The chains have been broken, and the gates of Gallaudet University campus have reopened. As life at the nation’s premier deaf university slowly returns to normal operations after two weeks of intense student protests, the administration must do its part to solve the school’s problems by reopening the search process for the university’s next president. Dr. Jane K. Fernandes has generated so much heartfelt and intense opposition from both students and faculty that she cannot become the next president without thorough consideration of other options.
The protesters put on an impressive display when they completely shut down the school, resulting in over 100 arrests and a media frenzy. They’ve already achieved an important success in putting pressure on the university’s Board of Trustees, who will meet this Sunday in an emergency session. The students and the faculty have spoken; now it is time for the trustees to step up and add the considerable weight of their opinion to the discussion by calling for the administration to reopen the search process.
If Fernandes truly is the most qualified candidate, as current president I. King Jordan and Gallaudet’s other top administrators continue to contend, then a comprehensive search will reveal that and the position will be hers. But if, as the student and faculty protesters believe, Fernandes is not actually the best woman for the job, then a renewed search will produce a superior candidate.
Life at Gallaudet continues apace. The tent still stands, and some of the more dedicated protesters are involved in a hunger strike, but with midterms in full swing, many students have gone back to class. Students have done their part to help their university, both by protesting and by returning to class and renewing academic discourse. The administration now needs to do theirs.
At this point, with the level of national attention the protests have garnered, the administration cannot and should not just push Fernandes through as a leader with no followers. To do so would be a slap in the face to every student who cared enough about the academic future of the deaf community in the long run to risk their own in the short term.
