UNITED FOR GALLAUDET

Revised Tent City World Map T shirt

2006-11-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Tent City World Map T shirt has been revised. Order it here.

Terminated!

2006-10-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

Jane Kelleher Fernandes has been TERMINATED!!

Front Gate at 3 Today!

2006-10-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

Everyone, meet at the front gate today (saturday) at 3 PM. Dress nicely! Expect to give around two to three hours of your time.
-protestors

Help!

2006-10-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

Alert: Brenda Brueggeman who is Acting Chairperson for BOT will be onthe hill tomorrow (October 27) lobbying with Congress for IKJ and Fernandes. Need tocounteract her campaign. Find a way to join us. We need help. Meet inthe lobby in Fowler Hall at 8:00 a.m. Please come join us if you can.

Send a Letter to the Board of Trustees!

2006-10-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Calling on Community Members:

Please let the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees know your deep wish that they end the crisis at Gallaudet University.

Please send a letter via email to Board Liaison Patti Kunkle at patti.kunkle@gallaudet.edu and to Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Acting Chairof the BoT, at brueggemann.1@osu.edu.

Please send your letter today!

Please send a copy to FSSA at supportusgally@gmail.com.

We will make sure all Board Members receive these letters. You may compose your own letter or use the following form letter:

October 25, 2006

Dear Board of Trustees Members:

It should be clear to you by now that Gallaudet University is in crisis and fighting for its life. It should also be clear to you that Dr. Jane Fernandes is unable to build bridges and bring us to resolution. I am a (student, staff member, faculty member, alumnus, family member,friend of Gallaudet). I support the demands of the Faculty Student Staff and Alumni Coalition (FSSA) that Jane K. Fernandes resign or be removed from office and the search process be reopened, and that therebe no reprisals for protestors.

Yours for a united Gallaudet,

Your name

Call Jane and your help

2006-10-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Please call Jane Fernandes and ask her to resign. Do it nicely! Her number at Gallaudet is 1-202-651-5085. Do not forget to sign up at http://www.mysignup.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?datafile=frontgate to help with the front gate. Thanks!

Wanna help with the gates at Gallaudet

2006-10-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

If you are able to help with the front gate at Gallaudet, please feel free to sign up here.

A great VLog by Ryan Commerson

2006-10-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ryan Commerson did a great VLog. You can view it here.

Tent City T Shirts on Sale

2006-10-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Tent City T SHIRT on sale. Order it here!

FREDERICK UNITED 4 GALLY TENT CITY - OCT.14, 2006

2006-10-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Larry Newman for the pictures!

"Circle of Hope" activity at Gallaudet during HC on Saturday

2006-10-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have been approached with this request for the Frederick folks to coordinate/head the "Circle of Hope" event this Saturday at Gallaudet as one of the activities. Please let me know if you would be interested in being a coordinator or co-coordinator. We also need folks to be "posts" to stand at
posts to help people form into a circle. I am awaiting word from Arlene Blumenthal-Kelley as to where it would take place on Gallaudet campus. Please
respond as soon as you can so that I can inform Gallaudet HC planning committee that we will go ahead have that activity or not. I believe if I remember it right...it will be a short and sweet one ...probably less than 30 minutes
...announcement will be made and if people would like to join this circle, they will come and hold hands to form a circle...that would be a neat and powerful message to the world!!! Thanks! Paula Jean :)

Powerful video by MOSDEUX

2006-10-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Let's meet Gideon

Pictures of Gallaudet by Donna Frank

2006-10-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

More pictures by Donna Frank....view them here.

Frederick Newspost

2006-10-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Frederick Tent City in Newspost again!

Letter to IKJ fromDonald A. Grushkin, Ph.D.

2006-10-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

To Dr. I.K. Jordan:
In Honor of Your 18-Year Legacy

Dr. Jordan:

I am writing to you with much sadness for you and Gallaudet University in the aftermath of your arrests, with the concurrence of the Board of Trustees, of the student protestors.

In 1988, 18 years ago, you were swept into office on a wave of student and alumni protest much like the one occurring at this time. All over the country and the world, people were expressing support for an end to the “plantation mentality”.

18 years. One full generation. 18 years later, you have arrested the children of the very same protestors who helped put you into office. In arresting the students, you have exhibited the very same “plantation mentality” of a slaveowner by attempting to quash a rebellion by force instead of words and negotiation.

18 years ago, you were hailed as a hero, embodying a hope for a better Gallaudet and Deaf future. You were the hope of seeing the dual manacles of audism and racism, which had held our collective hands down and silenced, shattered and transformed into Deaf-centric practices.

In 2006, 18 years later, you are now being viewed as a villain. In 18 years which is presumably enough time to at least make progress toward ending audism and racism on campus, you and your administration apparently have done almost nothing to change this. Indeed, you and your administration have maintained audist and racist practices on campus which have led to the current need for students to rise up this year.

18 years ago, you applauded the student protestors for the strength of their convictions, stating that they “had seized an idea with such force that it became a reality”. 18 years later, you belittle the student protestors as mere “dissenters”. Can it be that when the students rise up in support of you, it is a positive thing, but when they object to decisions that you and your administration have made, they are no longer in the right?

You had the opportunity to end your 18-year term on a positive note. Indeed, the Deaf community was prepared to see you out on a celebratory note. Instead, your legacy has been irreparably tarnished, if not utterly destroyed, by heavy-handed tactics you have employed against the protestors.

In the Jewish culture and religion, the number 18 is represented by the Hebrew letter “Chai”, which also means “life”. You may think that the arrests means a death to the protests. However, you may have unwittingly created the birth of a stronger, more cohesive Deaf community united toward ending the practices of audism and racism on campus as well as in our lives. Every great social protest movement seems to have had some defining moment of shock or horror perpetrated by oppressors which has served only to galvanize instead of quell their activism. In the American Revolution, it was the Boston Massacre. In France, it was hearing Marie Antoinette say “let them eat cake”. During the Vietnam War, it was the shootings at Kent State University. The Gay Pride movement was kick-started after the Stonewall Riot. I am not hesitant to foresee that future historians will see the true rebirth of Deaf Pride occurring not when Jane Spillman uttered the infamous line “Deaf people are not ready to function in a Hearing world”, but when our own President, the President we had helped put there, turned against his own constituency by having them arrested. Deaf people all over the country have been shocked and angered by what you have done. Out of anger and shock, comes a renewed determination not to let such things happen again.

Dr. Jordan, take a look at your legacy. It may not be what you had hoped it to be. It is now not what it could have been. But ultimately, it will be a good one, as a result of your having forgotten who you are and how you got to where you are.

L’Chaim (“To Life”) Unity for Gallaudet! L’Chaim Deafhood!

Donald A. Grushkin, Ph.D. ’85, ‘88
Newark, CA

Letter from the board

2006-10-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

THE BOARD STILL DOES NOT LISTEN!

October 15, 2006
MEMORANDUM TO: The Campus Community
FROM: Dr. Brenda Jo Brueggemann, ChairBoard of Trustees
SUBJECT: Statement from the Board of Trustees

On behalf of the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees, I write to say that our foremost priority must be to reopen our campus so that Gallaudet University can move forward with its fundamental mission of education.

Ninth President
All Board members have received messages from people suggesting that we could end this apparent impasse by asking Dr. Fernandes to resign. The Board will not do that. Our decision to support Dr. Jane K. Fernandes as the ninth president of Gallaudet University stands. We look forward to her tenure as president beginning January 1, 2007. The Board has no plans to re-consider this decision.

We conducted a fair, open and transparent search for a new president and we selected Dr. Fernandes as the strongest candidate. The University needs a sense of continuity from Dr. I. King Jordan's presidency to that of Dr. Fernandes and if she were to resign, the result would be years of uncertainty, permanent instability in the governance of the institution, and many other long-term and negative consequences. The Board has stated, and re-stated, that Dr. Fernandes is our choice and is the most qualified candidate to run the institution.

Dr. Fernandes deserves to be given the chance to assume the office we have appointed her to. She will not take up her full duties as Gallaudet University’s president until January 2007, and has thus not been given the opportunity to show what she can do as president. The Board will not remove Dr. Fernandes from a position she has not yet started.

The Deaf President Now movement and Dr. I. King Jordan's presidency have been defined with the slogan, "Deaf people can do anything but hear," and this message has inspired thousands of people who are deaf or hard of hearing to do just that. We cannot send this message to deaf children and at the same time send a message to Dr. Fernandes and other deaf adults that we will not give them the same chance to show what they can do.

We ask that you respond to Dr. Fernandes’ invitations for opening and continuing dialogue about issues of concern facing our community and we ask that you contribute your perspectives on how these issues can be addressed.

The Board will monitor Dr. Fernandes’ performance carefully—as any university president’s performance should be monitored.Protest InvestigationsIn regards to the events in the Hall Memorial Building on Friday, October 6, 2007, we have retained former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a full investigation and we have asked him to report the results to us. We will take any necessary actions, as indicated by the results of this investigation, promptly on conclusion of his report.

Presidential Transition TeamThe work of the Presidential Transition Team (PTT) will begin soon. We are committed to the successful transition of Dr. Fernandes to the Gallaudet University presidency. We call upon all members of the campus community to take responsibility for the future of Gallaudet University by working with Dr. Fernandes and us to give her the chance she most definitely deserves to show what she can do.

Thank you for you attention to these important matters and for your ongoing support for the future of Gallaudet University.

Help Gallaudet

2006-10-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

1) Pls come to Gally NOW. Press / media at 1 pm. Need a large ##### of
Alumni rep here today pls pls pls
2) Tmw am Alumni needed at 6th Street to form "human tunnel" with
posters stating to Faculty pleading for their stronger action
Alumni guys to wear ties and females dress up ...
AGAIN clarification on posters...focus is on Faculty for them to take
stand...their turn...do something....support the students... Nothing on
JK or King. Just on the Fac's support needed. That is all...
3) This is what Alumni is doing now to try to help the students in this
fight.
Thanks and Long live Gallaudet!

Part 2

2006-10-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Tent CIty in Frederick PART 1

2006-10-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Robert Lewis for those pictures.

Kudos to those who helped

2006-10-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

Kudos to everyone who helped with today's tent city for the day in every way... The total of donations in the shoe box came to $623.10. It was wonderful seeing such spirit today in Frederick for Gally! Again thanks from Jimmy and Paula Jean (pictures of tent city coming soon)

More pictures by Donna Frank

2006-10-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

More pictures by Donna Frank...view them here.

alumni help at Gallaudet on 10/14 at 5

2006-10-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

From FSSA/ELISATom Holcomb and Rory Osbrink have announced that the alumni will stepin tomorrow at 5 PM and change "shifts" with students. They willprovide enterainment, sit down at the gates, and much more. It willalso be great if the alumni could stay the night here on campus. Thiswill be a well-deserved break for the students who have worked so hardup to this point. Thanks, alumni! IF YOU CAN HELP...PLEASE GO AND HELP TOMORROW!!

Help Gallaudet Students

2006-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello from Gallaudet,
As you know, the students are still locking down the University, with
many students sleeping outside. With this in mind, please consider
donating:

1. Sleeping bags,
2. Tarps
3. Blankets
4. Water
5. Drinks for hot water, choc, coffee, tea
6. Fruit
7. Nuts
8. Peanut butter

See you tomorrow at 10 am in baker park in frederick, maryand!

Want to donate via check?

2006-10-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Write down Friends Of Tent City and mail it to PO Box 560 Middletown, MD 21769. Thanks!

Thanks Donna Frank!!

2006-10-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Donna Frank took a lot of pictures when she was there at Gallaudet. View the pictures here.