Gallaudet Protesters' Camp Demolished, Injuring Some

Although the Brentwood Gate was reopened to foot traffic, protesters' vehicles continued to block the entrance, the statement added.

Coogan said the front-end loader was used because it would have taken hours for employees to remove the student camp by hand.

"It wasn't used in any physical way," she said. As for students' allegations that they received no warning, Coogan said, school officials "let the kids know they should get out of the tents a couple days ago."

Coogan said that entrance is important for safety reasons because it is the closest one to the residential high school on campus.

After clearing items from the Brentwood gate, the front-end loader's driver dumped them on campus near the main gate of the university, at 800 Florida Ave. NE. This further incensed protesters, who also have a camp there, and prompted several to climb aboard the machine and argue with the driver.

"I know emotions are running high, and that can lead to negative actions," protest leader Ryan Commerson told students later. "Just make sure you control your anger.''

The trustees' chair, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, wrote in an e-mail last night that at least 15 protesters were outside her office at Ohio State University, where she is a professor, for most of yesterday. She also said there was a bomb threat in the building.

The Gallaudet protests started immediately after Fernandes was named incoming president last spring.

She had been an unpopular provost -- a majority of faculty and students who responded to a survey before the selection said she was "unacceptable" -- and many complained that the selection process was unfair.

Some said a strong black candidate, longtime board of trustees chairman Glenn Anderson, was eliminated early in the process.

The administration and the board have said repeatedly that the search was fair and that Fernandes was the strongest candidate.

As protests continued, more complaints were raised about Fernandes's performance as provost: The school was recently rated "ineffective" in an Office of Management and Budget report, in part because of chronically low graduation rates. There were objections to a perceived clampdown of freedom of expression on campus and what was described as a dismissive attitude from the board.

This month, protesters shut down campus for three days until more than 130 protesters were arrested. In addition, faculty voted to ask Fernandes to resign or be removed and expressed a loss of confidence in the board and Jordan.