Reprisals Official Now!!!
From: Board of Trustees [mailto:trustees@gallaudet.edu]
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 11:03 PM
To: Trustees@gallaudet.edu
Subject: Board Decision
Statement by the Gallaudet Board of Trustees
December 14, 2006
“At its November 11, 2006 meeting, the Gallaudet University Board of
Trustees placed a freeze on any further steps to enforce the
University’s Student Code of Conduct for actions during the protest. The
decision to freeze was made to give the administration time to bring
back more information to the Board to ensure a more informed decision.
At its December 9, 2006 meeting, the Board received a report from
President I. King Jordan and Mr. Carl Pramuk, Dean of Student Affairs,
on actions that were taken and in process prior to the freeze. The
Board concluded that the judicial process has been conducted according
to University policies, that these matters are appropriately under the
jurisdiction of the student judicial system, and that the judicial
process should move forward.â€
From: Board of Trustees [mailto:trustees@gallaudet.edu]
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 11:03 PM
To: Trustees@gallaudet.edu
Subject: Board Decision
Statement by the Gallaudet Board of Trustees
December 14, 2006
“At its November 11, 2006 meeting, the Gallaudet University Board of
Trustees placed a freeze on any further steps to enforce the
University’s Student Code of Conduct for actions during the protest. The
decision to freeze was made to give the administration time to bring
back more information to the Board to ensure a more informed decision.
At its December 9, 2006 meeting, the Board received a report from
President I. King Jordan and Mr. Carl Pramuk, Dean of Student Affairs,
on actions that were taken and in process prior to the freeze. The
Board concluded that the judicial process has been conducted according
to University policies, that these matters are appropriately under the
jurisdiction of the student judicial system, and that the judicial
process should move forward.â€
December 15th, 2006 at 9:48 am
I saw that on GallyNet List… but wasn’t completely sure how to interpret the message.
Doesn’t sound too good, does it?
I wonder, what evidences the IJK admin used to show the BoT?
If I remember correctly, IJK had his own “camera” person videotaping on campus.
Is that what they used as an evidence?
December 15th, 2006 at 9:57 am
Gee…
The students participated in something called ‘civil disobedience.’ Many people have done the same thing, including Harry David Thoreau and Gandhi. The students need to acknowledge that by doing this, there will be consequences. It is time for everyone to stand up, be a man, and accept the consequences. Wear it like a badge of honor.
December 15th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Not if their punishments are out of proportion to the offense.
The Gallaudet Administrators violated university bylaws and the national university protocol many times, then you have this flawed presidential search, with no transparency. There is no accountability for the actions of Gallaudet Administrators.
While talking about accountability, what about these paid workers who assaulted the students, sending them to hospitals and infirmary for emergency medical treatment? They are still working with pay.
December 15th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Alan,
President Lincoln violated the law during the Civil War in order to save the Constitution and save the United States when he suspended the writ of habeas corpus.
Does that mean you believe that Lincoln should have been impeached?
–Brian Riley
December 15th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Well! Is there anyone at the BoT level that is really listening -again? Why would anyone in the BoT trust the IKJ Adm.? It seemed to me that there are persons in BoT that really do not want the full healing of Gallaudet U. to commance. Is anyone there with any sense of reason? There can be no real healing on campus-unless the entire proceedings is stop- and the balance of justice is retored.
Raphael J. St. Johns, C-87,G-00
December 15th, 2006 at 11:16 am
This calls for replacements of whole BoT as they are “tainted” from the past mismanagement. This is unfair and undue process!
IF the BoT had done the right thing last May, this would NOT have happened.
The BoT are responsible for what happened, therefore, they MUST clean the slate and move on.
There should be no reprisals as the BoT made so many mistakes.
This will call for more protests if they continue to punish people for their rights.
This is going to be interesting!
December 15th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
I think that the Gallaudet administration and the Board of Trustees are making the correct decision to proceed with possible disciplinary action against students who broke the campus code of conduct.
And, no, making ridiculous charges about constitutional violations, due process, and university bylaws isn’t going to change the fact that the protesters disrupted university life.
You want civil disobedience? Be real and take the penalties. Right now, all you’re doing is asking to escape the inevitable consequences.
December 15th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Disruption of university life? Then we should hold the administrators and BoT accountable for derelict of their duties to the university for many years, violating both the bylaws and the university conduct policy.
The BoT violated a federal law established by the Congress and other bylaws. Jordan not only disregarded two federal laws ADA and Section 504, but also didn’t follow the university conduct policy. Security guards, physical plant workers, and rental cops broke federal, DC laws, and university conduct policy. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
You don’t want to open this can of worms, do you?
December 15th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
To #7 No, these are not ridiculous charges.
Jordan has *definitely* violated the First Amendment of the Constitution because he is an administrator in charge of duly appointed government police officers. The DPS officers are NOT private security guards. They have police powers.
That means Jordan is not allowed to act like they are private security guards and just force people off campus for no reason. The police are required to respect people’s First Amendment right to free speech, free assembly and petition the government of redress of grievances. Jordan has illegally interfered with all of these rights.
Paul Kelly and Meloyde Batten-Mickens are also equally responsible for violating the Constitution. They are NOT allowed to kick people off campus just because they feel like it (by making up fake reasons based on untrue allegations.)
Brian Riley
December 15th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
I was one of the students who was arrested. Also, assaulted by DPS.
While, I first read the email sent by the Board. I was shocked, angry, and frustrated. Also, I thought wow, I can’t believe they would go ahead with the reprisals.
Now, from listening from friends and family. I agree with Alan who posted a reply earlier. We should take it like a man, and wear it as a badge of honor.
As a result of the Board of Trustee’s administering the reprisals, they will be hurting in the long run. Also, Gallaudet will not be looking good for parents and their kids who are seeking to go there.
That is not to say, I dislike Gallaudet. I love Gallaudet, and believe that Gallaudet has so much to offer to the Deaf World. Based on the old saying, “You win some, and you lose some.”
Unity for Gallaudet!
-Peter
December 15th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
The analogy with President Lincoln, as mentioned in several comments, does not make any sense. If the analogy were to be applied to Gallaudet University, it could be President I. King Jordan, who was like President Lincoln, who violated the rules, if the allegations were to be proven true, and therefore, should not be impeached just like President Lincoln. The protestors during President Lincoln’s time were put in jail, just like some protestors at Gallaudet University. What this shows is that the analogy does not work.
Alan was correct in observing that those who participated in civil disobedience very often suffered punishments, no matter how unreasonable they were. There is consequence or price for each action or inaction.
The future for those who were punished does not look very promising and I can only offer my prayer that somebody somewhere somehow will be able to help them out, be it legal aid, mental, emotional, and physical support, peer support or mercy from the current or new administration.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
December 15th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Once again, i am pondering the heck out of myself about whatever happened to the law firm that is working with protestors? Why is it being so silent about what possible actions are protestors going to take against Jordan’s administration and all??
Like we all already know, there are EVIDENCES of assaults made by DPS officers, etc. And the silence???
December 15th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
I had to re-read your arguments about the First Amendment several times before I could make any sense out of it. After I understood what you said, I have to respectfully suggest that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
First of all, the First Amendment is not absolute; there are restrictions, such as clear and present danger.
Second, with respect to universities, while students have a right to free speech on campus, PROVIDED IT DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES.
I’d say that the student protesters disrupted school activities to a significant degree.
Moreover, free speech does not extend to violations of university code of conduct as seen in Bethel School District v. Fraser. (See below.)
“In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that free speech rights extended to students in school while deciding Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) . The case involved several students who were punished for wearing black arm-bands to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled that the school could not restrict symbolic speech that did not cause undue interruptions of school activities. Justice Abe Fortas wrote, “schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students…are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State.” The decision was arguably overruled, or at least undermined, by Bethel School District v. Fraser 478 U.S. 675 (1986), in which the Court held a student could be punished for his speech before a public assembly.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_amendment
December 15th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Oh, and I’d like some more concrete examples that the BoT violated federal law and that Jordan himself violated Title 504 and the ADA other than overheated rhetoric.
I can almost guarantee you that any case filed on those grounds will almost certainly get thrown out by a federal judge. You need to be a hell of a lot more specific that vague allegations and your general attitude that the BOT, Gallaudet, and Jordan “broke federal, DC laws.”
December 15th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Before anyone goes spouting off on topics that they are entirely ignorant of — like the First Amendment, this might be a useful resource.
http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/speechfaqs.aspx
December 15th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
This shows to the rest of the world that persons like “Anonymous” are really not interested in the healing process.
When you have people making charges on some basis that no one knows…is this fair?
What exactly, are the legal standards that the conduct people are using?
When you have been suspended BEFORE you have a hearing…BEFORE you have the chance to defend yourself…is this both moral and fair?
And to be judged by someone (s) who is (are), really bias against you (i.e. a part of the IKJ adm.) is also immoral and unfair.
I have to tell people this:
both the IKJ and BoT people continue to “shoot” themselves in the foot, so to speak.
And if this continues, then Gallaudet enrollment will suffer permanent damage…no matter who the president is.
Please BoT…for the sake of Gallaudet University…re-consider your ill-advise and immoral decision on this issue.
Raphael J. St. Johns, C-87, G-00
December 15th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
I have read Dr. Davila’s online interview with people yesterday (Dec. 14, 2006). When asked if he could revamp the Board of Trustées, he said he has no authority. My question is: Why is it that whereas Davila has no authority, Jordan has the authority to “king” the BoT?
Off on a tangent: A president of the USA grants a pardon to any convicted person every year, usually, in the last week of December. Two of President Reagan’s Cabinet members, Carl Weinberger and John Poindexter, were jailed for IranContra in the 1980s. President Bush 41 granted a pardon to the said men. If a USA president can pardon, why can Jordan not grant a pardon to all protesters, too?
Jean Boutcher
December 15th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
“When you have people making charges on some basis that no one knows…is this fair?
What exactly, are the legal standards that the conduct people are using?”
I respectfully suggest that you look at Gally’s code of conduct.
http://gallaudet.edu/x1485.xml
Incidentally, look at this language: “The University has an obligation to clarify those standards of behavior that it considers essential to its educational mission and its community life. In a teaching-learning community, willful disruption of the educational process, destruction of property and/or interference with the orderly processes of the University or the rights of other members of the University community, for example, cannot be tolerated.”
I guess that’s fair warning to folks who choose to disrupt university life. Courts have generally upheld regulations like these especially if they are longstanding.
“When you have been suspended BEFORE you have a hearing…BEFORE you have the chance to defend yourself…is this both moral and fair?”
I’m not sure where you’re going with your ill-informed logic, but most people are arrested first, i.e., suspended, and then only given a trial.
“And to be judged by someone (s) who is (are), really bias against you (i.e. a part of the IKJ adm.) is also immoral and unfair.”
Immorality and fairness have nothing to do with the fact that, of course, I, and many others, are judging you and others on your actions. Everybody “out there” judges you by your actions. That’s how your character is determined by other people. That’s life.
December 15th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Anon, a judge will throw out?? That shows how much you know.
There are serious allegations supported with ample evidence. I suggest you remove the blinders from your eyes, but hey, if you prefer to bury your head in the sand and deny, deny, deny, that’s your prerogative.
December 15th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
From where I’m sitting, all I’m hearing are vague allegations of lawbreaking with little or no detail. There’s a lot of rhetoric here that I see, but little specifics.
At most, what I’ve seen in terms of breaking the law is apparently Gallaudet’s failure to include a member nominated by GUAA, but that is mainly procedural (not to say that Gallaudet’s wrong or that GUAA is right, but this is a serious and substantive issue) and has little to do with the serious charges of lawbreaking and corruption that I regularly find in these blogs.
These charges WILL be thrown out of court if they consist of nothing but baseless allegations. That’s the way the judicial system works. Talk to any deaf lawyer and they’ll tell you the same thing. You need to have a solid foundation for making those charges and so far I’m not seeing anything.
December 15th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
#16
The president’s pardon power is granted to the presidency by the U.S. Constitution. It is the only exception to our country’s rule of law.
There does not appear to be a similar power that IK Jordan has for pardons.
December 15th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
This is Unfair….. Those DPS and PPD should be punished too for hurting students… They broke the policy and not provide safety for students… There is something that need to be done about this.. It is unfair if students and staff are getting punished so well those PPD and DPS they should be too.
December 15th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Anonymous,
You didn’t read what I wrote carefully. It has nothing to do with Supreme Court decisions involving students.
NO ONE in the United States is allowed to be in charge of police officers and make up false reasons for getting the police to take actions based on the *content* of people’s speech.
When Jordan, Kelly and Batten-Mickens make up (invent) false allegations in order to give people persona non grata status and order them off the campus, that’s exactly what they are doing. They are taking actions based on the *content* of the speech of those people.
That is forbidden by the Constitution.
The police are forbidden to be used in manners to deal with content in this manner, especially involving the valid issue of what the protesters were involved in. They have every right to engage in free speech on the issue of Fernandes and the flawed search process. Jordan has NO RIGHT to interfere based on the content of their speech.
December 15th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Joseph,
The point about Lincoln is simply that there are valid situations when it is proper to break the law. Lincoln did it, and we hail him as a hero.
Likewise, history will show that the Gallaudet protesters were very correct to break the law.
Morality demands that the Board stop the reprisals. The students were right, the Board was wrong.
The Board ADMITTED they were wrong when they terminated Fernandes.
December 15th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Anon:
Whoever you are- you are misinformed about generally everything you have stated. You apparently (like most pro-Fernandes/IKJ fan) feel the need to bash the students.
Most people are not suspended first. In fact, most people are giving the benefit of the doubt first- ever heard of “innocence until proven guilty”?
Apparently, you have no idea of what is really happening on campus. I know- because I go there almost everyday.
Last week, for example, I came across a 23 year senior-who happens to be in the Honors program at Gally. This person told me that he/she has been suspended from the internship position that/he/she had. This student “crime”? He/she doesn’t know! This student was involved in the protest- but did nothing to destroyed property or anything like that-and in fact does’nt know of anythign that happened like that.
This student told me that he/she will not be coming back to Gallaudet unless this is clear ASAP(two semester left before graduating). This student was very angry that he/she did not have any opportunity to defend himself/herself- and on what possible legal basis is IKJ adm. charging this student? We don’t know. This student has asked and asked…and asked. NO response from anyone.
I have seen many many students that are in the same “boat”.
What smacks of pure vengeance is that by your “ill-logic” reason, the entire 1988 protesting group should have also been “punished”-yet no one did. And IKJ enjoyed the entire 18-19 years of his Lordship.
Now, when things are going against His Highness, he decides to “get tough”.
Please, BoT…IKJ…please stop the hypocrisy for all of us… please stop this rotten smell of “student misconduct”.
And finally, as it has been pointed out-NONE of this would have happened if the BoT did their job in the first place.
Raphael J. St. Johns, C-87, G-00
December 16th, 2006 at 5:32 am
Enough Enough I think BOT, makes big mistakes. It is time for GUFSSA to threw BOT out and fire all Jordan ADm & Judicial. They all are very unreasonable. They do not realize what they are doing b ecause they are the one who caused the protesters to happen and because they refused to listen to them and caused DPS, ADM, PPD to threaten or assualt the protesters.
December 16th, 2006 at 11:27 am
Iam, I won’t be surprised. Jordan was very likely in the BoT and he had a reputation of coercing the BoT.
Raphael, I don’t think BoT listens to anyone outside of its adminstrators. They forgot that they serve the whole university, not the administrators! Btw, can you contact me? It is very important. Thanks
Sarah, an excellent question! Why aren’t they doing something actively other than sending a long letter to BoT where it was ignored? Why didn’t FSSA authorize the lawyers to do more?
Jean, Jordan has no forgiveness in his heart. He wants to punish the protesters for throwing out Fernandes and is using the court to settle out his personal vendetta against the students. This is so wrong!
Leo, no kidding! We need to do something about this travesty!
Debbie, it is time that BoT be held accountable for their actions! This is too crazy!
I cannot believe this is happening in America. Where is the democracy? Where are the students’ rights?
December 16th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I think that justice is on the way, Misha Zena. There have just been too many outrages and injustices.
The American people are not blind to this. Congress will act.