Gallaudet's $100 Million Question

English professor Kathleen M. Wood argued in a Nov. 2 letter that the new Gallaudet University should not be for everyone.

It should exclude, she said, deaf people who do not wish to be included in what she terms Deaf culture but rather seek to be part of a society that embraces people with and without disabilities.

Ms. Wood maintained that the students, professors and alumni who forced the Gallaudet board to rescind its selection of Jane K. Fernandes as president were motivated by a desire to preserve this notion of an exclusive Deaf culture and its standard of American Sign Language as the true communication method among the deaf and between the deaf and hearing populations.

The public policy question is whether $100 million a year in public money ought to be spent to encourage this noninclusive vision.

FRANK A. NICOLAI

Fort Washington