Source of Gallaudet Turmoil Is Up for Debate

When Fernandes got tenure, some professors thought she was given an unfair advantage, saying in effect she was able to skip a review step that everyone else went through. There was a procedural error that was later explained in full to the board, a university spokeswoman said.

When Jordan suddenly appointed Fernandes provost in 2000 without a search, faculty members registered their outrage with a formal vote.

Protesters say she has been part of an administration that has allowed long-standing problems to continue. Fifteen years after a student died after being restrained by a campus security officer, misunderstandings between students and officers who don't know ASL well continue.

Fernandes established a day devoted to diversity on campus and has been developing a sweeping diversity plan that would include minimum standards for ASL competency, but the faculty and administration remain predominantly white. Roughly 25 of 221 full-time faculty members are people of color.

This year, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget released a study of Gallaudet that labeled it "ineffective," citing declining or stagnant performance in key areas: From 1999 to 2005, undergraduate graduation rates hovered at 42 percent. From 2001 to 2005, the percentage of graduates who found jobs the first year out of Gallaudet dropped every year.

Early complaints about the presidential search process came from black students upset that the candidates weren't sufficiently diverse. A strong African American candidate, Glenn Anderson, the longtime trustees chairman, was not one of the three finalists. Others said Jordan was overly involved.

The real outburst came in May, seconds after the board announced Fernandes's name. Students were shocked that she'd been chosen despite surveys in which the vast majority of faculty and students who responded said that she would be "unacceptable."

"This crisis happened largely because of loss of trust and leadership over the years," said Nancy Bloch of the National Association of the Deaf.

In the standoff that has followed, protesters say that Fernandes has avoided meeting with them and has been dishonest, most recently when she said she was up all night negotiating with students who had shut down the school.

Fernandes disputes that, and her supporters describe her as a smart, visionary, eloquent leader who has been unfairly targeted.

Fernandes said: "If you talk with the protesters, it seems like it's something different every few days. It just seems to be relentless in throwing out different issues of concern."

Standing in front of the Capitol this weekend, just as protesters did 18 years ago when the rallying cry was so much less complex, protest leader Leah Katz-Hernandez asked demonstrators whether they were protesting because Fernandes was not deaf enough. "No, no!" the crowd signed.

"She's too deaf," Katz-Hernandez signed. "She's deaf to us. She's deaf to the community. She's deaf to the world."