Gallaudet University: The Week the Deaf Were Heard

Imagine for a moment that you have lived your whole life feeling frustrated and angry. For as long as you can remember, you have been the victim of constant oppression, being labeled as mentally retarded, misunderstood, underestimated and mistreated. You're also viewed as being incompetent and useless, thus being viewed by others as incapable of making important life decisions. This is how most of the people within the deaf community felt; however, in March of 1988, a protest (much like that of the Civil Rights Movement) began in Washington D.C. that would forever change the lives of those in the deaf community worldwide.

On March 1, 1988, the students of Gallaudet University (the world's only university for the deaf), along with faculty, staff, alumni, and many others, had a meeting in anticipation of the election of Gallaudet's new president. The student body had recently learned that two of the three finalists chosen were deaf, so this brought on a new hope that the university would soon be welcoming its first deaf president. The students later learned that a woman by the name of Elizabeth Zinser was elected as the next president. Not only was Zinser a hearing woman, but she also knew no sign language and would have to depend on interpreters in order to communicate with the students and much of the staff.

The students began a traveling rally in protest of the election. It started at the football field and traveled on to the elementary school, the president's home, and ended at the statue of Edward Minor Gallaudet (the founder of the University). As the protest continued, the students gained even more support. This was a weeklong protest that soon became known as Deaf President Now (or DPN for short). This protest also became known as "The week that the world heard Gallaudet" (Berke).

On March 6th, many things happened. Protesters camped out on the front lawn of the president's home, and letters were sent to Zinser asking her to resign. The students parked cars at each entrance to the University and deflated the tires. They also formed human chains to prevent teachers and staff from entering the campus. But as it turned out, the majority of the faculty and staff joined in with the protest. By the end of the day, the protest had made the front-page news.

By March 8^th , the gates of the school reopened; however, all classes were boycotted. The rallies and speeches continued. There were also four students who were chosen to lead the protest; they were Bridgetta Bourne, Jerry Covell, Greg Hilbok, and Tim Rarus. These four people, along with the other protesters, came up with four demands that they wanted the board of trustees to meet. The four demands were that Zinser must resign and a new deaf president elected, Jan Spilman (a chairperson on the board, who said that "Deaf people are not able to function in a hearing world."(Laurent Clerc) was to step down, deaf persons were to make up a 51% majority on the board, and there would be no reprisals against the students or faculty (1). It was at this time that the protest hit the media on the national level.

On the fourth day of DPN (March 9^th), there was a small meeting held between the four leaders of the protest and two of the board members. Zinser and I. King Jordan (one of the deaf candidates) also met with the leaders. The four protest leaders urged Zinser to resign, but much to their frustration, she refused. Later that day, Zinser and Jordan attended a press conference, where Jordan announced his support for Zinser.

On the fifth day, Greg Hilbok appeared on "Good Morning, America." Prior to the broadcast, the students thought that Zinser and Spilman might force their way onto campus, so once again, all of the entrances were blocked with school busses and their tires deflated. The support for the protesters continued to grow as busloads of students from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) arrived. Local and national businesses began to donate money and supplies to show their support. That afternoon at Chapel Hall in front of hundreds of people, I. King Jordan retracted his support for Zinser and the Board. He now fully supported the students. By the end of the night, Zinser had resigned.

The next day, on March 11^th, the news spread about Zinser's resignation. Even though it was time for spring break, the students vowed that they would remain on campus to continue with the protest in the hopes of getting the other three demands met. The rallies and speeches continued throughout the day.

March 12^th was chosen as a day of rest. Instead of protesting and having more rallies and speeches, the students and their supporters took part in an all day arts festival and filled themselves with a delicious barbecue.

On the eighth day, the board of trustees rushed back to Washington for an emergency meeting to discuss what action to take next. By that evening, Spilman held her last press conference to notify the protesters that all four of their demands had been met. It was at this time that I. King Jordan was elected as the president of Gallaudet University.

It was amazing that in just one week, so much could be accomplished, but no one had any idea of the impact that it would truly have. Initially, it mostly affected the lives of the hearing population in that DPN opened their eyes by proving that deaf people can do anything that hearing people can do. It has also been made clear to the deaf community that they no longer need to accept the limitations that others place on them. Since the completion of DPN, more deaf and hard of hearing people graduate from college and find professions that were once considered off limits to them.

There have also been changes in legislatures that have allowed new bills and laws to pass that give rights to the deaf and hard of hearing. These changes resulted in the Telecommunications Accessibility Enhancement Act, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and telephone relay services.

It was during the week of DPN that the confidence and pride were built within the deaf community that enabled them to take a stand and fight for what they believed in. If it weren't for what happened during the protest and the outcome that it had, I have no doubt that the deaf people in this world would continue to be treated the same, with the oppression, mistreatment, labeling and misunderstanding that they had in the years prior to DPN.

1. (n.d.). Retrieved Oct. 04, 2005, from http://pr.gallaudet.edu.
2. (n.d.). Retrieved Oct. 04, 2005, from http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu.
3. Berke, J. (). Watershed event in deaf history. Your Guide to Deafness and Hard of Hearing, Retrieved Oct 04, 2005, from http://deaf.about.com.