Boy, I remember when I was a senior in high school when the students of Gallaudet made news. They protested the selection of a hearing president and won the protest. As a result, I. King Jordan was selected and led the school for the past 17 years. Couldn’t help but feel sorry for the hearing president — after all, he was out of a job.
The article says that administrators questioned that a deaf person would be strong enough to lead the school AND manage raising money. “He [Jordan] improved the quality of the faculty, Fernandes said, increased academic rigor and added graduate degree programs in such areas as audiology and linguistics. Not long ago, many finished Gallaudet and could not get jobs. Now, 95 percent of graduates go on to careers or graduate school.”
During Jordan’s tenure, the university’s endowment went from $5 million to an spectacular $150 million. How’s that for showing admins that a deaf person can lead the school, increase the quality of the education, and increase funding thirty times the previous amount.
Jordan will stick around through 2006 until they find a successor. Rumor is the school won’t exclude hearing candidates, but it’s not likely a hearing one will be hired. Discrimination… but perhaps, hearing candidates know not to bother.
1 comments
Discrimination, or a little thing called self-governance?
And, by the way, it was SHE who was out of a job.