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Gallaudet Faculty Mulls No - Confidence Vote

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 8, 2006

Filed at 4:18 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The newly chosen president of Gallaudet University, the

nation's only liberal arts college for the deaf, faced student protests and a

possible faculty no-confidence vote Monday in a dispute that she said comes down

to whether she is ''deaf enough'' for the job.

Jane K. Fernandes, who was selected by the board of trustees last week and is

scheduled to take office next January, was born deaf but grew up speaking and

did not learn American Sign Language until she was 23. Sign language is the

preferred way of communicating at 1,900-student Gallaudet.

While exams are over for the students, about 100 people were camped out at a

tent city in a weeklong protest outside the gates. And the faculty called a

meeting for Monday afternoon to consider a no-confidence vote against Fernandes.

''She does not represent truly our deaf community,'' said professor E. Lynn

owitz.

Jeff , a university counselor who planned to support the no-confidence

vote, said: ''Gallaudet is a unique institution. It is the face of deaf America,

and some people feel she does not fit in with that profile.''

A no-confidence vote by the faculty would be nonbinding. Fernandes' fate rests

with the board of the trustees, which has said it will not alter its decision.

Fernandes, 49, said she is caught in a cultural debate.

''There's a kind of perfect deaf person,'' said Fernandes, who described that as

someone who is born deaf to deaf parents, learns ASL at home, attends deaf

schools, marries a deaf person and has deaf children. ''People like that will

remain the core of the university.''

Fernandes is married to a retired Gallaudet professor who can hear. So can the

couple's two children. Some people who were deaf at birth can learn to speak

through intensive speech therapy.

She was named to succeed I. King Jordan, who in 1988 became the first deaf

president of Gallaudet since the school was founded by Congress in 1864. He got

the job after student protesters marched to the Capitol demanding a ''Deaf

President Now'' following the appointment of a president who could hear.

Jordan, who backed Fernandes' selection, said the current protest reflects

''identity politics'' and a refusal to accept change.

''We are squabbling about what it means to be deaf,'' he said.

Deaf education has been roiled in recent years by the development of cochlear

implants and other technology. Some say such developments threaten sign language

and other aspects of what they call deaf culture; others welcome such advances.

The demonstrators demanded that the trustees reopen the selection process, with

some complaining that Jordan had undue influence over the appointment of

Fernandes, currently the school's provost. Others have complained that the

process was not diverse enough, since all three candidates were white, and that

Fernandes is not respected on campus.

''She has not won us over in six years. She does not make a good first

impression,'' said T. Mowl, 21, an English major from Fishers, Ind.

Jordan said that the selection of a president is not a ''popularity contest''

and that this movement should not be compared to the one that swept him into

office. If the board gives in, he said, it would be dangerous for the governance

of the school.

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On the Net:

Gallaudet University: http://www.gallaudet.edu

Unity For Gallaudet: http://www.gallyfssa.org

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