Gallaudet students protest new president by blocking gates

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Protests over Gallaudet University’s newly appointed president escalated Thursday morning when students, faculty and their supporters blocked the school’s gates with rented trucks.

Gallaudet is the world’s only liberal arts college for the deaf. Critics say that Jane K. Fernandes’ appointment as president was rigged and have called for a new, open selection process.

Fernandes, who has met with protesters repeatedly since her appointment was announced Monday, has vowed not to resign.

Protesters promised to lock down the university and briefly blocked one of the gates at the campus, at 800 Florida Ave. NE, with rented trucks. They moved the trucks after D.C. police threatened to arrest some protesters.

The protests have galvanized the deaf community in the region, the nation and even the world, with Internet message boards buzzing and flurries of furious e-mails. Many view the Gallaudet presidency as a key post in the struggle for deaf rights.

U.S. Reps Ray LaHood, R-Ill., and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., as well as U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are voting trustees on Gallaudet’s board.

A spokeswoman for LaHood said that he hadn’t been involved in selecting Fernandes. Representatives for Woolsey and McCain didn’t respond Thursday to requests for comment.

In 1988, students and faculty shut down the campus to protest the selection of another president. In that case, Gallaudet eventually appointed the college’s first-ever deaf president.

bmyers@dcexaminer.com

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