Gallaudet Protesters' Camp Demolished, Injuring Some

Leaders Urge Students to Stay Calm

Leo Skully of the D.C. police talks with Gallaudet student Latoya Plummer at the university's Brentwood gate, which students blocked with cars. (By James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post)

The tense, month-long standoff between Gallaudet University protesters and the school's administration grew heated again yesterday as students occupied a campus building and school officials used a piece of construction equipment to try to clear a blockaded campus entrance.

One student suffered a toe injury when the administration sent a front-end loader to clear demonstrators' camping materials from the school's Brentwood Road NE entrance, one of several that have been blocked in the protest that began Oct. 1 over the appointment of the next president at the school for the deaf.

A few other students suffered minor injuries, school spokeswoman Mercy Coogan said. Last night, protesters met with administrators, including outgoing president I. King Jordan and president-designate Jane K. Fernandes, to try to calm the strained atmosphere.

The protesters want Fernandes to step down, a step she has vowed not to take.

Fernandes, who was the school's provost, was appointed by the board of trustees in May and is set to take over Jan. 1. But the 20 trustees have scheduled a meeting Sunday in response to the demonstrations and amid reports that the board itself is divided on Fernandes.

"Don't blow it," Prof. Jeff Lewis told 500 students at a meeting last night, mindful that a violent or disruptive protest could backfire. "We are this close. We are this close."

The chaotic confrontation at the gate came after the occupation by protesters yesterday morning of the university's College Hall. The building was voluntarily evacuated several hours later.

The day's events further fueled student outrage, with several saying they had been roughly handled at the Brentwood gate, and seemed to demonstrate the administration's determination not to back down in the face of the protest.

"This is a peaceful protest, and the university is starting to attack us," freshman protester Tar Burt said.

"It's not their gate," Coogan said. "It's the university's gate."

The latest skirmish began when students occupied College Hall and chained the doors closed, the administration said in a statement. After students left, school security officials cut the chains and then moved to clear the Brentwood blockade, where students had camped out.

Security officials "used a front loader to remove tents, tarps and other material that were blocking the entrance way," the statement said. "Some of the protesters resisted . . . efforts to open the gate and were injured, though none seriously."