Tuesday, October 17, 2006; 4:21 PM
Washington Post Radio's Mike Moss interviewed the Post's Monica Norton and incoming Gallaudet University president Jane Fernandes about the protests over Fernandes' presidency and transition at the school. Dr. Fernandes spoke through an unidentified interpreter.
Mike Moss: Gallaudet University has been in a state of turmoil after a three day shutdown over the choice of Jane Fernandes to be the incoming president. The nationally renowned school for the deaf has reopened after 133 protesters were arrested. And joining us this morning to take a look into the situation is Post assistant Maryland editor Monica Norton joins us as does Jane Fernandes who is the president designate at Gallaudet University, and Ms. Fernandes will be represented by her sign language interpreter who is with us here this morning on Washington Post Radio. I want to thank y'all for joining us.
Let me begin with you Monica.
Monica Norton: Thank you.
Moss: What is it about Jane Fernandes that the students don't like?
Norton: Well students have given a number of reasons. When the protest began in May, it actually began with some black students and staff on campus upset about the presidential search process which had eliminated a strong black candidate in favor of three whites. There were also some faculty members who were upset that the board of trustees had not consulted them, and other students had said they didn't think that Dr. Fernandes would be a good representative for the community.
Moss: But why don't they think that she would be a good representative for their community?
Norton: Well, some have complained that in her tenure as provost there -- she has been provost -- for six years, they are upset about her leadership and that she has not exactly reached out to them
Moss: Let me turn now to Jane Fernandes, and again, she will be represented by her sign language interpreter. Ms. Fernandes, welcome to Washington Post Radio. I want to ask you whether you think in some way, shape, or form you are being discriminated against here by the student body which doesn't see you as deaf perhaps as they are?
Jane Fernandes: Good morning, yes, I don't know. I was born deaf, so -- my mother is deaf, my brother is deaf, I have a niece who is deaf. So, if that's not deaf, I don't know how to explain what deaf is.
Moss: How do you feel about these protests? What do they say to you? Why do you think these students are so disliking of your selection that they are staging these protests, and in the case of 133 of them, getting themselves arrested?
Fernandes: I think that we are in a time of great change in the deaf community, and in any time of change, I think that that brings with it resistance and it brings fear and people are afraid of change, and I just happen to be in the position I am in right now, and I believe it's not really about me, and I'm not taking it personally. I believe there are some issues of decisions I made when I was provost that did not please some people on campus, and I believe that is a separate issue from what the deaf community is going through right now.
Moss: Now you say that the change is what the root of all that is. What change do you represent?
Fernandes: I represent a kind of change in leading Gallaudet University into the future, being an inclusive deaf university. Which means we include all different kinds of deaf people and we welcome and value different kinds of deaf people at Gallaudet University. And the changes are, for example, more and more deaf babies now are getting cochlear implants, so that means more deaf children are hearing better and speaking better. And I believe Gallaudet University is here for those children as well, as well as for the children who grew up with sign language as their first language and those who go to deaf schools. I believe that Gallaudet University has a birthright for all deaf children and adults in the United States, and that's the change that I represent, and it's scary for a lot of deaf people.
Moss: Why?
Fernandes: Well, it represents change. It means that people who have seen Gallaudet as their own, they understand that when we welcome more diverse deaf people into the community, that will influence our culture. It will influence our language. But in turn we will influence them, and we will create a new order of deaf people.
Moss: Have you failed to be able to reassure these students that this change would be good?
Fernandes: I think it's going to take time. I don't think it's going to be over fast. I think is going to take perhaps a few years of work, of hard work, in order to clarify the direction that Gallaudet University is going in and to assure everyone that the center of Gallaudet University always is, was, and will be American Sign Language and deaf culture, and that is one thing that will never go away. Deaf culture and American Sign Language are here to stay, and we want to make sure that we are clear about that.
Moss: We are talking about the --
Fernandes: -- to expand the core of the school here, to be able to include different kinds of deaf people.
Moss: We are talking about the situation over at Gallaudet University here on Washington Post Radio this morning with a sign language interpreter for Jane Fernandes, who is next to the interpreter, and Monica Norton, who is the assistant Maryland editor at the Post, an education reporter as well. Jane Fernandes, have you considered that if it's going to take years to work through all this, whether that is too disruptive to the university itself and therefore whether you should continue to be the incoming president? Have you considered stepping away?
Fernandes: I have not considered resigning. I don't believe for one second that my resignation would help. I think that my resignation would hurt the university very badly, and I think that my resignation would result in years of instability in the governance of the university itself, and right now, we have a very strong and unified governance, and I need to be able to take control and lead the university. Right now, I am the president designate. I am not in a position of leadership. President Jordan is still acting as president. So I am looking forward to January 2007 when I do become president of Gallaudet University and working with the community to make Gallaudet University stronger.
Moss: Alright. I want to thank y'all for joining us this morning. Jane Fernandes, the incoming president of Gallaudet University, and Monica Norton of the Washington Post.