Unbowed Against the Tide

Nagel, who became her faculty adviser, said she underwent a metamorphosis, "a real blossoming of someone who was both very intelligent and very strong of character," he said.

Fernandes recalls that period as a clear demarcation point in her life.

"I was educated in how to behave like a hearing person, and I did it pretty well," she said. "But psychologically and socially, it took a toll. Like denying a fundamental part of who I am."

After meeting other deaf people and learning sign language, her deafness ceased to be a source of embarrassment. The word she uses to describe the person she became is "whole."

"Rather than try everything to cover up being deaf or avoid being caught as deaf, I was proud to be deaf and wanted everyone to know it," she said.

Leadership Takes Shape

One recent evening, Fernandes returned to her family's 10-acre farm in Anne Arundel County after spending a few nights on campus in crisis mode. She was cheered when one of her shelties was glad to see her.

Fernandes has been comforted by her husband and children. Sean, 15, is interested in languages and foreign affairs. Erin, 13, plays saxophone in her school band. All are fluent in sign language. Fernandes and her mother still communicate with each other through lip reading.

Fernandes and her husband met at Gallaudet, when he was a professor and she was chairwoman of the Department of Sign Communication. When he was sent to Hawaii, his native state, to establish and direct a regional center of Gallaudet, she joined him and set up Hawaii's interpretive education program.

In 1990, she took the helm of the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind, becoming the first deaf woman to head a state-supported school for the deaf. On the verge of closing, it had just 12 students when she took over; by the time she left five years later, it had more than 60 students.

Teacher Steve Laracuente joined Fernandes's advisory council. Fernandes, known as J.K., was "a force to be reckoned with," he said.

"Hawaii was behind in so many areas, and J.K. was helping Hawaii to catch up with the mainland," Laracuente said. Fernandes brought in reading and writing experts to improve teachers' skills, he said, and regularly did battle with her bosses at the state Department of Education about the need to address issues involving the deaf.

"J.K. was very honest, open and outspoken, so if she did not like what you did, then you would know about it," he said. "Some sensitive people who misunderstood her intentions did not like that much, much like the current protesters at Gallaudet. She was especially that way with the students. She did not feel sorry for them."

When the Fernandeses returned to Gallaudet in 1995, Jane Fernandes became vice president of the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, the elementary and secondary schools on campus. There, the seeds may have been sown for the current controversy, as Fernandes alienated many faculty members and parents with her reorganization of the center.

Critics said she was autocratic and unfeeling, delivering the message that whoever did not like her approach could leave. But Fernandes said she brought needed change to the center, including dismantling a remedial program with smaller classes that was used predominantly by black students. "A segregated school existed within the school itself," she said.

The resentments deepened as Fernandes became provost in 2000, then exploded into international headlines in May when she was selected as the next president of Gallaudet and the first round of protests ensued.

"The problems are rooted in Dr. Fernandes's leadership style," said E. Lynn Jacobowitz, a professor in Gallaudet's Department of ASL and Deaf Studies. "Many have described the style as 'management by intimidation,' an approach which has led to feelings of insecurity, hostility and fear."

Some critics have said Fernandes's famous determination has hardened into stubbornness as she has dug in her heels, refusing to resign, as protesters have demanded. She said that she is confident that the problems will be resolved and that Gallaudet will get back to educating the deaf, with her as its president, come January.

"My belief is that there are some deep-seated issues in the deaf community, and these issues have been brought to the forefront, unfurled, if you will," she said. "If you think of it like steel that has to be tempered through fire, we're doing that now. We're going through the fire."

Staff writer Susan Kinzie contributed to this report.