BoT Caused Gally Protest
When Dr Fernandes was appointed as provost without the approval of the faculty senate, BoT was notified that this was done against the regulations of AAUP.However, BoT hadn’t done anything, even after the Faculty Senate awarded Fernandes a vote of no confidence           Â
BoT gave authorization for Fernandes to be improperly awarded tenure, again without the permission of the Faculty Senate. Again the Faculty Senate protested, giving Dr Fernandes a second no confidence vote. Again the BoT took no action.                                                         Â
Mr. Bernard Holt have personally told me that he contacted BoT five times, finally contacting them privately, bypassing the president office altogether, regarding the missing four million dollars. No action was taken. A few BoT members have indicated that they received no such correspondence from Holt. However, I heard from an insider who claimed that they were informed but were dismissive of Holt’s claims after Jordan told them he was a ‘disgruntled’ employee.                                                                                                                             Â
They solicited feedback from the Gallaudet Community regarding the three finalist presidential candidates only to ignore them by appointing Fernandes. The BoT saw how upset the Gallaudet Community was last May upon the announcement of Fernandes’ appointment. They witnessed the illegal use of restraint on Ryan Commerson when he went to the front of the audience to address the gathering. They saw the tent city. They heard the third vote of no confidence of Dr Fernandes. They chose to ignore Gallaudet Community.Jordan assured them that there was no crisis in leadership, so they chose to do nothing.Protests resumed in September after a long summer break. Tent city was re-established.
BoT came over and they saw hundreds of student protesters during the two naming ceremonies. The students met with them for five minutes and one shared her experience how, even though she was peaceful, she was hurt by a security guard. They chose to ignore these students.
134 students were arrested on Black Friday and yet BoT didn’t come.Â
They kept abandoning Gallaudet in crisis again and again and again.
Why?
To this day, I still cannot get over the fact that the BoT kept ignoring Gallaudet, even after protests erupted twice. BoT is one of three reasons why Gallaudet is in this mess. Fernandes is out. Jordan will retire shortly, but he may not be out of the picture, BoT-wise.
How can we clean up if the BoT who, by their inaction, was responsible for this protest? I strongly believe that there are a few good BoT members. However, for whatever reason, they were silent. Oppression by other BoT members? That is a good possibility. What do you think?
There have been allegations that BoT members who were loyal to Jordan had their terms extended, in spite of by-laws limiting them to 12-year terms, while those who dared to challenge Jordan saw their terms expire.
Some people call for a massive firing of the whole BoT. I don’t advocate this approach, as it would be throwing the baby out with the bath water.
However, I do feel strongly that the BoT members who put their loyalties to Jordan above the university were derelict in their duties to the university and should be removed from their positions. Who are these BoT members?Â
Think about this. Can Gallaudet heal if we have some members still on board who doesn’t have Gallaudet’s best interest in heart? We need a BoT who is receptive to Gallaudet Community.
When Dr Fernandes was appointed as provost without the approval of the faculty senate, BoT was notified that this was done against the regulations of AAUP.However, BoT hadn’t done anything, even after the Faculty Senate awarded Fernandes a vote of no confidence           Â
BoT gave authorization for Fernandes to be improperly awarded tenure, again without the permission of the Faculty Senate. Again the Faculty Senate protested, giving Dr Fernandes a second no confidence vote. Again the BoT took no action.                                                         Â
Mr. Bernard Holt have personally told me that he contacted BoT five times, finally contacting them privately, bypassing the president office altogether, regarding the missing four million dollars. No action was taken. A few BoT members have indicated that they received no such correspondence from Holt. However, I heard from an insider who claimed that they were informed but were dismissive of Holt’s claims after Jordan told them he was a ‘disgruntled’ employee.                                                                                                                             Â
They solicited feedback from the Gallaudet Community regarding the three finalist presidential candidates only to ignore them by appointing Fernandes. The BoT saw how upset the Gallaudet Community was last May upon the announcement of Fernandes’ appointment. They witnessed the illegal use of restraint on Ryan Commerson when he went to the front of the audience to address the gathering. They saw the tent city. They heard the third vote of no confidence of Dr Fernandes. They chose to ignore Gallaudet Community.Jordan assured them that there was no crisis in leadership, so they chose to do nothing.Protests resumed in September after a long summer break. Tent city was re-established.
BoT came over and they saw hundreds of student protesters during the two naming ceremonies. The students met with them for five minutes and one shared her experience how, even though she was peaceful, she was hurt by a security guard. They chose to ignore these students.
134 students were arrested on Black Friday and yet BoT didn’t come.Â
They kept abandoning Gallaudet in crisis again and again and again.
Why?
To this day, I still cannot get over the fact that the BoT kept ignoring Gallaudet, even after protests erupted twice. BoT is one of three reasons why Gallaudet is in this mess. Fernandes is out. Jordan will retire shortly, but he may not be out of the picture, BoT-wise.
How can we clean up if the BoT who, by their inaction, was responsible for this protest? I strongly believe that there are a few good BoT members. However, for whatever reason, they were silent. Oppression by other BoT members? That is a good possibility. What do you think?
There have been allegations that BoT members who were loyal to Jordan had their terms extended, in spite of by-laws limiting them to 12-year terms, while those who dared to challenge Jordan saw their terms expire.
Some people call for a massive firing of the whole BoT. I don’t advocate this approach, as it would be throwing the baby out with the bath water.
However, I do feel strongly that the BoT members who put their loyalties to Jordan above the university were derelict in their duties to the university and should be removed from their positions. Who are these BoT members?Â
Think about this. Can Gallaudet heal if we have some members still on board who doesn’t have Gallaudet’s best interest in heart? We need a BoT who is receptive to Gallaudet Community.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:27 am
I’ve thought that the BoT is just as culpable as Jordan and Fernandes all along. The protest would not have occurred if they had listened (and really heard!) to the community and if they had not allowed the situation to fester without taking more meaningful action than “listen to the president! We ain’t backing down.”
I personally think the entire Board needs to go. Yes, there are some good people there, but you know the quote that goes along the lines of evil succeeds through the inaction of good people? It’s particularly apt here. They, each one of them, were entrusted with Gallaudet’s welfare, and every single one of them failed to perform their duty until that Sunday when they finally gave Fernandes her walking papers. Therefore the entire Board needs to go, IMHO.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Do we need to continue
re-hashing the protest and placing the blame? Is it healthy? I believe BOT members who should not be there will be weaned out. Eventually there will be a BOT that will govern the college well and fairly.
How about looking towards Gallaudet’s potentially brighter future and what is in store for us and future students. I for one can’t wait!
December 6th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Old Friend, unfortunately yes, there can be no healing if there is no accountability.
Remember the DPN protest didn’t address the institutional flaws with the result of many more years of oppression. Eventually the conditions were so bad that another protest erupted. If we don’t address the underlying issues, there would be no change as both the administration and BoT want to bury them under the carpet. This way, the issues would only fester like boils. We need to cleanse the boils completely first so we can start with a clean slate. So far there has been no indication of true healing, yet. Like Donalda Ammons said, Gallaudet is still in a very bad mess.
Incidentally the protest isn’t over yet because the second demand, no reprisals, hadn’t been agreed to by BoT yet. The protesters have been paying an incredibly heavy price since Black Friday. How can Gallaudet heal if these protesters are being punished disproportionately to their offense while paid employees who assaulted, terrorized and traumatized peaceful students are not disciplined yet?
Yes, I want Gallaudet to heal, very much. This is why I am doing this. When they take the steps to address the wrongs, then we know we are on the right track.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:09 am
My problem with Old Friend approach is that unless we get “rid of the cancer, it will still be there”. As I have stated before-Congress should step in and remake the BoT, like they did at American University. Yes- the situation was diferent-to a piont. But Congress did stepped in and changed the BoT at AU- and because of that, AU is ALOT better now than it was in the past. We need that type of action at Gallaudet. In order to build (or imporve) a better University, we should start at the foundation(policy) level-and that’s at the BoT level.
Raphael J. St.Johns, C-87, G-00
December 6th, 2006 at 11:13 am
I am anxiety about this weekend. Yes, you are absolutely right that BOT is a big part of responisble for GAlly mess. If they have listened to us.. .if they have protested about the police brutality.. if they have some meetings with the protesters… then we dont have to deal with the mess at the end. SAD.. glad you wrote it clear and loud. thanks
December 6th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
I believe one BoT member was at the arrests – Ben Soukup….he was there. I remember reading some blogs saying that he was there to “observe”.
I agree that the board need to be replaced as they failed their duties as BoT.
And be sure to send the final bill to I. King Jordan for the mess he started for the past decade…to a tune of several million dollars… is that why 4 million dollars is missing?
Where is CPA? Where is watchdog group?
We will NOT rest til everything is properly done!
December 6th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
I still don’t understand why 4 or 5 brilliant Gally alumini people sit on the Gally board for a long time, not doing much that some serious things need to be taken care of, but it never happened.
Audism champ Ben Levinsion is still on the Board!
Another audism champ Tom Humperies is also still on the Board!
COME ON, BOT members!!!
December 6th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Why do you you stirring the pot. Gally is trying to heal. Your negativity is running rampant. Can’t you blog on anything positve?
December 6th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Old fashioned institutionalism, old-boys networking and selection of members by the person they are supposed to supervise creates a rubber-stamping board.
The totalitarian leadership of the few people discourages those who differ in thinking from speaking out. It also is based on lies and half-truths that lull the members of a board into believing things are being well handled by “capable” administrators.
The only way out of this is to clean out the BoT completely and install experienced leaders who know the pitfalls of this type of situation, and who realize that the ultimate future of Gallaudet ACTUALLY DOES rest on their shoulders. Limiting the term of service will also insure that there is a constant turnover of fresh minds and lessen the possibility of insider dealings.
The best thing the present BoT can do now is to do two things: Select a better interim President who will add to the agenda a system of correction of the problems that led to this mess; and to complete the unfinished business of the protest: i.e. restoration of the students to their status before the protest; restoration of the faculty and staff, and overhaul of the campus security.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
MishkaZena, I understand your point. In the conflicts of life, sometimes one side will continue to blame the other and vice versa. I just don’t want us to get stuck on whose fault the whole thing was. To me, it has happened and we have to move on. As you said, we have to address the underlying issues and get rid of them like boils. I agree. The whole campus needs to look at itself, boil by boil. All of the problems that existed post-DPN festered to what we have today.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Yes, Soukup was there to observe the arrests, but he came on his own, right? I am glad he came. Still others didn’t come.
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How can Gallaudet heal when people who cause the downhill of the fine institute are still in the picture? They must be held accountable for their actions. Now Gallaudet is in danger of losing its accreditation, thanks to Fernandes, Jordan, and BoT for not doing their job.
Once Gallaudet is set on the right track and cleaned up, then, with gladness, I will move on. Right now Gallaudet is still in a very big mess.
December 6th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
I guess it’s not just me, Peter Brown,who’s concern…there are alot fo people who feel the same way as I and Mishka Zena feel.
The BoT really needs to accept reponsibility and some of the people( Levinson, Humpries, etc) need to resign. King Jordan is leaving in a few weeks( thank God)as President. I hope that he leaves and never comes back. I also hope that other people like Paul Kelly leave-and other Pro-King Jordan people who were responsible for some of most dumbness, stupid,inhumanne (i.e. dening interperters to Deaf people-at a Deaf University!!!)decisions during the protest leave.
True healing will only begin whenever those accountable for this mess-are held accountable. This can in the form of either resignations, firings, or disciplianry actions.
Raphael J. St.Johns, C-87, G-00
December 6th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Yes, lance those boils!
December 8th, 2006 at 1:06 am
The Board also condoned the sabotaging of accreditation based groundwork that should have been the number one job of Jordan and Fernandes. Here we have the result: the approval of accreditation was postponed and, in fact, the accreditation may be in grave danger. On top of the problems Jordan’s team failed to report the outcome of the most recent PART report to the accreditation agency. It is no way that a reliable Board could allow this jkind of misconduct from top administrators.
December 8th, 2006 at 10:57 am
The Board of Trustees does not have an active administrative role in Gallaudet affairs. Much of this hand wringing that I see rests on a misunderstanding of the BoT’s role at Gallaudet.
Moreover, I see a lot of personal attacks on trustees simply because they aren’t Deaf enough or perceived as being unsympathetic to the protesters.
Finally, if there is to be peace and reconciliation coupled with “cleansing” of the BoT, then I’d argue for parity and say that the student protesters who broke the rules should be expelled and rendered PNG. What goes around comes around.
December 8th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Actually, Anon, that’s where you are wrong. BoT is the boss of Jordan, but they let him have the full reins and let him destroy Gallaudet. They forgot that their first priority is to Gallaudet, not to Jordan.
Using your same motto, that can be said with Jordan and BoT.
The actions of the students were done to save Gallaudet. The hard truth came out. Gallaudet is sinking due to Jordan and BoT not doing their job. Jordan set up rules to try to prevent the students from protecting Gallaudet, but they succeeded. The deaf community see these students heroes, rightfully.
December 24th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
I definitely agree that Gally BoT caused the protest. They have done more than enough damage to the image of Gallaudet University. There are several names on the BoT that I know. Sad to say but the best approach is to get rid of the entire BoT. Wipe the slate clean and replace with fresh new blood. Before replacing with fresh new blood, the method of selecting the person to serve on the BoT must be changed. There should be a person from the Alumni Association, Faculty and Staff, student organizations and others. Whenever there is a problem regarding the students, faculty or staff. You can rest assure the BoT will hear them out. The BoT should no longer shut themselves out from alumni, doners, teachers and others. All old cronyism must be ended. No more future control by the Gallaudet President.