness, and responsiveness to the needs of society and the higher education community."

While a graduate student at American University, I wrote a paper on university accreditation. All accreditation associations are voluntary. They do campus visitations and observations, but they do not come to campus to evaluate or criticize, which is highly inappropriate and unprofessional. They come to campus to learn about different things and make recommendations for enhancement of existing programs. If a university is in trouble, the accreditation association is there to help, not to disband.

President I. King Jordan’s post is yet another failed Gallaudet University PR effort to divide our GUFSSA community.

Spinoza, Gallaudet and I

I am a Spinoza guy, and I am also a Gallaudetian. Yes, I do crave such systems, and I act as if I know them. But they are impossible. Both Spinoza and Gallaudet are fascinating as the philosophical and educational, respectively, claims of the past, I also realized that, although such words of theirs may inspire me to no end, their work to encompass human knowledge in their categories can never be correct.

This may be why it is Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) who has touched me the most out of the canon of great philosophers. Spinoza was a Dutch freethinker whose ideas were so strong enough he got excommunicated from both Judaism and Christianity. Spinoza advocated a God as a being in the world, not apart from it. He wrote his philosophy in the form of geometrical propositions, like the classics of Euclid, where axioms were stated and propositions derived and used to prove other propositions. In his work, everything proceeds step by step, from the substance that is both God and nature to the ways in which humanity is tied to natural law—and the ways in which we are free from it. There is an order of nature that we are bound to follow, but we are free to the extent that we choose to appreciate the intensity and diversity of the world around us. Although Spinoza did not talk about the solution to problems of the earth, he knew that the end of human fulfillment would be in the network of relations to a God who is the world around us, not beyond us.

I was only a schoolboy when the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was first introduced. I was already on my way into deep waters in philosophy. I remember his story about Alice Cogswell. Gallaudet, upon learning about her deafness, went to see her. Alice had a very passionate, unknown desire for language. Gallaudet was very Christian, in a certain sense, and he must have thought, “Alice must meet Christ in perfectly clear consciousness, so I need to give her letters.” So he found a stick and wrote the word HAT in dirt. Alice immediately copied him. Gallaudet might look in Alice’s eyes and say, “You are worth listening to!” So he went to understand his central question, “Is life worth living or is it a kind of indecent drama with no language for Alice Cogswell?” He went to pass the hat to promote language and education of the Deaf around the world. What Gallaudet did is not something for humanity but for the eternal truth that Deaf people and their sign language are here to stay.

The persons of Spinoza and Gallaudet made a tremendous impression when I read the idealistic accounts of their work, their being within themselves very much, so misunderstood by others. Spinoza went against his own Jewish background, and it cost him a tremendous amount of suffering. Gallaudet went on to marry one of his Deaf students, Sophie Fowler, so he could live in the language and culture of the Deaf. They were egocentric in the sense they were within their own system, building their own legend. They were not egoistic, they were very nice people. So Spinoza and Gallaudet were idols for me long before I started my college teaching career.

Dear Mr. Craig Plunkett

October 22, 2006

Dear Mr. Craig Plunkett,

We did not know your son Eric before. We were very sorry that his death was untimely. We became even more upset when we discovered that Joseph M. Mesa, Jr., was his killer. We got very embarrassed for many different reasons.

Joseph M. Mesa, Jr., came from Guam for education at Hawaii Center for the Deaf and the Blind in Honolulu. We knew that he was always in trouble with money and physical cruelty. When Principal Jane Fernandes moved to the District of Columbia to work in PreCollege Programs at Gallaudet University, she brought Joseph Mesa with her. We kept hearing about his trouble behaviors at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf. It was the same story, and we were not surprised. When he enrolled in Gallaudet University, Jane Fernandes became the university provost.

Two students were killed. The motives were the same, money. The causes were the same, physical cruelty. As the university provost, we were shocked that Jane Fernandes was not alert. We were not very proud about her situation.

I am very sorry you and your family were under such an impression that Jane Fernandes was a caring person who went through with you. She should have been more honest by recognizing the same patterns Joseph M. Mesa, Jr., did in Hawaii and on Kendall Green. She could have put out fire or prevented it, but she did nothing. She must pay the price now.

Although we did not know your son, we leave to you the prayer to your aumakua:

Auma-ku-u-a mai
Kia pa loaa mai
Hia pa loaa mai
Auma-ku-u-a mai
Auma-ku-u-a-mai

Oh ancestors of the past, come to thy breath.
Bestow thy blessings onto thee.
Thy desires, thy blessing of birth.
Oh ancestors of the past, come to thy breath.
Oh ancestors of the past, come to thy breath.

With aloha always for you, your family, and all Deaf people.

Mahalo, GUFSSA - Hawaii

Inside Gallaudet's Kevin Levinson Refuted

Kevin Levinson's statement posted in the Inside Gallaudet propaganda is yet another university PR effort to dismantle the Deaf community. Levinson asserts that he knows “better than most” about what Deaf people are capable of doing but he clearly indicates in his statement that he's nothing but all talking. To date, we have yet to understand his work “toward our common collective goals.”

What are these collective goals? Has Levinson taken courses in ASL in order to reach them? What is his current score in ASL Proficiency Interview, believably the most important prerequisite to accomplish these goals? No where in Levinson's statement has indicated one value that sign language is used for instruction of the Deaf as promoted by the university founder, Edward Miner Gallaudet in honor of his Deaf mother Sophie Fowler, his father the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, and his Deaf mentor Laurent Clerc. Nothing!

Levinson even fails to exemplify these collective goals. He simply derails his denial paragraph by mentioning Jane K. Fernandes, followed by an irrelevant concluding sentence that does not fit the overall statement. His writing is completely incoherent and incomprehensible, and it simply destroys Levinson’s own self. He no longer has believability and credibility that he has not meant anything about Deaf people being dumb for over 10 years.

Our Deaf leaders are not that dumb! They heard him! We the oppressed know enough PR games Gallaudet University plays to suppress and sabotage not only our community, but also the students.

Photos from Tent City - Hawai'i

Aloha from Tent City - Hawai'i

Seeing a Treehouse in my backyard is believing....

Know Thy Audience!

Carl Schroeder emphasizing a flawed procedure

of the Gallaudet University presidential search.

Mikey Tomita listening ACTIVELY!

The Speech

Carl Schroeder, '83, receiving advice from Mikey Tomita, '75.

Frank Parker watching and figuring.

The backyard!

Hawai'ian GUFSSA activists from

Big Island, Maui, Oahu, and Kaua'i.

(Special thanks to Larry Littleton of Kuau'i for contributing photos. Larry has become a great friend of ours!)

Join the 82% Banner

October 22, 2006

Dear Students:

I have a proposal for the students. Put on an academic robe and join the 82% banner at Gallaudet University. As long as you are university students, you are scholars, too! The world needs to see you in this fashion to understand your grievance—a flawed procedure leading to select an administrative inbreed, Jane K. Fernandes.

Academic regalia have a history of a nearly 800 years. In Medieval Europe, scholars in many universities such as Paris, Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge wore gowns. In America, professors and students at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia wore regalia, too. In the past, these academic regalia symbolized scholarship. It is still an open question as to whether academic robe finds its sources chiefly in ecclesiastical or in civilian dress code.

It was often suggested that in the past, robes were the simplest, most effective method of staying warm in the unheated, stone buildings where medieval scholars worked. Today the weather is getting cooler and cooler in October, and you can cover your academic robe over your warm clothes and let the world see that you are scholars in protest.

It’s going to be very symbolic when you join your precious faculty. 82% is not just a number or statistic, it is a vote.

Mahalo and aloha,

Carl Schroeder, '83
Professor of ASL,
Father of Vivienne, one of 135 arrestees,
GUFSSA Activist from Hawai’i

Why We Are Deaf Activists: A Different Story for Deaf Children around the World

We are Deaf activists.

We make sure Deaf people around the world can stand up for their beliefs.

We make sure we the Deaf can spread our beliefs.

We make sure we the Deaf are respected.


We use sign language.

We make sure sign language is always true.

We make sure Deaf children can use sign language just like hearing children can use theirs.

We make sure our sign language is respected.


We can protest peacefully.

We make sure protests are peaceful.

We make sure decision makers or leaders are pressured into making more compassionate choices we need.

We make sure our needs are respected.


We understand the power of news coverage.

We make sure our safety is important.

We make sure the news reporters understand our sign language first.

We make sure our sign language is respected in news media.


We must resist language absurdity.

We make sure our form of activism can be rewarding for Deaf children.

We make sure Deaf children must not suffer silly ideas about their deafness and sign language.

We make sure our protest is wonderful for Deaf children to know they can be respected.


We are Deaf activists because we can make a difference in the world.

Written by Carl Schroeder in honor of his daughter Vivienne who was arrested for her participation in a peaceful protest at Gallaudet University on Friday, October 13, 2006.

Stories Told in Tent City - Hawai'i

Hawai’ians have a rich oral tradition to preserve memory. Deaf Hawai'ians, too, have stories to helping us understand where we come from and what we can accomplish. Tent City – Hawai’i is now full of stories about Jane K. Fernandes.

We heard stories about Jane K. Fernandes from former students and current staff in Hawaii Center for the Deaf and the Blind (HCDB). They told of her arrogance and ignorance. They told of how mentioning JKF is still terrifying and frightening to them. Although other Deaf people from Oahu told us they support Tent City – Hawai’i they chose discomfort of silence by not participating in it. All in all, Jane K. Fernandes was not what Gallaudet University PR told us who she was.

Here's an email we received in the Tent City - Hawaii Yahoo!:

To: FSSA Hawaii tentcityhawaii@yahoo.com
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 8:10:36 AM
Subject: Re: xx from honolulu

Ok...so u must know more ppl that r coming. I know several friends that r going to funeral but they r not supporting protest. Here @ hcdb...not many support protest...I'm sure u know that. So am glad to hear ppl r coming. Again...wish I cud've come. I do know your website...that's how I found out abt tent city in maui. Ok...will check later. Enjoy and hope its a success. I used to work @ kendall under jk and didn't have a good experience...that's why I'm supporting protest. Go go go MAUI TENT CITY! Aloha, xx

(Today was also a sad day in the Deaf community here because Michael Archeangel was killed in an automobile accident last week. He was 26 years old. Many of his Deaf friends came to Tent City - Hawai'i after the funeral.)

Yes, Deaf Hawai’i also told us about some of JKF’s friends in Honolulu who dismissed the GUFSSA protest as inappropriate and disrespectful. They told us these JKF fans refuse to read and follow blogs and v-logs. They also told us about how JKF deliberately ignored their presence last summer and how she had also told them about some threat of being shot during the May protest. They also told us that she’s a hoale (a white person they distrust).

After learning that President Jordan wrote a support letter for Jane Fernandes, a native Deaf Hawai'ian told us about his experience with JKF at HCDB. He described JKF as an elephant that knows quickly the difference between a sweet smell and a stink, and she is very adept to grasping objects. If twenty people are gathered together, and one had an apple in his pocket, she would smell it out immediately and, feel around, would feel it without fail. Because of her dexterity, she can pick up almost anything, even President Jordan’s unprofessional letter of support.

We agreed that if President Jordan said to the university, “Tomorrow we shall work for Jane Fernandes,” the university would then have GUFSSA prepare a respond. That is all we have at Gallaudet University today; we demand that (1) JKF resign and (2) Presidential Search resume. Many stories told in Tent City – Hawai’i couldn't be wrong; Deaf Hawai'ians might be right!

IKJ's Support "On Paper"

The Friday, October 20, 2006 issue of The Washington Post editorializes in favor of President Designate Jane K. Fernandes: "Indeed, even her harshest critics concede that "on paper" she is qualified."

This is tricky! "On paper" is a quote mark trick—probably the best substitution of an indirect expression for President I. King Jordan’s letter of support, which is extremely unethical and unprofessional. JKF informed us that IKJ agreed to write to support her for his job. IKJ’s support is "on paper" - more favorable, less neutral.

Seeing favoritism at Gallaudet University is one of the most de-motivating things we’ve ever experienced. This favoritism refers to when JKF appears to be treated better than all other candidates for the position of university presidency. The end result is that JKF’s application appears to be better than all others "on paper" and for no valid reason.

Whether or not the GUFSSA complaint is legitimate and proven-able might be the biggest obstacle. If the favoritism we are claiming is hurting Gallaudet University and we feel it is based on illegal reasons –race, sex, age, etc.—we might need to consider legal action but we’d obviously need proof of IKJ’s letter to have a case.

JKF, we dare you to show us IKJ’s support "on paper" now!

Gallaudet University: The State of Shame

Shock was first. Denial followed. Anger arrived. Numerous illegal labels were made out to media to describe the GUFSSA activists by the university administration at Gallaudet University who are suggesting that their education has been a kind of anarchy and terrorism. JKF qualified these labels by telling about an unwarranted threat of being shot, “yes, by a gun” which is an angry and false accusation.

JKF is a modern day she-Adolph Hitler. She has a recipe for using propaganda, fear, and scapegoats to convince her followers to go along with her plans. She has a gift for crafting negative labels for the GUFSSA activists by accusing them for arousing anarchy and terrorism at Gallaudet University. I’ve seen none more strikingly similar to Hitler than JKF. Her accusations seem more acceptable in media today when compared to Hitler’s because they do not directly attack any one particular group, but instead attack the GUFSSA group that has long been known to hold the interests for many diverse groups at Gallaudet University.

I am not even sure I understand JKF’s points about campus anarchy and terrorism since I am not aware of the monopoly of Gallaudet University PR that controls all media. Yet as an alumnus, I can’t sit idly by when false accusations about campus activism are made. Apathy seems cool in an “ignorance is bliss” kind of way. But it’s very risky not to disagree with opinions at Gallaudet University. It is therefore important to take a stand against JKF's ignorance and false accusations.

The truth of what is happening at Gallaudet University is obvious to most of us the alumni, but we must not take that for granted. There are many out there who are now in the state of shame—we are ashamed of mistrust of what we see on the news outlets about JKF.

There’s no doubt in our minds that JKF and the IKJ Administration will still continue to blame weak-kneed students for destroying the morale of their educational leadership and making Gallaudet University what it is today. They are angry people, and we are ashamed now.

My Dearest Vivienne

My dearest Vivienne,

I am writing this letter to you because I am very proud of you! I love you very much!

While you’re among the GUFSSA group grieving a flawed procedure of Gallaudet University presidential search, I urge you and your fellow activists to set out to expostulate, interpret, clarify, analyze, explicate, develop, reduce, derive, dissolve, solve, or give the history of Gallaudet University problems. As professor of 21 years myself, I could easily attest that an ideal university graduate can write a good college essay. More than that, despite the importance of using ASL, many problems are so intricate and complex that they can be advanced, followed, and criticized only if they are written as stepwise arguments for study and contemplation at length and at leisure. V-logs can make a good journalism.

You know what problems are. You might want to write a utopian tract about the ideal university that Gallaudet University can become. I agree that the ultimate and primary goal is to be a good university student. So why have I written this letter recommending that you and your fellow activists write about the protest the way some people eat cold cuts on a plate? No matter how deep is your love of knowledge, most professors would love to read your papers about problems the way you see them.

I am not talking about just an intellectual game: it is a professional skill essential to being a good university student. But to the extent that it is like a game, you must play it well to earn your right to become a professional individual. It is better than being chosen because of your race, religion, family, age, sex, good looks, or charming personality just for JKF's diversity initiatives. And even in the United States you can’t ordinarily buy degree. You’ve got to earn it.

I am not very happy with the way Gallaudet University treats you wrong. I speak now, and others like me speak in other places. We speak of the same shame we have about the way the IKJ-JKF Administration perceive your activism. It is your education. It has to be liberal!

Our Deaf culture divides the world into material and intellectual aspects. We see the material as being lower and the intellectual as being higher. Yet Gallaudet University with its IKJ-JKF Administration taking the helm on erratic priorities tells us there is one world only—it’s JKF’s “not deaf enough” world. Very narrow-minded!

I am not the only one speaking. Others are speaking. And beyond you and me there is spirit speaking. The spirit of the Deaf! Echoing… Echoing… If we listen with our heart! Within them! Beyond the shapes and words we know. We will be fine!

I love you, Vivienne!

With aloha always, Dad

Gally Gun Gossip Gone Gagged Up!

A brand new twenty-first century Gally folktale tells about a university president designate who went about media slandering her faculty, staff, students, and alumni. One afternoon, she was on TV and broadcasted that she was threatened to be shot. The faculty, staff, students, and alumni, realizing that this president designate had not told the truth, protested against her on two conditions: that she resign, and the university search a new president again.

What a bad story to gossip about! Conventional wisdom holds that we should never gossip at all, period. We know gossip may not always be true but if JKF starts it, there’s probably something malicious to it. JKF must have wished to pass on by innocent folks who think they are helping the Gallaudet University administration by spreading her gun gossip.

It is human nature for JKF to wonder what’s going on in the GUFSSA protest. JKF speculates and surmises about them, wondering about them, and so on. She then discusses her thoughts about them, and the tidbits of knowledge she might have about them, with guns. Gossip has become in her essence discussing someone else’s gun when it is not present.

JKF’s gun gossip has spreaded faster than wildfire. Mike McConnell gets upset about whether it can be of the intentionally malicious type. This form of gossip about being shot is meant to intimate and harm Gallaudet University because it can become a form of bullying as it is evident in Mike McConnell’s post. It’s saddening.

JKF does seek to get a source of malicious satisfaction from this type of gossip because she has a manipulative-type personality. She uses unpleasant gossip to enhance her own social value and makes herself seem like the dominant member of a group—one that is “in the know.” Gun or no, JKF is maliciously gagged up! Crazy!

JKF and Nihilism at Gallaudet University

President designate Jane K. Fernandes has repeatedly said that there are no such things as right, wrong, good, or evil in the protest at Gallaudet University. That’s nihilism. She has dismissed GUFSSA as nothing at all, and that Gallaudet University needs to get back into the business of education. She made a firm but nihilistic statement that she is the only one who can lead the university into the future.

JKF has scholarly inclinations from the 1970s when nihilism came to American women. In the 1970s most American women were inspired by Simeone de Beauvoir, the herald of the new nihilism. Her famous statement that “one is not born, but becomes a woman” rejects the idea that there is anything like human nature. The feminist revolutionaries of the 1970s never engaged in protest and violence. So how could JKF, a nihilist, think GUFSSA can succeed in changing American society? JKF is being far from feminism.

JKF seems to think we should clearly distinguish between the Deaf community and diverse groups. She seems to want to develop diversity initiatives to create a policy of mutual respect and linguistic neutrality. She seems to believe firmly that our law should guarantee equal opportunity to Deaf people. However, JKF has recently suggested that in the future, cochlear implant users will grasp the opportunity more readily and more wholeheartedly than Deaf people. From JKF’s childhood education, deafness is nothing at all.

The world of ASL and Deaf studies has never before had to confront anyone quite like this solitary rogue female university president designate. Critics will rain against her excesses and we the Deaf will be offended. We are not charmed by her effrontery and grateful for her truth and wisdom. Out of JKF’s nihilism comes GUFSSA!

A Letter to Brenda Jo Brueggemann

Dr. Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Chair
Board of Trustees
Gallaudet University
Washington, D.C. 20002

October 19, 2006


It is a token of the special delight Gallaudet University bestows on everything that even the many debts I have incurred in higher learning give me deep pleasure to acknowledge that I love Gallaudet University.

Brenda Jo, let’s index me back to 1983 when I graduated a Thomas J. Watson Fellow from Gallaudet University with President Edward C. Merrill, Jr., a charismatic guy taking the helm. I was one of his Student Body Government presidents, and, yes, I was at odds with him from time to time. Dormitories were not co-ed, and numerous attempts of rape and some actual rapes were denied. Carlin Hall was, and still is, ridiculous: Upon its grand opening, I questioned President Merrill in front of his celebrated guests and students whether wheelchair people be left behind on the second, third, or fourth floor during the fire alarm, fire or not. However, President Merrill always respected me and opened his arms every time I came to talk with him. One evening when I was studying for one of my hour exams, I was interrupted by a campus security officer with a handwritten note from President Merrill, asking me to check with his office in the morning. I learned that he was down with flu and had instructed his office to send me to talk to American Youth Leaders in his place the next evening. It was a great honor. President Merrill wrote a very good recommendation letter to support my application for the 1983 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a highly competitive academic honor, netting $14 thousand for travel and study abroad in 1983-84. Through my interaction with President Merrill, I got inspired to become a meaning-maker.

Today what we mean Gallaudet University FSSA is a pattern of vibrations, a certain weaving together of vibrations. It does not exist only on the campus; it is everywhere in this vast universe. Now picture in your mind a perfect, cloudless sky, a sky of turquoise blue. It was exactly what we saw during the 1988 Deaf President Now demonstration that put our fellow alumnus in the office of president at Gallaudet University. It was also extremely awkward because we saw that Dean I. King Jordan switched his support between the Board and the protest three times too much, which was a very bad precedence now realized and suffered. Although President I. King Jordan works very hard for our university, he never has believability.

We do not believe his unconditional support for Provost Jane K. Fernandes. We do not buy him. He wrote a support letter for her application for his own job, and the weight of this very letter counted only to impair his own presidential credentials. Ask what consequences would be if you were to write the same for your own job position. Brenda Jo, if my faith and imagination serves me right, you’re going to be an extraordinary testifier of my being a good, effective professor in the English Department at Gallaudet University in 1992, this I’ve always told my families and friends. Right now I have nothing left but quote one of the most devastating speeches Shakespeare ever wrote. 2 Henry V, 5.5.41, 45-49 reads:

Fall to thy prayers.
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!
I have long dreamt of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane;
But being awake, I do despise my dream.

Brenda Jo, listen, Gallaudet University is no longer a dream. Neither is President I. King Jordan. GUFSSA is here to stay.

A Letter from Tent City - Hawai'i

President I. King Jordan
Gallaudet University
Washington, DC 20002

October 19, 2006

Dear President Jordan:

Aloha! May we open this letter with the Hawaiian Code of Conduct: "We shall extend and display respect to all others which reflects our own appreciation of humanity. We shall carry our pride quietly, neither boasting of ourselves nor speaking badly of others--often a dishonest method of self-praise. Yet we must be unashamed of our principles and honest in our criticisms."

To complete the picture why GUFSSA is protesting at Gallaudet University, consider the plight of the oppressed of today. The cancellation of Homecoming this weekend is the worst of all. We begin to sense differently.

We feel the wind differently. We relate to Gallaudet University as family and experience a bond with Gallaudet University which is clearly unknown to you. We have different inner clocks and deal with time differently. Our language--American Sign Language--is different from what we have read and seen in blogs and v-logs from Gallaudet University. We have different strengths. We have different ideas of right and wrong. The list of differences goes on and on. These deep, distinguishing differences are ingrained characteristics selectively acquired and developed throughout the Gallaudet University community.

But while traits such as these mentioned above have prepared us excellently for Gallaudet University, we have it intellectually vulnerable in our American society. We need the opportunity and the space to reclaim, and to revitalize, our language and culture, namely American Sign Language to protect us, to allow us to survive and flourish in our own community, and to give us directions for advancing into the future. Gallaudet University has a lot to offer, to teach, to make new meanings in ASL.

Since the time of Edward Miner Gallaudet, a native signer and also a CODA, diverse people coming to Gallaudet University have transplanted their educational speculations for the Deaf. This has been fine for them, but as the years have passed, and, now, as another newcomer, President Designate Jane K. Fernandes, has become predominant, she has attempted to impose her arenas of educational speculation on faculty, staff, students and, yes, alumni. It's not going to work.

To survive, we support the GUFSSA demands: resign and redo. We are seriously unshamed of these demands.

Mahalo and aloha, Carl Schroeder, Tent City - Hawai'i Coordinator

cc: GUFSSA, Tent City - Hawai'i, Kalalau's Korner

ASL and I

ASL does not begin at birth or end at death. It extends beyond time, into and out of a spaciousness like the most powerful of languages. Words alone cannot describe ASL. Perhaps 3-D film might one day do it, revealing the fluid vastness that ASL is. But one aspect of life is creating a language to focus myself in it. To use ASL is holy to me, to use ASL is my gift to all.

ASL is the coming together of certain strands of human languages. This particular claim, particular language, resonates well with certain functions in the Deaf community. It is a nurturing language, a strong and caring one, that expresses itself in every possible way, yet excels at itself.

There are tools that I can use in my work, I have chosen to pursue ASL in my work, to experiment with it. The information I give about ASL is a tool, for example. But it is important to remember that it is something to assist one in acquiring ASL. The knowledge I gain in ASL is another tool, too. It is also important to share it with others. The communication I carry in ASL is also a tool, and it's sharing of information and knowledge that cannot be separated from life, from death.

ASL is not a birth, not a death, not a separation. It is only a language changed in its own frequency. ASL changes, and so do I.

Writer's Block and JKF's Threats

I got to admit that I go through some periods of writing and not writing about the ongoing GUFSSA protest. All day yesterday I experienced a period of not writing. I simply couldn’t write. I wanted to write, I tried to write, I pushed myself to write and yet I could accomplish nothing. It was painful and demoralizing and humiliating and worst of all, it just didn’t make any sense—the curse of the talented.

I am not talking about constructive self-criticism—the ability to finish a draft and look at it with a measure of objectivity. Nor am I talking about earnest striving to better myself at my writing craft. What I am talking about here is the evil see-saw of thinking that Gallaudet University is our home identity and nothing I’ve ever written matches up to that fact.

I wanted to write what I should instead of what I love. I began with a story that, much as it compelled me, seemed impossible to finish. I worked on this story and put it away unfinished. I drafted and redrafted, outlined, wrote copious notes, even got out occasional unrelated blogs but never quite managed to get out a workable draft.

The trap here was twofold. One, the more time and work I lavished on this writing project, the more I required it to pay off. The other trap is that if I began working on this one writing project at a time when my mastery of craft wasn’t up to the level required to make it work, it is possible that I would never learn the things I needed to know in order to finish the work that has swallowed me.

One of the most common causes of writer’s block, I realized, is the gap between what I imagine to know and the reality that confronts me. However, the today’s issue of The Washington Post on Fernandes’ threats becomes a new breakthrough, and I am now back to my writing business!

Pigs and Stool Pigeons at Gally

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a satire that starts with the oldest pig on the farm, Old Major, calling all animals to a secret meeting and telling them about his dream of a revolution against the cruel Mr. Jones. After Major dies a few days later, his speech gives the more intelligent animals a new outlook on farm life. Pigs and pigeons play major roles in change of the farm.

The pigs, which are considered the most intelligent animals, begin to instruct the other animals. During the preparation of rebellion two pigs distinguish themselves, Napoleon and Snowball. Napoleon is big, and although he isn't a good speaker, he can assert himself. Snowball is a better speaker, he has a lot of ideas and he is very vivid. Together with another pig called Squealer, who is a very good speaker, they work out the theory of "Animalism." The rebellion starts… but later ends with the pigs living in the farmhouse where all the other animals look inside the house, not being able to distinguish between man and animal. Only pigeons continue to serve as tattletellers for the pigs.

Animal Farm is a good analogy for Gallaudet University where we went through a rebellion in 1988 during which we placed our fellow alumnus at the helm of the university. Today Jordan is tall, and although he isn’t a good signer, he can speak for he was deafened in a motorcycle accident (my euphemism for his being not Deaf). Provost Fernandes is a better signer, so they both think; she has a lot of guts for rubbing people the wrong way. Together with another top administrator named Kelly, who is very good with money, they work out the practice of hypocrisy and oppression. Even before JKF was selected as the 9th university president, stool pigeons merged as the JKF propaganda ranging from spying to cheerleading.

JKF spoke about change at Gallaudet University in the Washington Post Radio yesterday, which she believes has frightens the GUFSSA folks. Comparative literature tells us otherwise. George Orwell’s Old Major represents the kind, grandfatherly philosopher of change—an obvious metaphor for Communist Karl Marx. That is the really frightening thing to compare Animal Farm with the present Gallaudet University administration because it attacks the concept of objective truth: the IKJ-JKF Administration today claims to control the past as well as the future of all the Deaf. For example, cancelling traditional Homecoming is not a very good sport for the future of Gallaudet University!

The Orwellian farm stands for Kendall Green where President Designate Jane K. Fernandes will make home. Given history of JKF administrative skills in the Laurent Clerc National Center and the office of Provost, there will be numerous stool pigeons building up the fear of the JKF leadership. Anyone speaking out against JKF will be made a suspect. Since 135 people were arrested last Friday, they became first suspects for life. All in all, three figurative pigs namely Jordan, Fernandes and Kelly are no longer healthy for Gallaudet University! And stool pigeons need to go, too!

Gallaudet Faculty March

Gallaudet Faculty March was so important to the university it represented academic freedom. It is now becoming a central theme in the history of Gallaudet University. The march must not be more invoked than deeply understood. The faculty march spoke about 82% of the faculty demanding JKF out of business.

Not everyone will agree with Gallaudet Faculty March, but it is essential for three critical reasons. (1) It is necessary for Gallaudet University; (2) it is necessary for the Deaf community; and (3) it is necessary for the quality of higher education for the Deaf. I will discuss each reason here.

Gallaudet Faculty March becomes necessary. Gallaudet University needs to be the place of the free exchange of ideas in the language and culture of the Deaf. Unless students and faculty are provided liberty to use ASL without misunderstanding, no genuine higher learning and teaching is possible at Gallaudet University.

Gallaudet Faculty March represents the best of the Deaf community. Gallaudet University is to be the primary source for dissenting ideas and vibrant debate in exclusive ASL. Nowhere else are intense intellectual debates in ASL a common part of Deaf Culture. When ASL is not understood, Deaf Culture is silenced.

Gallaudet Faculty March delineates the quality of higher learning and teaching to attract the best students and professors to the academy where ASL is inevitable. While Gallaudet University today is where professors and students have far less respect for ASL, it declines into a poor rank within higher education comparisons—as pointed out by Professor Donalda Ammons.

Although not everyone will agree with these three above reasons, I doubt we would agree that ASL can be compromised. As long as ASL exists, it must be addressed for our learning style at Gallaudet University. Gallaudet Faculty March is important!

OUR NATURE:
CLAPP-CLAPP-clapp-clapp-clapp HEY...

To be Deaf is something that begins within us. It begins in our hearts, in that place that is never separate from the living heart of ours. To be Deaf is something that begins within ourselves that finds itself mirrored back to us by the Deaf community. This community, our people, walking between Deaf and hearing, between American Sign Language and English, between right and wrong, between night and day, and between matter and spirit.

There are many Deaf communities around the world. For so long we have defined ourselves in opposition to how the general society has viewed us. We have defined ourselves, and been defined, by that which seemed to be in us most different. But our Deaf community must define itself from within, not without. And it is not our cultural nature alone, not its difference from the Deaf-and-Hard-of-Hearing-and-Cochlear-Implan-Users-and-Hearing nature, but American Sign Language that makes us different.

In this time of crisis, it is Deaf leaders and writers who hold out, by our very nature, the deepest vision of healing and peace that is possible for Gallaudet University. For the alumni are gathering themselves up from everywhere to find common ground to connect. This GUFSSA protest has offered us its capacity for all alumni to come together to enter into the collective unconscious. This is going to happen during the 2006 Gallaudet University Homecoming weekend that was cancelled by the oppressive IKJ administration.

So it is not by our nature alone that we make a difference in the world, but by our actions, our thoughts, in our coming together as the GUFSSA community. We will speak a universal language of signs, and we will be global ambassadors and information carriers. We will be able to listen to our inner purposes and meanings, and we will become the truth tellers for our own people—Deaf people.

We will have shamanic rituals with drum-beating, CLAP-CLAPP-clapp-clapp-clapp poems, and storytelling arts. Never before, all over the planet, so strongly and so freely, have alumni been able to meet in such great numbers this week. In this time, in our time, when we are more firmly rooted into matter, we can get together with faculty, staff and students at Gallaudet University. We are empowered in this protest by our very nature.

CLAPP-CLAPP-clapp-clapp-clapp HEY...

One Short Paragraph Essay for Paul Kelly:

I Could Clearly See You at Gallaudet!

Here I use the word see to mean an understanding that Paul Kelly needs a blow slap on the back of his head. With the money purse, he’s appropriating campus crisis in the wrong way. President I. King Jordan is loosing his leadership grasp with him hiding and holding. Paul, I could now make my readers see you clearly! With the vote of no confidence for President Jordan, you’re now the top administrator to be dealt with. Are you Deaf, sir? Now you may turn your head around for a good, hard slap and begone!

IKJ-JKF:

From Leadership Crisis

To Leadership Despair

We measure accomplishments by their products, as if what is done can tell us how it was to be done better. 18 years ago we told the world that Gallaudet University was indeed ready. Our protest was about our civil movement delineating American Deaf intellectual life since the 1817 establishment of First Deaf School in Hartford, Connecticut. During the American Civil War, in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the charter that opened our institution of higher learning and teaching. In 1988, we proudly witnessed the inauguration of Dr. I. King Jordan, our fellow alumnus, as our university president. Today, due to his leadership crisis, he cancelled our traditional Homecoming. For the better and the worse!

Our university president has shifted from leadership crisis to leadership despair. We are sad yet serious about our situation at Gallaudet University which is very oppressive. We bleed buff, blue, white, red, purple, yellow, black… It’s Kendall Green! It is home far from home for many, many of us the alumni. Painful! Alumni are coming home to Gallaudet University. We are history in the making! The world needs to hear Gallaudet once again!

The 2006 Homecoming at Gallaudet University shall always be cherished. Now meet Gideon… he’s our hope! Our product in the future!

Vivienne's Grandpa Speaks Out!

"THE EXAMINER is daily newspaper, freely picked up at many bus and metro stops. However, the comments would only put in website of THE EXAMINER under threads@dcexaminer.com and I was told, that it would be placed in about 10 minutes from now on.

"Here is the expression of total disagreement with the editorial of Monday Oct. 16 titled "Enough is Enough at Gallaudet". Only enough is the departure of president designate Jane K. Fernandes. She has in the past and present proven to be ineffective as future president of Gallaudet University. In so many years on the campus she has been disliked by many of the faculty, students and members of the staff.

"It is said, that she should be given the benefit of doubt. Look, she had the chance to be accepted at the campus in many years and she failed dismally. Putting students into jail proves bad leadership in the future for Jane K. Fernandes. Therefore she has to go!"

That's my Dad, George Schroeder!

A New Deaf Card: JKF’s "New Order"

In the current Gallaudet University political climate, JKF announced a "new order" of Deaf people. It has now been argued that the anticipation of JKF’s "new order" is rejected as either useless dreaming or authoritarian control. Throughout the university history, administrators have been trying hard to keep power in their own hands, just as they are doing today. Even though nowadays a formal democracy exists almost everywhere, Deaf people are still impotent in the light of JKF’s "new order" as broadcasted on the Washington Post radio.

The impotence at Gallaudet University is so great; that not even an idea exists of what JKF’s "new order" should look like. Will it end all kinds of intellectual oppression? Will it give a much greater intellectual freedom to all the Deaf? Is her "new order" based on a highly developed form of democracy? Will her "new order" prevent protests on campus? Will it totally change the world, and give a wonderful live and harmony to Deaf intellectual life? Does JKF base her "new order" on the premise that social policies and practices are ultimately shaped by Gallaudet University in American Sign Language, the language and culture of the Deaf out of which it arises (however debated, conflicted, and contested)?

JKF’s "new order" requires power in the hands of her administration at Gallaudet University. Each administrator will have the power to directly represent and protect her interests. I am talking here about JKF’s "new order" that will give to her administration the power that is, under present circumstance at Gallaudet University, unthinkable. In the first place, I need to stress that "new order" will bring about a complete improvement of the existing system, since that system has been built under the influence of oppressors.

JKF’s "new order" is a new form of social relations, wherein every person exercises intellectual power assigned by the top management. The value of personal intellectual power will be specially affected by disagreement or disobedience. If a person acts against the "new order" guidelines, she or he will lose a value off her or his credentials. Each disagreement, for example, may be easily judged by existing practice of intellectual oppression. JKF’s "new order" society can make termination of personnel much more painful than a prison can be, so that potential rebels will avoid committing any intellectual disagreement much more carefully.

JKF’s "new order" is nothing if not ambitious. It works on several levels. It is a story of JKF isolated by her own deafness. It is also a story of JKF’s embrace of the existing practice of oppression at Gallaudet University that she has mastered throughout the past 12 years. It is, too, a useless dream that castigates the dual standard that continues to operate when it comes to the treatment of Deaf people in relation to general or hearing society.

For the oppression to become possible, Deaf people must remain diversely divided in JKF’s "new order." That's a new Deaf card!

Gideon on Gallaudet: An Obsession

I must admit here. Like Gideon, I’ve always been obsessed with Gallaudet University. It’s an awfully difficult thing to get my hands on philosophically. Forgive me for making an attempt to do in this blog, a blog about Gallaudet University as an obsession. Gideon and I are obsessed!

It looks like there are two major difficulties in approaching Gallaudet University philosophically. One is to stay free of oppression, and the other is to avoid making—as my friend urged me—a jackass out of myself.

How does Gallaudet University fit into philosopher’s life? Essentially, but without oppressive touch, I hope. No, I’ve not answered the philosophical question. Gallaudet University is the sort of place that may get you in trouble if you blurt out what you have in mind. Even more so when you stage a peaceful protest!

I am skeptical of President IKJ who tells you that you have the freedom of expression. Arresting 135 people was one thing, but this was ridiculous. In philosophy it is not a cop-out to end with a question without an answer. Getting the question right is a good philosophy. For example, have I made a jackass out of myself yet?

I need to tell you now about Gallaudet University as an obsession. Gideon is still young enough, and five paragraphs are too many for this obsession essay.

Philosophical Oppression Must Stop!

The feeling of the philosophical oppression is not, for all that, the notion of the philosophical oppression. It lays the foundations for it, and that is all.

While the 1988 Deaf President Now demonstration was about civil movement, today’s campus demonstration is about philosophical oppression. It is alive; in other words, it must stop or else reverberate through every single place around the world.

So it is with the GUFSSA protest we have gathered together in person and in distance. But there again what interests me is not works or minds of everyone, criticism of which would call for another form of philosophical leadership. Never, perhaps, have our great minds so different, and yet we recognize as identical the spiritual academy in which we wish to get under way...with a new philosophy.

At Gallaudet University, to date, there exists an obvious fact that seems utterly moral: namely, that a Deaf individual is always a prey to philosophical oppression. Once she or he has chosen a mode of communication in the place of American Sign Language, for example, she or he cannot free herself or himself from the oppression. A Deaf individual who has become conscious of the philosophical oppression is forever bound to it. A Deaf individual devoid of ASL and conscious of its embedded culture so has ceased to belong to the future. That is wrong.

What is perceptible in philosophical oppression of the IKJ administration will be perhaps even more so in the upcoming JKF administration. To be sure, it is hard to outline the meaning of philosophical oppression, but it can be felt throughout Gallaudet University today. It is not for me to wonder to what extension this oppressive attitude is linked. I merely have to wonder if the spectacle of philosophical oppression justifies it.

Let’s assert the fact, for example, that JKF’s childhood having been so isolated by deafness, she ultimately returns to its harshest aspect at Gallaudet University. I do not want to suggest anything here, but how could she fail to read in her twelve-year tenure at Gallaudet University the signs of philosophical oppression? Who is she that does not know?

Philosophical oppression must stop at Gallaudet University.

Vivienne Ruth Schroeder

My former college roommate Al Walla sent me these pictures of my daughter Vivienne. What can I say as a proud father? Like Daddy, Like Daughter!

No, Don't Blame GUSSA for JKF's Volcano!

Hawaii quake blamed on volcanic stress AP - 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
Hawaii's Big Island is rattled by thousands of minor earthquakes a year, mainly from volcanic eruptions. But the strongest and most destructive types -- like Sunday's magnitude-6.7 that caused blackouts and landslides -- are rare and are caused not by eruptions, but by the buildup of stress deep in the crust as volcanoes grow and spread, experts say.

A Volcano Analogy at Gallaudet University:
Not Very Funny!

There is a volcano story cherished by nearly all the Administrators and the Board of Trustees who must have professed themselves Stoics. They have detached themselves from the GUFSSA protest. They offered their own interpretation of the presidential search which consisted President I. King Jordan’s unethical support letter for Provost Jane K. Fernandes’ application as wise and honorable flawless. They have demonstrated self-control and indifference to pain on campus by standing firmly on the selection of the next university president. They have publicly rejected faculty, staff, students and alumni, and embraced JKF's volcano analogy.

JKF has touted herself as “a gal standing by an erupted volcano.” She explained: “Long rumbling under the surface, they erupted like a volcano. I happened to be the person standing next to that volcano.” Not very funny! This wisdom of hers has not gone a step further but has gone many thousands of steps backwards. For twelve years of her tenure at Gallaudet University she failed to either prevent or address possible “volcanic hazards” that might be incurred by the Deaf or negatively impact the university. In stoicism, JKF’s passionate volcano account simply distorts truth.

Another example of stoic distort about the GUFSSA protest came from Gallaudet University spokeswoman Mercy Coogan whose responsibility is to cover the IKJ-JKF leadership with a veil in the October 6, 2006 issue of The Washington Post: “Social justice, audism [bias against the deaf] and racism. She's on the same page.” The GUFSSA is about a flawed presidential search wherein IKJ’s support letter for JKF is realized to be professionally and politically unethical. Mercy Coogan's PR is moot.

Pain on campus is not very funny! It is painful! 135 people were arrested. Tom Holcomb wept. Tim Rarus was betrayed. Alumni were shocked. While the danger area around a volcano covers about a 50-mile radius, the danger area around the IKJ-JKF’s stoic leadership is worldwide.

JKF as an Innocent Bystander

Dixxxxx: JKF's letter in the protestveritas blog...she says she is the innocent person who happened to be nearby when the protest erupted, it's not her fault that issues got dumped on her..oh boy.

Dixxxxx: or ...oh please.

HonuGuy: she's amazing....

Dixxxxx: "the issues of audism and racism that have plagued the deaf community for centuries came to the forefront. Long rumbling under the surface, they erupted like a volcano. I happened to be the person standing next to that volcano."

Dixxxxx: the title of that is "Dr Jane Fernandes makes herself known"...how true!

HonuGuy: I read that... She was impressed by herself...it's clear to me that she's either a stupid person or a successful prevaricator.

Dixxxxx: hard to decide which.

HonuGuy: LOL

My AIM Conversation with A Former Teacher

HonuGuy: Merv Garretosn's letter is probably like a green go light for other "good boy network" guys to back off from Gallaudet and support GUFSSA

Dixxxxx: wow, thats a point

A Lesson to Learn:

IKJ Found Hypocrism

IKJ made big mistakes. Big time!

It was well known to all of us that President I. King Jordan wrote a letter of support for Provost Jane K. Fernandes for his job as the next university president. It is unethical. Now it proves to be extremely awkward for him to be absolutely objective within his own academic community because he had created a subtle premeditation—a clever strategy formed to arm-twist the presidential search and the Board of Trustees into selecting a successor to his own like before it was done—for Dr. Jane K. Fernandes. By writing the support letter for Dr. Fernandes, President Jordan simply lost his presidential credentials and professional neutrality. Consequently, he lost trust, faith and imagination from the Gallaudet University community worldwide.

Last Friday, October 13th, President Jordan, with assistance from the Metropolitan Police, tried to quash the voices and careers of faculty, staff, students, and alumni (GUFSSA) staging a peaceful protest at Gallaudet University. 135 people were arrested and booked. It was evident that President Jordan intended to mount “psychological” oppression on these peaceful protestors as “academic subversives.” Right now he is doing anything he could to restore status quo at Gallaudet University with his successor Dr. Jane K. Fernandes now at the helm.

Through arresting and booking 135 intellectual people, President Jordan served to abolish all the quotas that all Deaf people can. I am damn sure Gallaudet University PR has denied doing this because President Jordan knows what goes on in campus. Refer to the October 13th news in which leaders from the university administration roused against the GUFSSA members protesting there. Why such hypocrisy on one side talking about social justice and on other side accusing students for their peaceful behavior. Why not! In hypocrisy, President Jordan found hypocrism.

Morale: Never write anyone a letter of support for your position let alone hypocrisy for hypocrism merges in no time!

Hawai'ian Earthquake Announcing:

Tent City - Hawai'i Is On!

Hawai'ians of old are known to be as close to the land as any people can be. They were in daily touch with the land and the sea. Earthquakes meant different to them. Here's my Hawai'ian meaning: Gallaudet University will change forever!

Upon the discovery of Hawaiian islands in January 1778, Captain Cook wrote that Hawaiians were people of the land. Cook observed that chiefs and commoners worked together. Cook marveled by the face that King Kamehameha I, for instance, loved the hard work of the land from dawn until the heat of the day and then again from later afternoon until dark. There is a famous Hawai'ian saying, "Welcome to Paradise. Paradise will change forever."

Yes, Tent City - Hawai'i is on! Yes, like Hawai'i, Gallaudet University will change forever!

Is It Painful to Protest at Gallaudet University?

Is it painful to protest at Gallaudet University? I believe that is, but it is a pain we should not complain, a suffering we must learn to philosophize the more we engage in it. American society sets us up to be free of this necessary pain, so we need to turn against the oppression and question why it is practiced. It is not an easy route—this toward doubt. Enter philosophy.

Deeply influenced by the thought of Spinoza, Dutch heresy philosopher, I support the GUFSSA protest against the flawed selection of the university’s next president, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes. That’s what the protest is all about, and it has two demands—Fernandes to bow out and the presidential search to resume afresh.

Yes, I am a well known troublemaker always at a distance for each position I espouse. Just mention my name Carl Schroeder or my blogsite Kalalau’s Korner to those who have known or read me and you will no doubt stir a flurry of controversy. I have amused some and angered others, refusing to be pinned down to silence. Some say I have never grown up, while others are sure I have been an old man since birth. Some say I have a great gift in language, but I have thrown it to the winds so I could spend more time beachcombing in Hawai’i. I’ve received numerous ugly emails, especially about my daughter Vivienne.

At this writing, all I know right now is that we do not accept the selection of Dr. Jane K. Fernandes as the 9th president of Gallaudet University. And so we have to find a reason why. This influences the protest very much, of course. I don’t doubt that Dr. Jane K. Fernandes is a talented, desperate woman, who could have been perhaps a researcher. And perhaps a tenure embezzler! She wrote a little, but we could see what she is really about, so it becomes a language and culture scandal when she was selected. My painful attitude is directed toward her oppressive, non-academic way of discussing American Sign Language, and soon I see that she is clearly trivializing it. In this infamous v-log, she is seen to assert her ability to sign and talk at the same time and then question David Reynolds whether he objects her ability to talk… with signs. She is not very presidential.

Either writing or just thinking, I certainly feel far away. But, of course, this brings a kind of power of concentration. I enter my imagination, but not the poetic imagination. Never poetic! It is used to honor God, and that is not for me. However, without using my life for something, it would not be worth living. To me, God is the most oppressive of all characters in all biblical spectrums. His love is the most oppressive of all abstracts.

What about dreaming? Can I dream that Gallaudet University is free of language bigotry, hegemony and oppression? No, I am against dreaming, because I see I could dream a connection between premises and conclusions: I dreamed I solved a problem that I’ve read about. When I wrote some of it down on the paper, I found that the conclusion did not follow from the premises in my dream. What a painful story to tell!

I have since been into philosophical thoughts. I’ve read many volumes about philosophy, and there I found Spinoza—this philosophy really questions life itself. If you pay attention to Spinoza’s teaching on the endless oppressive attributes of God, you would have already become suspicious of the diverse rhetoric by many religious leaders. The same truth can be applied to rhetoric from President I. King Jordan and President Designate Jane K. Fernandes. Gallaudet University PR is at its best on their behalf for the oppression to work.

Ludwig Wittgenstein writes, “the world is the totality of facts, not of things.” President Designate Fernandes’ famous phrase, “hearing aids and hearing tests,” is about things. She is unable to address an inescapable fact, Gallaudet University is about our being Deaf. Deafness, whether total or only partial, implies American Sign Language, the language and culture that is rejected as spurious, based on folk beliefs that ASL has no definite system of rules and that if you make up a rule for it, saying that you can sign and talk at the same time, you’ve got a kind of hypothesis. “The man and woman on the street” won’t know the truth of ASL anyhow. It is even more unthinkable to even imagine such the fact President Designate Jane K. Fernandes will serve as our language and culture spokesperson, especially in Congress where the university appropriation is reviewed and appraised annually. Must be a bad dream! It is so painful we simply must protest her selection.

The GUFSSA protest must continue. President Designate Jane K. Fernandes has no standing at all. Her selection as the next university president is ridiculous. To hell with everything at Gallaudet University—start the protest anew, as if this moment were your first and last.

It’s going to be painful to protest at Gallaudet University. GUFSSA is about our future!

The New Mike McConnell Poll:

Just Vote One!

I am a hard-core Democrat. I love Bill Clinton!

Former SBG President Speaks Out Again:
Be Bold!

Who is Aunt Sophie? Where is Paul Kelly hiding? Why is JKF secretive? How can IKJ be? Can Ben Soukup, “for now”, tell us the position description of his membership in BOT? What does “Be Bold!” mean?

Lock Gallaudet University down again. Demand JKF’s unconditional resignation! Demand to restart the presidential search! Gallaudet University was WITHOUT presidency once before and it survived the Deaf President Now demonstration now betrayed and belittled by IKJ himself. Go to all gates and lock them in any way you can. Breaking one’s feet is okay as long as you give them fair warnings!

Be bold! Listen here! The world needs to hear you! It needs to hear us, too! Of course, we will do it in ASL, the language and culture we know the best. We are alive!

Be bold! Be opened! Be heard!

I FEEL ANGRY!

I am shocked. Vivienne has a number with the Metropolitan Police. I want to deny but I can’t. I feel angry!

I began my college career as a science major. I learned that all life forms have the ability to be irritated, that is, they respond to the environment around them. This ability to react to the environment allows them to endure… but when they cannot respond… they die.

Oh my goodness, yes, I transferred to the Psychology department because I became fascinated by abnormal psychology, abnormal behavior, and abnormal power. What… abnormal power? Oh, in his book Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault, a French philosopher who explored the role played by power in shaping knowledge wrote in 1961:

“There are more ideas on earth than intellectuals imagine. And these ideas are more active, stronger, more resistant, and more passionate than politicians think. We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them. Ideas do not rule the world. But it is because the world has ideas... that it is not passively ruled by those who are its leaders or those who would like to teach it, once and for all, what it must think.”

Well, I ended up with a bachelor’s degree with dual majors, Psychology and American Studies (English Department… an approach to American culture from many directions to view America as a whole rather from the perspective of a single discipline). How can I describe President I. King Jordan’s October 14, 2006 “one of the saddest of my life” letter?

Hell, President Jordan continues to celebrate his recommended oppressor-successor, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes. He continues to fail to address the heart of the life of Gallaudet University, American Sign Language. He continues to objectify ASL as the most extreme instance of a language and culture as a means to oppress by persuading Deaf people to respect diverse modes of communication. ASL is the language; and Fernandes’ agenda for “modes of communication” is the essential practice of language oppression; and we the Deaf and Hard of Hearing remain marginalized.

President Designate Jane K. Fernandes made a rare public appearance with an apparently high priority university mission statement: “get… hearing aids and hearing tests.” Very serious! A small group of students needed to meet with her to discuss this matter because… I think these tests would be determinant of Deaf people’s intelligence and ability to sign and voice at the same time according to her folk research.

Oh, did President Jordan ask that we “give Jane Fernandes the respect that is due her” in his letter? Yes, we can but it will be like a final respect. My early college science education, damn it!

(Vivienne, I'm damn PROUD of you! I love you VERY MUCH!)

Speaks Up, Speaks Out!

Gallaudet Needs Change Now!

There are two important amendments to the United States Constitution that help to explain the rights of students at Gallaudet University.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Here’s a breakdown: freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to petition.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Here’s a breakdown: provides "equal protection of the law", therefore preventing discrimination in schools and "due process of law", which means being treated fairly when accused of wrongdoing.

Due process means that Gallaudet University cannot give you a serious punishment, like suspension or expulsion, without first having followed fair procedures to determine if you are guilty. Fair procedure would include: telling you exactly what you are accused of doing wrong, telling you exactly what the punishment will be, and giving you a chance to tell your side of the story before punishing you. Gallaudet University also cannot punish you more severely than other students for the same offense, without good reason. If you are found guilty of something, the punishment can’t be more serious than the misconduct was. If Gallaudet chooses to punish you, it must punish all others the same.

Speak up, speak out! Gallaudet needs change now!

Be bold, be opened, be heard!

In Gallaudet University, We Can Do!

In Gallaudet University, we can do! We can become involved—become a real part of the process—even at the greatest distance. Most of the people around the world are totally unaware that there is any problem at Gallaudet University. Talk about it! Get other interested and concerned for the Deaf in their struggle for social justice. Follow the progress of the GUFSS movement. But most importantly, write letters to Congress.

The theme of President Designate Jane K. Fernandes’ recent article “Many Ways of Being Deaf” in the October 14, 2006 issue of The Washington Post is simple and obvious: divide and conquer. It is self-touting—praising herself as an embracer of American Sign Language (ASL) and its embedded culture—and self-conceiting—telling how she has now become a spokesperson for Deaf people of colors, a microsociology! Her writing has absolutely nothing to do with Deaf people’s academy—Deaf people’s intellectual life.

There have been many revelations from Kendall Green about the last twelve years of Dr. Jane K. Fernandes’s educational leadership. A great many of damages were done, and Deaf people were hurt. However, both Gallaudet University Administration and its Board of Trustees appeared indifferent and oblivious. Gallaudet University has offered the schools (KDES, MSSD, Undergraduate Programs, and Graduate Schools) to the rape of communication speculators who have promoted the “divide and conquer” diversity agenda on campus. Dr. Fernandes does not promote ASL to its highest linguistic potential; she embraces it as the novelty of a new language.

Many people across the nation have caught up in the idea that Gallaudet University is always right, and that the way Gallaudet University acts is best. But they are wrong in Gallaudet University. There are few people around the world who so deeply commune with ASL as do the Deaf people. The world-view which has given direction to Deaf life since pre-Socratic days in Plato’s Cratylus tells each of us that we are a natural user of ASL. This world-view gives us a sense of belonging, of “being at home with ASL,” a sense of fulfillment unknown to academia. Gallaudet University does not address ASL; it addresses communication diversities.

Now is the time for action. The situation at Gallaudet University is urgent. With the stubbornness within the Administration, the GUFSSA agenda may bring action too late. We must act, and broad support is needed. Voice our concern. Write to Congress. In Gallaudet University, we can do!

Tent City - Hawaii!

Mikey Tomito and I agreed to coordinate a support group called Tent City in Haiku, Maui, Hawaii. It will be held on Saturday, October 21st in my beautiful backyard with a hot tub and a huge treehouse (with full mattress in it). Kindly RSVP at TentCityHawaii@yahoo.com. We will have alumni and friends flying in from all islands to get together and support GUFSSA. ASL students are welcome, too!

My Daughter, a Jailbird?

Metropolitain Police Academy Convict # 545 754

Known by her own peers at Gallaudet University, Vivienne is but brilliant. She’s a honors student whose eloquent outlook is a testament to her academic independence and her devotion to her language and culture, ASL. However, she is now in a university that minimizes her talents and now castigates her as a jailbird.

Born in Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, Vivienne was educated in Christian Family Montessori School, Montessori Children's House of Bowie, and then Elizabeth Seton High School, all of which are elite private schools. Both her mother Thelma and I know she was well educated in moral values, academic excellence, civic responsibility, and ultimately community service before she enrolled in Gallaudet University as a honors student.

At Gallaudet University, Vivienne must have found herself fit in a group of beautiful, charming and witty “girls.” Among them is now her fellow arrestee, Leah Katz-Hernandez, who is one of the protest leaders. These girls are one of the most unselfish people at Gallaudet University who saw the wrong and made the right. From campus protest to their being jailbirds, they will have a lot tell the world about existing oppression at Gallaudet University.

But were these girls truly the victims of oppression at Gallaudet University? Will there be someone who is out somewhere ready to belittle them? Whatever the truth, like many of her fellow protestors, Vivienne was made a jailbird. As father I would never guess at the truth about Gallaudet University’s ongoing practice of campus wide oppression.

What a Shameful Story to Tell for Many Centuries

Tim Rarus is another Deaf warrior, probably the most famous user of American Sign Language who has ever lived and in his own time as an undergraduate at Gallaudet, his leadership was nearly as well known, and just as subject to be praised by President I. King Jordan. Now more than ever well-known is his recent arrest as a Better President Now peaceful protest supporter.

Tim Rarus’ arrest was a fearful example of the damage wrecked by inbreeding leadership within the university administration at Gallaudet University. Outwardly, Gallaudet University gave no sign of the oppressive nature which would now appall the whole Deaf world. Instead, President Jordan appeared to be an icon leader of the Deaf and a successful university fundraiser. But beneath this prestigious mask, he is a closet oppressor of ASL no more. He’s out per Tim Rarus.

The symptoms of language and culture oppression went unrecognized for many years, until President I. King Jordan announced his plan to retire and then supported Provost Jane K. Fernandes’ application for his job. His professional conduct did not go unnoticed and, in June 2005, he announced that Fernandes was the “president… oops… provost.” Through his leadership, Jordan also instituted the policy of ASL and English presence—a euphemism for signing and voicing practice. Under cover of signing and voicing coexistence, students were encouraged to respect campus' communication diversities. As a communication by-product, the presidential search retained an independent presidential search consultant who was trained with an inclusiveness of diversity with that understanding.

With Jordan's strategies of campus diversities, Fernandes found herself riding on Jordan's cocktail. Selected as the 9th president of Gallaudet University on May 1, 2006, Fernandes' oppressive impact reached far beyond Gallaudet University. Students, staff and faculty soon received support from Gallaudet University Alumni Association and National Association of the Deaf in grieving her choice.

With Tim Rarus’ arrest, both President Jordan and President Designate Fernandes retain their reputation for oppressive hypocrisy and diversity fanaticism for many centuries to come.

President I. King Jordan
Gallaudet University
800 Florida Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
October 13, 2006

Dear President Jordan:

My name is Carl Nicholas Schroeder. I graduated a Thomas J. Watson Fellow from Gallaudet University in 1983. I love to say that there is no other university like Gallaudet. It is alive!

In 1969, about twenty years before the Deaf President Now demonstration, I was involved in a protest at Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick that demanded ousting of an oppressive school principal. Although he was qualified for his job, his practice of rubbing many people the wrong way was so bad we objected for social justice. We were alive!

Often described as the heart of the Gallaudet University community, American Sign Language, or ASL for short, is central to the life of the university. ASL does not have a spoken counterpart! Undeniably so! But ASL is alive!

Today, about twenty years after the Deaf President Now demonstration, I was involved in blogging to protest Dr. Jane K. Fernandes’ appointment as the ninth president of Gallaudet University for similar reasons my school principal’s oppressive practice of rubbing many people the wrong way. Students at Gallaudet University today are alive.

I hereby join the community of Deaf intellectuals, namely GUFSSA, in demanding you to heed the protest demands that Fernandes resign and that the presidential search restart. You have a big, huge, enormous job to keep our future at Gallaudet alive.

Thank you.

Sincerely,



Carl N. Schroeder
Professor
Maui Community College

CC: GUFSSA
DeafRead

JKF, No Plan B? Tough Luck!

JKF recently made a public appearance and made a patronizing yet audistic (relating to an ability to hear) statement: “Young people can’t make their appointments to get their hearing aids and hearing tests.” JKF is a sorry case.

An effective leader has Plan B when Plan A fails. JKF apparently failed both plans.

Ask why Gallaudet University is not community-friendly? Deaf community and many other communities such as teaching hospitals (George Washington University Hospital, Georgetown University Hospital, etc.)? Must young people have their hearing tested at Gallaudet University? Can they be referred to those other hospitals as an effective part of Plan B? Is it really important that Deaf child to have their hearing tested and retested and re-evaluated? Is deafness okay? Does it need to be fixed? What does hearing aids stand for? Is being hearing better than being Deaf?

JKF simply made a “hearing” statement that we won’t hear it. Tough luck!

Semantics and Pragmatics at Gally:
Dissenting… Oops… Protesting

There are two stages of language analysis, semantics and pragmatics, both of which are concerned with getting at the meaning of a statement. In the first stage (semantics) a partial representation of the meaning is obtained based on the possible syntactic structure(s) of the statement, and on the meanings of the words in that statement. In the second stage, the meaning is elaborated based on contextual and world knowledge. To illustrate the difference between these stages, consider the statement from my daughter Vivienne’s pager:

Auto response from (my daughter): Oh look, the sun's out :-) Dissenting... Oops, I mean protesting...

From knowledge of the meaning of the words and the structure of this above statement we can work out that something (which is bright) leads to something else (which is a happy face). But we can't say what the sun and the happy face are for and why the first thing (the sun) leads to the second (the happy face). That’s semantic aspects of language that cannot be isolated. If we know something about the context (including the next few words) we may be able to work these things out.

Pragmatics is the last stage of language analysis in which the meaning is expanded based on contextual and world knowledge. Contextual knowledge often includes the information given previously (the sun and the happy face), and world knowledge often is about what Vivienne knows.

One important task at this pragmatic stage is to work out referents of Vivienne’s expressions. For example, in the statement "Dissenting… Oops, I meant protesting…" the expression "dissenting" refers to a particular term (say Gally PR). The expression "Oops, I meant protesting" refers to the particular thought Vivienne is talking about students at Gallaudet University. A full representation of the meaning of the statement should mention dissenting versus protesting, Gally PR (hearing) versus students (DEAF), hearing versus DEAF.

We can often find this out by looking at the situation at Gallaudet University today. We can work out from this that "dissenting…" refers to Gally PR. We might also guess that dissenting is on campus, but to work out that we mean students we'd need some extra general or contextual knowledge - that the only students that generally enrolls in Gallaudet University is protestors, and, therefore, "protesting." In general this kind of inference is pretty difficult, though quite a lot can be done using simple strategies, like looking at who's mentioned in the previous statement to work out what “dissenting” refers to. Of course, sometimes there may be two people that Vivienne might be referring to, Gally PR (dissenting) and Gally students (protesting).

Let’s go back to the sun analogy. Vivienne may actually refer it to Plato’s Allegory of Cave.

SMALLER than I thought?

HonuGuy: just got your email

nxxxxx: great!

nxxxxx: let you know that i went ot gally this morning.

nxxxxx: i had an appt with the adm for new building SLCC...it still on, the meeting moved to the hotel.

nxxxxx: we won the bid. everything looks same...guess the adm is working from outside the campus.

HonuGuy: wow

HonuGuy: so you did not get to see the protest?

nxxxxx: yeah...amazed to see how the adm found a way around to keep university open.

nxxxxx: yes, i saw...actually its very small... smaller than i thought.

Another Strategy: FEAR

New Strategies: Blogging and V-logging in DeafRead

If you read some of the blogs and v-logs in DeafRead (DR) about Gallaudet University, it is clear that they represent a new, important form of democratic expression. They mark a fundamental shift in power away from public relations (PR) dominated by Gallaudet University to DR which now empowers the Deaf community. For example, the blogs and v-logs reach places that Gallaudet University PR as well as journalism cannot touch today.

Another example is that after I wrote an extraordinary short essay about Sisyphean Rejoice at Gallaudet, I received a couple of emails and responses about similar excitements that myths are still alive as methaphors in our lives. It provided us with a vivid illustration of reasons why JKF’s selection as Gallaudet University’s president is doomed.

It is not inconceivable that blogging and v-logging in DR will turn out to be just as important as its founders initially supposed. However, what is striking is that there is a little analysis as to whether DR would be entirely a good thing.

There are a number of ways that one might criticize the blogging and v-logging phenomenon. For example, for every post in DR there are, of course, a small dozen “Deaf bloggers and v-loggers” who use it to tell the world about the campus unrest. However, what I want to focus on here is the possibility that blogs and v-logs tend to encourage a new awareness of electronic journalism.

There are two things about blogs and v-logs which make electronic journalism likely. The first is that blogs and v-logs are partial; there is no requirement that they should reflect a diverse range of opinion about particular topics. The second is that people tend to visit those blogs and v-logs which most closely reflect their own experience or oppression. Add these two things together, and the conditions are ripe for the emergence of blogs and v-logs as communities based on “pure confluence” of all people involved in Gallaudet University, the Deaf community and American Sign Language directly and indirectly.

Over the last week there have been hundreds separate postings at DR, which has as its main topic the Deaf journalism. Most of them have been about the campus unrest and oppression at Gallaudet University. Should Gallaudet University be worried about this new kind of blogging and v-logging strategies? I think Gallaudet University should.

Sisyphean Rejoice at Gallaudet

Make no mistake:
It will continue to be messy
And difficult to shape.
__Alani Apio, Hawai’ian writer

I would like to use the Greek myth of Sisyphus to point out the roller coaster situation at Gallaudet University. Sisyphus is condemned by the gods to roll up a boulder up a hill for eternity. When he rolls up the boulder to a summit, it begins to roll down. Sisyphus also discovers there is yet another summit to roll up the boulder. This Sisyphean legend is an outstanding metaphor for our persistent struggle against the oppression at Gallaudet University.

The first step we must take is to accept the fact that the boulder of oppression has reached many summits before. If protest demands are not heeded, then the only alternative is to rebel, as for Sisyphus, by rejoicing in the act of rolling up the boulder up the hill again. By accepting defeats joyfully, we continue to gain new definitions and identities which are thematically complementary.

JKF’s selection to become the next president last May was the wake up call, and we the Deaf became more than ever unified. Tent Cities became our new vogue. ASL has become more and more apparent for all the Deaf. Our identity with ASL became evident in blogs and v-logs. ASL linguistics is always hard!

We heard our opponents. Their authentic efforts to preserve folk linguistics, folk culture, and folk intelligence are fine as long as they think they are impressed by themselves in their verbose writings. They argued that they saw Deaf people sign something that appeared pseudo-English to them, they argued for it. Yes, I can recite every sign for every word in The Lord’s Prayer or The Nation’s Anthem or some Nursery Rhymes, which is never, ever a problem. Folk linguistics is always trivial!

Today, together we’ve rolled up the boulder of campus wide oppression all the way up a hill now it gets to roll down back to the bottom. Let’s be joyful about it, go to it, and roll it up again. We need to be bold, be opened, and be heard!

JKF’s Name:
From Hawai’i to the District of Columbia

Her name is synonymous with rubbing many people the wrong way, her reputation that of the ultimate ruthlessness. Despite the chill that still rises at the mention of her name JKF is far more than the ASL-Deaf Studies scholar that she thinks she is.

In Hawai’i, it is true that JKF developed both Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Interpreting Training Program. Now they are in the hands of hearing superiors, and Deaf employees are submissive to them. Hawaii Center for the Deaf has been within the auspices of the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) which is a well known state agency that hurt and destroyed many, many people (hearing!).

When I began to articulate and facilitate ASL Program at Maui Community College, I received an intimating email from a hearing program coordinator on another island. I will read in part:

"Before you submit “anything” I suggest we have a serious conversation about the history of the ASL, Deaf Studies and Interpreting courses. It would be good for us to talk about the work that KCC has already done and that the interpreting degree is a “systemwide” program. The BOR passed it with that understanding."

(BOR is the Board of Regencies)

Maui Community College is NOT on her island. There are 240 babies born on Maui between 2000 and 2005 who were diagnosed with a degree of hearing loss. There is no ASL program on this island for these babies, families and friends, which is not acceptable. So I responded to her about the interpreters graduated from her program. Let me quote in part:

"Last February I attended DOE's mandatory workshops on cochlear implants and visual phonics in Honolulu. As professional who happens to be Deaf (born to Deaf parents), I was totally embarrassed by unskilled interpreters in these highly professional workshops. It was so unfair to not only me, but also the speakers from Gallaudet University, and most of them were my former, if not close, colleagues in the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School. They spoke with me and told me these interpreters were like WHY?"

As a Deaf individual wishing to make contributions to this beautiful, rural island of Maui, I am totally disgusted by JKF’s ruthless influence still hanging from her Hawai’ian days here on Maui.

Today JKF is in Washington, D.C., and we are reading about her ruthless and cruel leadership. I could clearly see some Hawai'ian patterns in her efforts at Gallaudet University. The dislike of JKF has undoubtedly grown larger than her own deeds. She can not be a role model for future university presidents, Deaf and hearing alike, at Gallaudet University.

Hamlet and I:

My Pager Conversation With One Elizabeth

HonuGuy: Of course not....imagine 100, 200, 300 students arrested...would need a pool of interpreters...someone's budget purse would have to be emptied

HonuGuy: my dear

mishkazena: good point

HonuGuy: then enter the judge....

HonuGuy: judge need to give each individual the right to attorney

HonuGuy: then the attorney needs an interpreter....

HonuGuy: ripple effects.

mishkazena: why not post that

mishkazena: make jordan think twice

mishkazena: or I can do that, if you rather me do it

HonuGuy: yeah

mishkazena: but you can write it... whatever you feel more comfy

HonuGuy: you can quote me

HonuGuy: I am writing about JKF right now

HonuGuy: writer block right now....

HonuGuy: words, words, words (Shakespeare in Hamlet)

IKJ is ILLEGAL!

In this post, l shall attempt to discuss line by line to discredit IKJ’s statement in Inside Gallaudet yesterday.

Civility, integrity, and truth are victims today, held hostage as much as our beloved campus.

In this above statement, there are only two words that are people: victims and hostage. How can IKJ dare to make personification out of civility, integrity, and truth without elaborating or describing them? Try to imagine who civility is, who integrity is, and who truth is. Victims and hostage are two serious terms, and I shall explain why the headline reads: IKJ is ILLEGAL!

I have been asked why I haven’t used police to end the stand off.

This is the most cop-out statement. Our strongman blog-fellow, Mike McConnell, would swear that with too much education you must not be afraid to use police to teach all FSSA members a lesson in civility, integrity and truth. He’s probably pissed off right now. Oh, I must not forget those students who bleed Buff and Blue because they are driven with a strong desire to have blood on the hands of the protestors!

It is because I care about the safety of all of our students more than the protestors care about anything but getting their way.

Did IKJ say “I”? Is it like in his initials or just his egoistic trip? How self-righteous he is! No wonder he’s being blinded by his dualistic action, “I” versus they. He has to blame someone but he blames too many people.

This illegal and unlawful behavior must stop.

Oh, how illegal? How unlawful? If such a behavior is wrong then IKJ must do his duty as a university president to report the police, period. Law is law, right? Does IKJ have the heart in the right place? Is his head on his shoulders? Since he does not call in the police for illegal and unlawful behavior, then he does not follow laws! IKJ is ILLEGAL!

The faculty members who are instigating and manipulating the students have simply gone too far in pursuit of their own agendas.

Again IKJ needs to blame some more people. Who? Faculty members are now scapegoats just because they do have academic freedom that saw a flawed procedure in the presidential selection. That has become an item in their agenda.

IKJ’s statement in Inside Gallaudet is a laughingstock! IKJ is ILLEGAL! As long as IKJ is already illegal, the GUFSAA protest continues!

Be Bold! Be Opened! Be Heard!

JKF, You’re COLD!

Your statement on becoming the next president of Gallaudet University is without compassion and comfort. It lacks goals and generosity. It is mean spirited! JKF, you’re cold!

For JKF, Folk Linguistics Continues!

Eighteen years after the legendary Deaf President Now demonstration, IKJ is now retiring in the most bizarre episode of his intellectual life. His successor JKF comes in as his folk linguistics counterpart. I explained in my email to some concerned colleagues: "For once, when ASL and JKF came in contact, she became a folk linguistics parry, defending herself."

When it comes to JKF's turn to say something intelligible, our intuitive sense informs us that she would sign and talk at the same time which bastardizes ASL, our precious language and culture. Thus, we don't appreciate her wry comments about anything including us the Deaf. The way she attempted to refute David Reynolds in Indiana about her ability to sign and talk at the same time was self-deceptive and self-depreciative.

The reason Gallaudet University today continues to perceive ASL so often wrong is that the IKJ-JKF Administration has successfully evolved ASL into folk linguistics to guide us to speculate or guess diverse modes of communication. Folk astronomy, for example, told (key word: past tense) us that the world is flat and the stars revolve around the earth to determine our fate and future. Folk linguistics told (key term again!) us that we can borrow the English word order in ASL of "all languages" to accomplish one of many, many possible "modes of communication." Folk linguistics describes JKF's leadership.

Of course, Gallaudet University thinks JKF is understandably qualified to continue traditions of folk linguistics. For her, ASL is all too uncertain!

Just an Advice for FSSA and GUAA

I recently received an email from a friend of mine from my college days. Like me, he’s very concerned about today’s campus lockdown. Would it serve as a backfire? Does this FSSA group have attorneys? I replied in part:

“During the 1988 DPN demonstration, I insisted that an attorney be retained to represent us, but I was meted out by heavy critics and rejections. Honestly, it was a "small income" protest because it did not create an endowment for a watchdog group or something like that. In 2000, IKJ appointed inexperienced JKF as the university provost, and we were mere bystanders who were powerless. Last year, IKJ made a Freudian slip by calling JKF president. Again, we remained mere bystanders...we do not have funds to protest his statement. Gallaudet University hired a consultant group for the presidential search. We were simply THE bystanders. This is not going to happen any longer.”

Now is a good time to solicit money donations from various organizations and corporations to support FSSA and GUAA. The donated money should be used to create a Gallaudet University watchdog group allowing us to keep our eyes on Gallaudet University in the future. We also need to promote democracy as well as ASL, our language and culture on campus.

Why? Harvard University has one. So does University of California, Berkeley. Yale University, too! And the University of Hawaii, too! Gallaudet University? Yes! Give your money now!

ASL vs. JKF’s Absurdness

Now I can broach the notion of intellectual oppression at Gallaudet University. There is a real protest. It has already been felt what solution might be given. At this point the problem is reversed. It was previously a question of finding out whether or not JKF appears university presidential. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that she is not. Watching the campus unrest at Gallaudet University, a particular fact, is acknowledging it fully. Now, no one will live in this fact, not knowing it to be important, unless JKF goes away.

The Gallaudet University FSSA Protest is a constant confrontation between the Administration and its own obscurity claiming intellectuality among Deaf people whose primary language is but American Sign Language. The Administration has been very supportive of JKF as the next university president on erratic agenda. It is an insistence upon a possible leadership transparency if Gallaudet University chooses to challenge the world anew every second. Gallaudet University is to be honest about our language and culture, American Sign Language.

JKF represents an intellectual absurdness. She works very hard to spread out her whole notion of “all languages and modes of communication.” Her effort is essential to oppress ASL in implicit yet respectful manners by dividing and then unifying Deaf people with her diversity catchword purse of some $800K. However, marginalizing ASL is repudiation that JKF can only drain Deaf people’s intellectual life to the bitter end, and it depletes her oppressive efforts. It's not workable!

This would definitely be JKF’s first consequence as Gallaudet University’s next president. She’s loosing believability. She’s now unable to find rowers to navigate her “all languages and modes of communication” ship furthermore. Rats jump off a sinking ship called… JKF!

Books Are Old News! So Is DPN!

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is educational ignorance. Whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories, games are to be played, ASL does not include voicing…one must first answer!

While a graduate student at American University in Washington, D.C., I got lost in one of my professor’s classes. I struggled in understanding what he was covering but I couldn’t simply match anything he said with what I read. I decided to meet with him in his office to discuss my hardships of graduate studies. I told him I’d read all required books but I couldn’t seem to sew in any of them in the classroom discourses. He smiled and told me: “Books are old news!”

I was like WOW! His answer was that simple: “Books are old news!” If I were to ask myself how to judge such a book, I quickly learned to judge the book by the words it contains. I also learned that these words are written to create or poison something. A Greek philosopher Plato’s own ambivalence about writing is well known because it meant death of Socrates’ philosophy as well as birth of Aristotelian follies.

In Plato’s Phaedrus, there is a mythic debate over writing between Thoth and Thamus. Thoth argues for the advantages of written literacy, but Thamus counters that writing leads to a false wisdom. Today, for example, we are watching a huge struggle between The Vatican City and the world of Muslims. The battle of scriptures!

Here’s another example: Today we are reading some posts from alumni across the nation and abroad about their direct or indirect involvement in the 1988 Deaf President Now demonstration. We thought it was for the best. However, let’s face the truth: DPN is old news! DPN has lost its own wisdom! We are no longer ignorant!

Call Ourselves Gallaudetian Warriors!

Warriors,
Warriors we call ourselves.
We fight for splendid virtue,
For high endeavor,
For sublime wisdom,
Therefore

We call ourselves warriors.

__Aunguttara Nikaya

Last month I wrote a post proclaiming Ryan Commerson a warrior. To him, a new philosophy begins to develop as a weapon. Ryan is surely the most gifted of what becomes of us—we merged as Gallaudetian Warriors.

For me the Gallaudetian Warriors mark the beginning of an idea which we are to pursue in exclusive ASL—our language and culture. We attempt to resolve the problems of oppression in the language and culture we know the best, as the IKJ-JKF Administration attempts to resolve those of stalemate in “all languages and modes of communication.” Our Gallaudetian Warrior banner demanding Gallaudet University reopens the presidential search is gallantly hanging over Kendall Green.

As Gallaudetian Warriors, we know patience is a virtue—a scrupulous logic and splendid kind of poetry of thought—because we are aiming at what Aunguttara Nikaya calls high endeavor and sublime wisdom in exclusive ASL. If our effort is sometimes down, it can also be up. We are happy Gallaudetian Warriors!

We the Gallaudetian Warriors have marched with raging soul far from home, passing beyond the nature’s obstacles, and we are now coming home on Kendall Green. We shall march with dignity and authenticity!

See Me About Plagiarism!

Yes, my essay got flunked in red. My professor wrote a note telling me to see her about plagiarism.

A few days earlier I arrived in class late and discovered that homework was due in the class. I had to find a paper sheet and borrow someone’s pen. During the class, I wrote my essay. It was turned in before the class ended. My classmates thought I was crazy. They saw that I wrote a full page, and they wondered if I told a fib in my writing. I told them that I read everything and I could remember them well.

After we received our paper, I got an F on my paper. The classmates mocked and said our professor was right because I wrote it at the last minute. I showed them the written note about plagiarism. Their eyes widened and they began to say “No way!”

Soon the entire class got upset about plagiarism that I did not. Embarrassed, the professor suggested that I come to her office to discuss my paper. I went to her office after my other class ended, for I had back to back classes that morning. When I was in her office, she asked to read my paper again. She explained that after she first read it, she decided to share it with some other faculty who were hearing. They told her that no Deaf person could write such a good paper that I did. My grade was changed from an F to a B. Her reason was that I did not do my homework before the class. I refused to debate her.

Many years forwarded. I became a faculty member of the English Department in 1986. I went through a series of department orientation, pedagogical philosophy, and,the most important of all, grading policies. I listened to them with a knot with fear in my stomach. Generally hearing department members were highly hostile toward Deaf students, calling them names and treated them as warm bodies.

They also demanded that I show them my English for departmental evaluation. During the first semester, they told me stories about English of other Deaf department members. They were highly suspicious, and some of them decided that some Deaf department members received help from their mother or friend. They insisted to know who helped me with my English.

In one department meeting, I heard a veteran professor pointing out that Deaf people are not the owners of the English language, and therefore they could not pass the course with an A. It prompted me to raise my hand and told him that I did receive an A for English. He shot back and said it must be a mistake. I thought: Oh my dear, none of my Deaf professors of English gave me an A. However, during one semester, I couldn’t find a Deaf professor to teach a required English course so I settled with a hearing professor who passed me with flying colors.

Plagiarism or not, the English Department at Gallaudet University can make one sad case study for language bigotry and oppression.

Wow, Bob Does Know Something: JKF’s Spell!

For a number of years I could raise my blood pressure by listening to many stories about Deaf people by hearing people teaching them. Most hearing people in the world of Deaf Education are apparently committed to defending Deaf people’s ability to utter something using voice. This means that they have to get through the Training and on to the Classroom without being stopped by ASL Proficiency Interview. Because I laughed with some critics as Professor Bob Johnson in A Tough Spell At Gallaudet, I decided to write this post showing that according to Bob’s writing, JKF does sound that way. That gave me the title: "Wow, Bob Does know Something: JKF’s Spell!"

I had forgotten, but after I wrote the first paragraph I came across old notes in which I had some written discussion with a fellow graduate student about my voice. Being my linguistics informant, he told me that although my speech is understandable, it does sound funny. It is now catchy. It starts to make me think: What does Bob mean when he wrote “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet.” ASL is so stringent that it exists without the benefit of voicing.

The title is very important. “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet” is a good title because it encapsulates a lot of Bob’s courage and confidence. He was sure he knew what he had to say—and joke.

I analyze far below the title “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet” in some detail, both from Bob’s statement and from my statement, more or less paragraph by paragraph. I give my arguments for doing what I do and then also provide objections to my writing. In this way I do that Jack W. Meiland recommends about argumentative writing in his “College Thinking”: give arguments, but also provide objections to those arguments. Well, in all honesty, I do not always do that when signing meets voicing because it becomes moot.

My argument: someone might object to Bob’s title “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet” on the ground that it is flippant. Also, it states in the conclusion that it does not seem proper English. My objection: I counter that Bob’s essay does give a powerful hint of skeptical goings-on, and despite my saying that Bob has to tease us, we the readers need to anticipate some truths. And I give it all away in the last paragraph:

D. Jane K. Fenandes, embattled Pesident Elect of the Univesity, though attled by ecent events, announced he suppot fo the change. “Not only does it demonstate that the univesity is citically concened about impotant issues such as the envionment and global waming, but it is especially appopiate and elevant at Gallaudet,” she poclaimed, “because when you fist look at it, it looks like university but it’s eally not.

More important is what things are; this is usually what I mean when I say Bob knows something. So in this above paragraph, I come to the crux of the matter. I argue that JKF cannot talk—and sign. I object that JKF needs to be funny about her own deafness. Gallaudet University is more all-round if ASL is fully-fledged. Any mode of communication will not ing ight!

Goddamn it, Bob, linguistics is done with an epee, not a scimitar. What an underlying spell!

BEWARE!

The Gallaudet University Administration can be very bully!

It's the economy that we lack!

ASL Is Coming Home: A Protest Poem

Begin with ASL,
Two users talk.
Call it a pattern of vibes,
A certain weaving together of vibes.
ASL does not exist
Only in the physical realm.
In other realms, too.
And just as there are ASL guides
And ASL angels, there are ASL heavens,
And planets where ASL is integrated
Into the fabric of life in ways
That we have both forgot
And are moving toward again.
ASL is coming home again!

by Carl "Kalalau" Schroeder

IKJ's Letter to Alumni Rejected

In a dizzying tumble of words about campus protest that has left the Gallaudet University community little uncovered. IKJ has something new to say about JKF. He does not rationalize, analyze, cheerlead or scold, but presents simply one more lie too many. By writing as purely from the heart as he does, IKJ places a simple order that we must accept JKF.

IKJ presents neither an argument for JKF’s superiority nor her lack, but creates merely a case for labeling FSSA as a group of dissenters he sees as inherent to the Gallaudet University community the American society has negatively labeled as “those who cannot help themselves.” In fact, it is ASL which gives Deaf people their potency—if only they were to know it. IKJ speaks of dissenters being misfit, of finding their faults in the building takeover, but not from the assimilatory “peaceful resolution” posture espoused by many alumni. Pleading tolerance and justice is one thing, striving to create a new mythic “all languages and modes of communication” paradigm that JKF has vehemently touted in which we could hardly comprehend is another.

Blogs and v-logs about Gallaudet University from numerous respectful alumni across the nation and around the world did not just come into being, but have had a long and interesting development. They can be said to be the product of political, social, language and cultural oppressions of many years. The role played by the IKJ Administration in forming today’s grievance is responsible for the fact that it is referred to us the Deaf as the oppressed.

A consequence of superimposing “all languages and modes of communication” on our language and culture is seen in the oppression that continues to happen at Gallaudet University in the near future. We the Deaf are accustomed to the fact that a person who is oppressed cannot be a dissenter. He or she is an activist.

I cannot speak for all alumni but I can reject your plea. JKF must begone.

Stop That, IKJ!

Inside Gallaudet features President IKJ's declaration: "I was looking forward to announcing a peaceful resolution today to the campus building takeover. We actually had a signed agreement this afternoon with the president of the Student Body Government. He has since rescinded his signature." Stop that, IKJ!

In his announcement to campus, IKJ has actually failed to elaborate the context of the agreement; he has also failed to understand that SBG President must report to Student Congress for final approval. IKJ is clearly manipulative with the only two goals in mind: (1) to make SBG vulnerable and (2) to sabotage the FSSA protest. That was disrespectful!

At first I was persuaded by the IKJ announcement, but upon reflection, I decided his explanations didn’t hold water. The IKJ Administration must not confound its problem by changing demands imposed by the FSSA protest. IKJ is not to make an announcement that confounds the skeptics. Do not patronize us!

Stop that, IKJ!

We Are The Gallaudet University Community!

After nearly two decades that saw the oppressive IKJ administration denying and neglecting our language and cultural heritage, today’s campus protest at Gallaudet University brought a renewal of interest in higher education that addresses ASL and Deaf Culture. The wrong selection of JKF is now more than ever credited with sparking the campus protest. Bold statements for the protest, they refuted many false claims commonly passed on from Gallaudet University’s PR and the office of President I. Jordan King, they noted a number of evident oppressions of the IKJ administration throughout his presidency, and they proclaimed our community—the Gallaudet University community—that stands firmly behind the FSSA protest.

The time is right. Thousands of opinions are arriving in the forms of blogs and v-logs hoping to see something changed. It is okay to demand change. JKF’s “all languages and modes of communication” shibboleth and “diversity” catchword are ridiculed. The Gallaudet University community is growing quickly into a wide-ranging of renewal of supports from various other institutions and organizations. Enters Congress now!

What campus would become the university that uses exclusive American Sign Language (ASL)for intellectual discourses? And what would the relationship of this university be to the world? It's going to be the greatest gift that George Veditz in the 1913 film, The Preservation of Sign Language, promised our world. The change we demand has been declared in exclusive ASL.

The campus protest is a clear step toward to make it difficult if not impossible for the IKJ Administration at Gallaudet University to admit the JKF mistake. We know it. We are the Gallaudet University community.

Dear Concerned Students:

I am writing this open letter to respond to some concerned students. I read several posts in DeafRead that cause us to ask ourselves the eternal question on the meaning of higher learning—not higher learning as we know at Gallaudet University, but our own learning. It is factual that we are all unique, individually blessed with a complex pattern of DNA; we understand that there is no one else like us in this vast universe. Therefore our answer to this question is an answer unique to us as well; only we alone can answer it truthfully and completely, and have it be the right answer, our right answer.

Over the years of my professoriate, I have heard countless education gurus tout the great benefits to be reaped from teaching their students. Every successful professor has their former students either write or visit him or her from time to time. Looking back over the years, I now realize I lost time and momentum not allowing this certainty to work for me sooner. I sat through post after post in DeafRead and even did the notes with true intention, however once reading was over, I looked at my notes often enough to have it drive me to write this open letter.

Having an international experience myself, I am always concerned about foreign students at Gallaudet University. I wrote to this Japanese student at Gallaudet University: “As professor of 20 years, I can assure you that a good professor makes good students. If you don't know what to do next, then you have a bad professor. That's all I can tell you as a veteran professor. I never allow my students not knowing what their semester entails. It's all in my course syllabus. I am sorry but your professor needs improvement.”

Ideally for me, all classes are discussion-based in exclusive American Sign Language (not in any of other modes of communication—too much of guesswork, thank you, JKF). There should be no class lectures; instead, the students meet together with faculty members to explore the books being read and studied. In the other words, the all-required course of study is based on the reading, study, and discussion of the assigned books.

Class discussion can be held anywhere on campus—under a tree, on a rooftop, and even in President’s residence. You can even invite your professor and classmates to your bedroom or Cafeteria to discuss the class assignment.

As I have shared with you, I fervently believe that to be a professor is to touch another’s life in a profound way. I believe that as a professor, I must accept an inescapable certainty with a sense of responsibility, developing the students to realize that learning does not always happen in classroom. Tap into the power and freedom the students have to design and create their higher learning in the way they want it to turn out. That’s the most important empowerment a good professor can make for his or her students.

Forget HMB. Forget classrooms. Find your professor and bring him or her to your dormitory!

With aloha always from Hawai’i,
Carl Schroeder

CC: FSSA

DeafRead, I Love You Guys!

I could never express how thankful I am to these three media geniuses, Tayler, Jared and Carrie. They made it possible for me to meet such sincere people through their website bestseller DeafRead. I took liberty to include two emails I received from two individuals which meant a lot to me. Here they are.

Date: Tue 03 Oct 2006 12:00:07 PM EDT
Subject: Hello from Rochester NY

Hi, Carl,

It has been many years since I last saw you as a senior graduating from MSSD and I was a teacher about to leave to pursue a master's degree in counseling. Our good friend Sarah Val threw a party to celebrate, and did we celebrate! It was good to discover your blog and learn about your pathways and that you have a family now.

To update you on me: I got the Master's and spent the next 15 years counseling first in Washington, DC with the inner city Deaf and then in Toronto with the international deaf community. I married and had three children, who are now 24, 18 and 18. One of the twins, a boy, is deaf and will soon go to NTID. The others, girls, are either attending college or working in Boston. My husband, a Colombian, and I were married for 28 years before divorcing. Now I am a publisher of legal books and newsletters, and thinking what to do with the rest of my life (travel, writing, anything goes!) In my spare time I do photography and printing of large photos as a home business; the biggest was a 24 inch by 6 foot panorama of the School for the Deaf here.

Whatever you do, keep on writing your blog and telling about your cultural experiences, especially in Hawai'i where there is such a wonderful mix of cultures! Best wishes to you and your family, and all the best to Meriam. It was wonderful to hear about old times again!

Yours,
Diane



Date:
Sun 08 Oct 2006 07:58:21 PM EDT

Subject: Allison Fanara Here

Greetings, Carl!I apologize for the long delay in responding back to you, and this is actually my real email address - alibgt@earthlink.net, not the other one which was cafanara@aol.com. I have had troubles with my computer, and hopefully they will be solved soon. I wanted to touch bases with you and let you know how much I truly appreciate and enjoy your blog - you are brilliant! Why don't you write a book?!!!!! I'm not kidding!!!

I was so excited to read what you wrote about Michael Foucault, because I just learned all about him last semester for my course in "Rhetoric of Terrorism". The professor who taught that course is an old hippie, of course - hee - but a terrific fellow! Professor Attias, for this course, was referring to Foucault's argument that one of the reasons for war is eugenics - perfect biology, if you will call it - think Hitler (cleaning up Jews), think Rwanda (genocide). I found that to be so fascinating, and guess what I said to Professor Attias? I raised my hand and said, "Wow. Don't you think this applies to us Deaf people? Think hearing people, who are constantly trying to fix us and "clean up" the ear?" The poor fellow was taken aback and paused...and then said, "Ummm, I'll have to think about that!" I was so excited to see that the wheels were turning in his head, because by the time the first Gallaudet protests took place in May - he told the class that I was right! Allright!

I have to tell you one more story - in another course I butted heads with a professor who drove me nuts. One of his all-time favorite philosophers is Jacques Derrida, who wrote "Of Grammatology". Well, at the Deaf library where I work, I came across Ben Bahan - Dirksen Bauman's article, "The Metaphysics of Oppression" (great article, let me tell you!) - they mentioned Jacques Derrida and what he said. I got so excited and thought I'd get even with that professor because he so loves Derrida. Derrida, in discussing the rhetorical animal that uses speech, stated that we can be convinced by reading, not just speech. Not only that, we can be convinced by other linguistic modes. That's where I got so excited - meaning "sign language", right?

Well, in my paper, I claimed that we are basically the world's oldest rhetorical animal: the signing animal, rather than the speaking animal or the reading animal. Think gestures. A professor, Professor Ivani Fuselli-Souza, of University of Paris, proved that gestures formed in a group can become sign language when no other mode is used. Interesting, umm? When I got my paper, I got a bright red F. Yikes, I thought....three days later I had a meeting with the department chairman, who is a Nigerian and wears Nigerian clothing - cool guy - and thank God he helped me in changing the grade from F to B. He actually laughed when I told him the real reason why I wrote this paper, to rub that professor's nose in it. He said, "Don't tell him I laughed! He has a very arrogant attitude, and you are not the only student he offended. Unfortuntely, he has tenure. Don't worry, I'll help you." Yikes, right? This time I am more careful...

Thanks again for writing such brilliant entries - we're having a Los Angeles Gallaudet rally tomorrow - pah, eh?! I am going to try attending this from work, which fortunately is a 2 minute drive away! Wink...Take care!!!

Hugs, Allison!

DeafRead Folks, please join me in thanking Tayler, Jared and Carrie for making such outstanding contributions to our community. I love you guys!

Carl

Yes, It’s a Peaceful Protest at Gallaudet!
Yes, There's No Police Brutality in HMB!

No known protest is peaceful! Someone gets upset about it. Someone hates it. Someone gets angry about it. Someone gets afraid by it. Gandhi’s non-violent claim of satyagraha (holding on to truth) had its own violent ending: Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948. About 20 years later, Gandhi’s follower, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who used a non-violent method for conflict resolution, was assassinated in April 1968. Fast forwarded to 1988, Gallaudet University staged a non-violent protest that demanded a Deaf university president. Yes, there were several students who were violently assaulted by both campus and DC police forces. Today, Gallaudet University students protested the selection of JKF peacefully but they were shoved and sprayed on violently in HMB. Protest and violence do go hand in hand.

For two years, 1984-1986, I worked in the Visitors Center at Gallaudet University. It was a big part of the Department of Public Relations. I understood how PR works. I couldn’t express any better than Max Clifford who asserted that "Lies are a big part of PR - I have always admitted that." I could vividly remember being trained to tell white lies.

In 1984, for example, School of Education Dean Gilbert Delgado, a CODA, was demoted to classroom assignments which upset not only campus community but many, many people across the nation and around the world. Professor Delgado was a highly respected individual whose ASL was as native as could be. I was instructed to either dodge questions about him or tell white lies that responsibilities were removed from him so the graduate students could benefit from his wisdom. For two years, I was mostly cooperative with Gallaudet University’s PR, telling white lies.

Although the protest about flawed presidential search at Gallaudet University today provides extraordinary and irrefutable evidence that the powerful university administration uses PR to smash any rationale of grievance. Why does Gallaudet University PR lie about such small things? Is there something Gallaudet University PR is trying to cover up for JKF? Gallaudet University PR is probably sitting right now and reading DeafRead so it could hurry and have the ongoing lies change. It makes us wonder if Gallaudet University PR lies about this, it lies about just anything. Why is it so careless with the facts that we the Deaf are not dumb?

If Gallaudet University PR is going to lie to the community, it will make it an unverifiable and believable. You will understand why when you make friends with JKF. I will make it simple: Gallaudet University PR lied because it could not close the deal. So, instead of covering up, it told us JKF is “not deaf enough” and “there was no police brutality in HMB.”

Save Gallaudet University:
Stop Presidential Monarchy

Monarchy is one of the oldest forms of government, with echoes in the “my turf” or “in-house” leadership. I am writing this post because I don’t think a secular academic freedom at Gallaudet is a guarantee of higher education because of the upcoming JKF presidency. I would consider that an in-house promotion is a guarantee for despotism, and the myth of presidential monarchy for Gallaudet, by giving examples of three Gallaudet University presidents: Jerry C. Lee, I. King Jordan, and upcoming Jane K. Fernandes.

As a presidential monarch, JKF will not be able to lead the university, but will perform only important ceremonial and formal roles with respect to the Faculty governance, and the devolved assemblies of faculty in the Laurent Clerc National Center. Gallaudet University was chartered for higher learning and democracy for all the Deaf but JKF has speculated completely different agenda for the university. JKF prefers being the queen of “all languages and modes of communication.”

In addition to her monarchy-presidential duties, JKF will have an important role to play in public. She will be able to show how she could perform her language and communication spectacle. She will act a focus for campus unity and pride by means of diversity initiatives to stunt as much ASL and its embedded Deaf Culture as possible to promote her own propaganda.

We the Deaf must stop this new practice of presidential monarchy at Gallaudet University. JKF must step down and begone. We can manage without her. Let's start a new presidential search.

Gallaudet University on Sunday:
Good Reading Makes Good Diplomacy

Whether you’re based in HMB or your dormitory or Tent City somewhere across the nation, I have a proposal to match our national intellectual movement. May the Gallaudet University FSSA protest generate ideas that we all should make every Sunday our Reading Time! Here are twenty tips about reading that I found somewhere in the internet. They are good! Good reading makes good diplomacy.

1. Reading is grafting, and the reader connects new text to another text read.

2. Reading is dancing, and the reader follows the lead and steps of the text, including its rhythm, music, lyric, genre, and flow.

3. Reading is sorting, and the reader puts knowledge and experience and dramatic elements of text into categories.

4. Reading is surveying, and the reader examines the territory of the book, its surface, size, structure, scope, distinguishing features, divisions, boundaries, etc.

5. Reading is integrating, and the reader incorporates new knowledge into other knowledge; blending and kneading together.

6. Reading is counting, and the reader is concerned with the number of pages in the text or how many pages are left until they can escape the text (also envision the image of a prisoner marking off days on calendar).

7. Reading is soaking up, and the reader absorbs the text like a sponge.

8. Reading is a vehicle, and the reader travels to another place.

9. Reading is eating, and the reader consumes and is nourished (or poisoned) by the text.

10. Reading is a mirror, and the reader sees reflection in text.

11. Reading is a machine, and the reader feeds the text through a mechanical process.

12. Reading is a transaction, and the reader and text exchange value: the reader receives knowledge and experience, the text receives meaning, and the newly produced response is the receipt or proof of the transaction.

13. Reading is exercise, and the reader gains intellectual agility and strength.

14. Reading is mining, and the reader digs into the text for answers.

15. Reading is a good investment, and the reader’s efforts pay off.

16. Reading is planting, and the reader receives seeds of knowledge that grow into new understanding.

17. Reading is unwrapping, and the reader opens the text to reveal a hidden message.

18. Reading is translating, and the reader moves the meaning from one language to another.

19. Reading is a friend, and the reader enjoys the companionship of the text.

20. Reading is wrestling, and the reader struggles with the text.

Professor Donalda Ammons: She Wept

Now, living at the sunrise of the new century, we are told that our language and culture has already been recognized and acknowledged. ASL has been linguistically claimed and described. Unlike William C. Stokoe, we know that Professor Donalda Ammons has taught Spanish through both ASL and written English. Her teaching tools are colored markers. She’s outstanding. When I saw pictures of her tears, I cried.

In late 1960’s Donalda wrote me a postcard from Holland because she knew I was born there. She sampled some spicy Indonesian food for which Holland is famous. She has a wonderful picture of herself in a traditional Dutch costume. That was before she tripped in a bathtub and got a broken arm in Holland.

Yes, we know each other for a long, long time. Since our school days! In all honesty, I had never, ever seen her cry the way she did at Gallaudet University. It scared my imagination because she meant it. I felt angry because she was hurt. Not right!

I’ve read some posts criticizing and mocking the students at Gallaudet University as children. They need to see those pictures of Professor Donalda Ammons inside HMB with these children. She wept.

Old God With New Tricks at Gallaudet:
Random, Out of Control, Inexplicable Acts

A story reads: In the ancient Egyptian myth, Sobek was a crocodile god born to be flexible. He had improvised and took on a new job to listen to the complaints of man’s modern moans. He was a symbol of the physical strength of the pharaoh, and he was bodyguard for other colleagues protecting them from all evil. He chose to make his own cult the state religion. He encouraged gossips and rumors to multiple and spread till the flood of misinformation means everyone was misled. False impressions, propaganda, strong enough Sobek brought down a pharaoh.

How, how, how? How is that possible? Across our country, are we receiving gossips and rumors from Gallaudet University till we become misled? Will Gallaudet University bring down our intellectual community? We’ve read numerous posts in DeafRead (Thank you Tayler, Jared and Carrie), and we could see the flood of misinformation means begin to rise.

SBG Vice President has resigned because he thought he is now premeditated by Dean Carl Pramuk for a possible job slot at Gallaudet University. How suggestive of his own thinking! Is Sobek alive somewhere on chaotic Kendall Green. No! It is just an old god with new tricks!

A plastic bottle was thrown at a police officer, so reported President-designate JKF. That was barbaric of her. Did she justify police brutalities in HMB? How inexplicable! Is Sobek still spreading gossips and rumors? No! It is just an old god with new tricks!

The students screamed “no, no, no” when the Art Building was renamed from an alumnus Cadwallader Washburn to an interloper Linda Jordan. This renaming (not naming) ceremony was completely out of conrol. Is Sobek strong enough to bring down us? No, it is just an old god with new tricks!

We must remain vigilant. We must watch our people on Kendall Green. We must assure them that Sobek is just an old god with new tricks.

Reclaiming the Art Building at Gallaudet

The name of the Art Building at Gallaudet University was replaced from the Cadwallader Washburn Art Building to the Linda Jordan Art Building. Why? Cadwallader Washburn was a well known Gallaudet alumnus whose art work can be found in different museums around the world. Washburn was DEAF. He once wrote a letter to Dr. Ben Schowe, Sr., also Gallaudet alumnus, criticizing Gallaudet’s effort to develop what was called Combined Method, signing with voicing. Washburn was ahead of his time.

As an alumnus, I was shocked to see that the name of the Art Building was ceremoniously replaced from a DEAF alumnus to a HEARING interloper who happens to be President I. King Jordan’s wife, Linda. This must be a huge mistake. Very disgusting!

We must reclaim the Art Building and return it to our alumnus hero, Cadwallader Washburn!

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

The body snatchers are coming to your university, and they have a detailed strategy to take over. The Gallaudet University Manual of Operations declares “Ephphatha: Be Opened.” This three-inch-thick document (available from Vice President Paul Kelly's office) spells out a well-planned effort to penetrate the audism market, and establish rapport in order to promote diverse modes of communication to deliberately confound the Deaf. It lays out strategies for dividing the Deaf population by developing best possible communication guesswork, reminding the body snatchers, “English first, a mode of communication second.” Any user of ASL will be sprayed pepper.

What? Am I crazy here? Wild, maybe! Does SBG President Noah Beckman have a copy of the Gallaudet University Manual of Operations? Maybe it is about invasion of the body snatchers in HMB. Check now! Is it available for download? Where at? Check Vice President Paul Kelly before his birthday. Tell your Congress people to download it, too, just to make sure there won’t be any invasion of the body snatchers on campus. This is not crazy! I am sure!

Beware! The body snatchers are coming soon!

Not Only Lied To, But Also Lied About

We the Deaf are being not only lied to, but also lied about. And even worse, we are being used and exploited. I am not a pacifist—I think there are times when there are things worth fighting for. But helping IKJ and JKF build a bigger endowment on an erratic priority is not worth touting for.

Looking at the students at Gallaudet University, we see the same pattern. Gallaudet University lied to them and lied about them. It told them that there was no leadership crisis. It told them that there was no campus brutality.

All of these things were lies. There has been no leadership at Gallaudet University with a lame duck president. There are some students hurt by police brutalities. And we the Deaf do not welcome these lies; we have instead, done everything we can to help FSSA and fight the oppressors.

The good news is that more and more Deaf people across our nation are setting up Tent Cities to support FSSA. Across the country, alumni activists are organizing resistance to Gallaudet University in favor of FSSA.

We need to turn up the heat at Gallaudet. We must do everything we can to get the word out in our government and communities. We will hold the liars accountable for their self-touting arrogance and indifference.

We Are Not Animals!

We heard Gallaudet University again! We the Deaf have led lives of compulsion and necessity within an unforgiving, if not hostile, hearing social hierarchy in the environment where ASL is marginalized and visual modes of communication forever speculated. President I. King Jordan is not exactly deaf; he was deafened by a motorcycle accident. Appreciate the difference!

Recent police brutality at Gallaudet University became evident that the students were seen and treated as non-talking animals. Whatever directive it might be, it was wrong to rough them up under any circumstance whatsoever. Shoveling and spraying on them were uncivil and unnecessary. Blogs and vlogs about campus incivilities and brutalities are now in a full circulation to witness such an escalated level of craziness and a state of official denial on campus.

As an alumnus, I am mortified. Doodschamen is in Dutch meaning embarrassed to death. I refuse to accept any behavior and indifference at Gallaudet University. I wrote to my Senators to ask for full investigation and explanation. This is a sad situation which affects deeply all the Deaf.

Gallaudet University is not like a zoological park where groups of animals are obvious. At Gallaudet, diversities have become an administrative subtility that divides and categorizes the Deaf: D/deaf, hard-of-hearing, Coclear Implant users, Deaf absolutists, and now a new "not deaf enough" spectacle on campus. Oh yes, one more group: hearing students learning how to be hearing. We need not be visited, looked at, observed, examined, and even sprayed on. We are not animals!

Gallaudet University is not a laboratory for visual modes of communication. It is the community of Deaf intellectuals being constantly misinterpreted by the university administration that subscribes to JKF's philosophy of "all languages and modes of communication."

Again, we are not animals!

Ho’omau

In Hawai’ian meaning:
Perseverance;
To Continue, To Perpetuate;
Never Give Up.

In your own personal striving within the protest at Gallaudet University, Ho’omau would be the single word that causes you to focus on what is most important and move forward with resolution, determination and confidence, for Ho’omau encompasses all of these qualities. You can be bigger than your perceived adversity, for anything worth having is worth working for.

Ho’omau means you don’t give up! Today, October 5, 2006, proved to be a dark day for everyone of us. I am among those watching Gallaudet University in dismay. I was a former SBG president, and at the time my own personal memories of the Gallaudet University administration were not particularly found ones: I had visions of adversity and not cooperation from the Administration, and knowing of the SBG road ahead I felt I did not have the time to waste on the process. I had to Ho’omau: persevere and continue to go forward—with optimism. SBG was not about me: There were a lot of students that together we’d create the collective group on campus.

Ho’omau helped me return to my strengths in the face of perceived adversity at Gallaudet University, and to my truths as a Deaf individual using exclusive ASL. Among these truths, I could and would tell with the good intent Gallaudet University needs to change, and give my trust and support.

Ho’omau compels me from within myself. It can be very personal and introspective. For with Ho’omau I am doing from within myself. For example, I am not comparing myself with current SBG president Noah Beckman but I shall never envy him or any other SBG president. Ho’omau speaks to me, and to the power of my personal perseverance.

Ho’omau is a journey of continuing and perpetuating. Said another way, Ho’omau is the Hawai’ian value that can be thought of as the quality of “continuing and perpetuating.” Ask yourself: Can you strive higher? Is there a larger goal to attain? Is there reason to persist in achieving your vision completely? Always look for the better way, positive it is out there and that you can still gain much from this journey of protest.

Ho'omau is also one word that echoes Winston Churchill stood before the students at Harrow School on October 29, 1941 and said, "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give in. Never give in. Never give in. Never give in." And I say to you: "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up. That's my Ho'omau for you all! With aloha always!

Someone Has To Be Fired!

Why is Gallaudet University at stalemate? Easy! The position of university presidency was offered to JKF by the Board of Trustees. JKF now has a full litigation of becoming the next president.

At Gallaudet University disputes have arose between JKF and the campus protest. The representatives of the Board of Trustees came to campus and spoke about the confidentiality that they were not allowed to discuss. It is required by law to keep any medical information confidential, but everything else is to be disclosed. We have the right to know JKF’s employment history, including how her past employment as Provost was materialized.

One bit of critical information here. If we want to “win at all costs” or “show the world” or “wear the Administration down”, litigation can become frightfully expensive and mentally taxing. My advice is to select your objective in this fight carefully, in line with your judgment, and check everything with a pro bono attorney if there is any. Then be sure you don’t change direction and allow things to get out of control.

The seriousness of the protest at Gallaudet University is obvious. This is particularly important, as the Administration has far more information about JFK’s litigation than we do, and is taking advantage of us.

There will be a longer period of time for controversies relating to JKF’s selection as the 9th president of Gallaudet University. Complaints can be heard by the Board of Trustees later, and some limitations will be based upon whether JKF as a possible plaintiff in the court should have known there was a problem at Gallaudet University.

Yes, it’s going to be a slow time. Gallaudet University is at stalemate where, as in chess, a player cannot move any piece except the king and cannot move the king without putting in check. Someone has to be fired!

ASL at Gallaudet University Means Socratic Teaching; Communication Diversities at Gallaudet University Means Educational Speculations

“I hope you will cherish and defend
this beautiful language as the greatest gift
that God has given us.”
__George Veditz in the 1913 film,
“Preservation of Sign Language”

I have long been insisting that exclusive ASL be the language of instruction at Gallaudet University because it procreates critical thinking and questioning—the oldest, and still the most powerful teaching tactic. Gallaudet University is the community of Deaf intellectuals, not a training ground for all modes of communication. As long as Gallaudet University fails to advance the use of ASL, it fails in everything else.

ASL is not a spectator sport. It is not random; it is real. In linguistics we say that ASL, like all human languages, is a rule-governed language. You are certainly free to sign anything whatsoever that you want to say, including:

I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH ECLAMATION-MARK

That is your privilege to use six signs, I, LOVE, YOU, VERY, MUCH, EXCLAMATION-MARK in the English word order. However, it is not English; it is random because you borrow a foreign word order commonly found in the English language. You are not free to assume that any native user of ASL would do the way you do.

When you want to use ASL to communicate meaning, you have to use it according to its own rules, which linguists call its grammar. I want to be absolutely clear about what that word means in this post. By "ASL grammar," I mean the internal mental grammar — the system of rules for ASL that is stored in the brain/mind of a Deaf person who is a native user of ASL. This is going to be a highly academic discourse.

Socratic teaching is a highly disciplined process. The Socratic instructor acts as the logical equivalent of the inner critical ASL which his or her mind develops when it develops critical thinking abilities. For example, the contributions from the Deaf students of the class are like so many thoughts in the instructor's mind. All of the thoughts must be dealt with in the language and culture the Deaf students know the best, and they must be dealt with carefully and fairly. Socratic teaching allows the class to think in a disciplined, intellectually responsible manner, while yet continually aiding the students by posing proper ASL for intellectual inquiries.

Socratic teaching cannot be done in all modes of communication. They require technical details of educated guesses and speculations. They are as in “I am not sure how to sign for it, but I will make up some signs based on my past experience/my own agenda.” An educated guess is a plausible excuse. It is not natural, either!

Gallaudet University would be much more unique and honest if and only if it concurs that critical thinking always begins in ASL, rather than in any mode of communication.

Former SBG President Speaks Out

Student Body Government was heard being suspended at Gallaudet University. It was the most incompetent decision the Administration could have ever made. The Peter Principle merges to indicate that the Administration must go!

Why? OK, let me give you my personal account. Soon after elected as SBG president in 1979, I obtained a copy of Manual of Operations from the office of President Edward C. Merrill, Jr. It was so thick I could barely read everything in it. After rereading the Manual, I came to understand that it is about running Gallaudet, ranging from personnel to financing to communication policy.

With guide and help from my faculty advisor Professor Hal Domich, I discovered two key items in the Manual. (1) The student unit fee was distributed to various organizations and programs: SBG, Tower Clock, Buff and Blue, Theatre, and Athletic programs. (2) Dean of Student Affairs—Dr. Richard Phillips—was students’ voice within the Administration. The Manual helped me with my leadership throughout my SBG presidency.

By threatening to suspend SBG, Dean Carl Pramuk has been coping out. Simply stated, he could not articulate and facilitate SBG through the Administration. He could not communicate with student leaders, either. The Peter Principle informs us that Dean Pramuk was advanced to his highest level of competence and remained at this level at which he became incompetent. Now the Administration no longer has reliable students’ voice! All Dean Pramuk can do now is self-touting—an intimate part of himself.

Go SBG go! Be bold! Be opened! Be heard!

My Email to Senators about Gallaudet


The Honorable Senator Daniel K. Akaka
The Honorable Senator Daniel K. Inouve

Aloha! My name is Carl Schroeder, and I am a registered voter on the island of Maui. I am also an alumnus of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., which is the reason for writing this email.

As you are aware, Gallaudet University is a federally funded, private institution located on Florida and West Virginia Avenues, N.E. It also houses the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and Model Secondary School for the Deaf, both of which are appropriated by Congress.

The Washington Post features an article about a renewed fight at Gallaudet University which seems reasonable to ask Congress to freeze financing assets for full investigation and explanation. There are numerous resolutions by Student Body Government, University Faculty, National Association of the Deaf, Gallaudet University Alumni Association, and numerous consumer organizations across the nation objecting the selection of a new university president, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes who will take up the helm of Gallaudet University in January.

Although President-designate Dr. Jane Fernandes does appear qualified, for 12 years at Gallaudet University, she reported only to President I. King Jordan. No one else on campus knows her enough to evaluate her job performance, to assess her American Sign Language proficiency, and even to scratch her back, so to say. Her selection was clearly biased and premeditated.

You can visit http://www.gufssa.com/ which makes a counterattack against Gallaudet University’s public relations. The most recent PR effort at Gallaudet as it appears in The Washington Post can be said to practice the “divide and conquer” quest. As an alumnus, I am embarrassed by Gallaudet University that continues to patronize the Deaf. This must stop all at once.

Mahalo,

Carl “Kalalau” Schroeder

CC: Gallaudet University FSSA

This makes me laugh so hard

I wonder what INSTANT MESSAGE

fits the IKJ-JKF Administration

at Gallaudet University.