Aftermath of the weekend.

G'day everyone.

Shifting through the aftermath of the weekend. PSU wins and crushes the Gophers. Yankees wins and crushes the Angeles. Pittsburgh Wins and crushes the browns. Eagles got defeathered yesterday. Last night, The Phillies made Dodgers pay for winning game 2 by whipping their butts in a form of 11-0 score. Phillies had NO MERCY at the bat this time. (I warned my friend it would happen and it did!).

But, I sat down to read the emails and many comments related to the aftermath of the selection of the next DEAF President of Gallaudet University of the announcement made on Sunday. Most of the comments were unprintable.

However, I began to think about something. In this age of Economic Recession, there are thousands of people out of work. Many of them with the high professional Doctorate (PHD degrees as well. There has to be SOME hearing people that have a background in Deaf Education and fluent in ASL. If there were such hearing candidates that would be eligible to apply for the position of the President of Gallaudet University, then why were they NOT included in the recent process? I can understand Gallaudet University wanting a deaf president. But, if we don't open the process to others, then we have lost the benefits of a hearing educator that wants to insure that improvements are made for the Deaf community in a college setting.

We MUST face reality of life. We, the deaf community, have spent our lives fighting for equal access, equal rights, and accessibility for all with the Hearing Community. What if, in the very moment of this life, if the hearing community were to demand all of the Deaf access to the hearing community were to be taken away at once? How would then we feel of being shoved back to 2nd class citizen status again? We would have to, once more, fight our way back to where we are today. We earned this access with the hearing community. We must work with them every day.

Look at Jane K. Fernandes. She works for the University of North Carolina-Asheville! Link:
http://www.unca.edu/admin/co/administration.html

I seriously doubt that Fernandes had gone up to the UNC Board of Trustees and say "Hire me, I'm deaf!". No! I believe she let her credentials speak for themselves and let the hearing community do their best judgment. That was how she got hired. How many more deaf people can compete for top jobs in the hearing world out there?

As NTID prepares their next search process for the next President of NTID, I call upon RIT President Destler that he *MUST* ensure and promote that their NTID search committee does *NOT limit* their searches to Deaf candidates, but to consider ALL CANDIDATES EQUALLY!! The next President of NTID should not be just deaf, but someone with ASL knowledge, Deaf Education, and having the proper credentials for position.

RIT learned much from the Gallaudet University 2006 protest and developed new ideas in their search that landed President Bill Destler. I hope that NTID will take extra care and make it a year long process to involve everyone in the NTID community. Just like RIT did.

I have to slap on the Associated Press *HARD* here. Associated Press, Don't think that Gallaudet University will always have a protest when it comes down to the selection of the next President. The lone 2 important events that happened on the campus of Gallaudet University will always be apart of history, but it has opened our eyes twice to what has gone on with the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees.

Searching for a President of a college should not be done in such a sort time. CSUN? I remember they were looking for 2 years before they finally settled on someone they wanted. It should be the BEST person for the job, not just some one being popular in the deaf community and well liked by the hearing community.

So in 5 years from now, when President Hurwitz's time comes to a close at Gallaudet University, let's hope that next Gallaudet University Board of Trustees and their next Presidential Search Advisory Comittee (PSAC) will cast a broad network to look for the VERY BEST CANDIDATE, hearing or deaf, to be the next President of GU.
At this point, I wish President Hurwitz in the best of his efforts to lead Gallaudet University in the coming years.

Lastly, today I'm very pleased of the announcement coming out from NTID:
http://www.ntid.rit.edu/media/full_text.php?article_id=1061
I am sure Mr. DeCaro will provide excellent leadership in the interim for the full year, starting December 1, 2009. God bless Mr. DeCaro!
NTID ALUMNI, the time is now to help our Alma Mater to find best leader! Send suggestions to NTID NOW!

Semper FI.