From Gallaudet to Capitol, a March in Step With History

Friday night, a group of faculty members wore academic robes and held a candlelight vigil to underscore last week's vote of no-confidence in the board and Jordan.

Last night's homecoming football game against a team from Walter Reed Army Medical Center was moved to the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick.

Many alumni also have rejected Fernandes, according to the alumni association. Some of those graduates arrived in Washington and joined the protesters on university grounds, pitching tents and setting up lawn chairs near the entrance.

Support protests also have sprouted in dozens of cities across the country and overseas. More than 6,000 names are listed on an online petition.

Protests began in May when trustees announced that they had chosen Fernandes to become the next president, succeeding Jordan in January.

Students immediately objected, angry about a presidential search process they said had unfairly eliminated stronger candidates, including an African American who had been longtime chairman of the board, in favor of Fernandes, a provost so unpopular on campus that a majority of students and faculty responding to a survey said she was unacceptable.

Protesters said she does not have the leadership qualities needed to be a symbol for deaf people worldwide, as Jordan has been, and some call her ineffective.

Fernandes said she views the demonstrations not as a repudiation of her but as a symptom of a larger struggle. She said she has become a lightning rod for an issue that could define the future of Gallaudet, as cochlear implants and other technology make it easier for deaf children to speak and attend mainstream schools rather than stay in the sign-language-based deaf community.

Fernandes had strong support from Gallaudet's board of trustees when members chose her to become the school's next president. But differences of opinion about her on the board became public last week, and some trustees have privately asked her to resign.

Her supporters -- including Jordan and board Chairman Brenda Jo Brueggemann -- have said that Fernandes was the most qualified candidate, that the search process was fair and that she deserves a chance to prove herself.

This month, demonstrations began again, with students taking over an academic building and shutting down campus.

Along the march route yesterday, bystanders asked what the protest was about. At Eighth and H streets NE, some residents were angry at the disruption.

"What is all this about? Why are these people in my neighborhood? I've got to get on a bus," one woman bellowed.

But Henry Moore, who has lived on that corner for 65 years, marveled at the demonstration.

"Look at them, they must have the whole university out here," he said. "The greatest power is the power of the people. I haven't seen a thing like this down here since the Black Panthers came out."

Near the Capitol, several tourists began to bristle when their tour was cut short by a crowd carrying signs saying, "President resign now."

"What do deaf people have against President Bush? Honestly!" one woman huffed, before she was corrected by a bystander, who explained that students were talking about their university president.

Staff writer Susan Kinzie contributed to this report.