Hello GUAA Alumni,
I am sure by now, everyone has heard of the news. With the very short message that was released today from President Jordan’s office - see below -, he has disenfranchised many alumni. The Classes of 1981 and 1956 were all set to host their 25th and 50th Reunion. There are also many other reunions happening on that day as well. Instead, Dr. Jordan cancelled all “University Sponsored Events.”
Needless to say, we are all upset over this and deem his reasons for doing so very weak. Dr. Jordan is “postponing homecoming” because of the protester’s refusal to open all of the gates. Let’s think about this for a minute.
1) The gate by KDES is never used. It is hardly ever opened.
2) The gate by MSSD is open ONLY from 6 am to 6 pm M-F. It is closed on Saturday and Sunday.
3) The 6th St. Gate is open ONLY from 6 am to 6 pm M-F as well. It is also closed on Saturday and Sunday.
4) The Florida Avenue and 8th Street Gate is open 24/7.
There are hundreds of reasons why the protesting is going on. I can tell you from what I’ve seen and heard this past week or so, the problems that Gallaudet has run extremely deep. The protesters (students, faculty, staff, and alumni) have occupied the front gate on Florida and 8th, and they have also occupied the gates of Kendall and MSSD. When the football team took over the campus and shut the 6th street gate, they effectively closed the University.
As a result of that, 134 of our future leaders were arrested. Mostly students and a faculty member. Esteemed DPN Leader Tim Rarus was also arrested. Why? Because we have a person chosen by a Board of Trustees who have abdicated their role as custodians of the university and have put up a wall of silence (pun intended). They have chosen a person who is extremely unpopular and by all accounts not an effective leader. If you have been following the blogs, you will see all the documentation that has come forth about the effectiveness of the leader chosen for us by the Board of Trustees. Why is the BOT not willing to see that this person is simply not able to lead? More importantly, the obvious disconnect between the 85% of the Faculty who have voted to ask for resignation and the BOT? Why is President Jordan so protective of her?
On Monday morning, the gate on 6th St. was open and traffic was allowed to come and go normally. The students continued to occupy the Florida and 8th Street Gate. So, there is clear and easy access to the campus. In fact, on Monday morning and again this morning in the rain, a lot of students, alumni and some faculty stood by the roadside leading into Gallaudet, waving, cheering, and saying “good morning” to everyone. It was very heart warming to see them doing this. This morning, it was raining, and they were out there again, cheering, waving and welcoming people to the campus.
I know from my discussions, that the students and leaders have been very careful to communicate with the DPS and DC Police to make sure there is no mis-communications. They were told by everyone that the 6th street gate had to be open, and as long as it was open, it would not be a problem.
Apparently President Jordan thinks otherwise. Postponing the HC day and events, is in effect a CANCELLATION for class reunions and for alumni participation. Especially for the Classes of 1981 and 1956. Those classes have spent two years planning their reunion. Catering food has been reserved, entertainment reserved, and members of the classes have already paid for plane tickets, taken time off from work, book hotel rooms, and prepared for the reunion. I am sure all of them were looking forward to seeing their classmates from 25 and 50 years ago. Me included, as it is my 1981 class reunion. I am not able to come back in November to attend what would be considered an “Official Class Reunion.” I am sure that this is true for many our alumni who are unable to come in November. In fact, I have seen some our international alumni already here for the festivities. I feel bad because I encouraged them all to come.
Shock waves reverberated throughout Gallaudet when the announcement was made. Dr. Jordan and Dr. Fernandes have repeatedly stated that this is a “local” issue and not really a community wide issue. How very wrong of them. About 2 minutes after the announcement went out; I received pages from Florida, California, South Dakota, and many other states asking me if it was true. In about 10 minutes, people from England were asking the same question. ”Local” indeed!
I cannot describe to you adequately the upheavals and turmoil Gallaudet is in now. It is awful, sad, and quite simply, disgusting. You have to be here on campus to see it and feel it for yourself. For those of you who were “against” the protest, or not very supportive. I assure you, when you get here, you’ll see it for yourself.
The worst thing anybody can do is turn on their own family members. Since Gallaudet is home for us, the students arrested on Friday evening last week was an incredible, terrible and heart breaking experience. It was awful, sad, and demoralizing. Our kids were trying to make a statement, they were expressing their opinion. This is AMERICA, this is what we do. Blocking the gate maybe was not the “legal” thing to do, but it was a way to get attention. Very obviously, they felt that they were not being “heard.”
Well, I don’t know about you folks, but to put it bluntly, I am heart broken and outraged that President Jordan can continue to oppress the community of Gallaudet. Very clearly, he’s lost focus on what we are all about. Today we were interviewed by the local media, I told President Jordan that the oppression must stop. We are fed up with it. Is it right for us to feel oppressed in our own home? After a life time of oppression, Gallaudet is the one place where we are free to be
ourselves, and not suffer the oppression we experience EVERYDAY of our lives outside of Gallaudet!
Nevertheless, we will PREVAIL, and life will get back to normal at Gallaudet. Some people need to realize that they are not wanted at Gallaudet and will never have the ability to lead the university or our cherished campus. By cancelling an event that hundreds of alumni have paid airplane tickets, dinner tickets, event tickets, hotel rooms, and taken time off from work to attend, President Jordan has made it clear to all of us, that the alumni is not a valued entity at Gallaudet University.
Therefore, I am calling upon ALL ALUMNI to come to Gallaudet. Come on foot, rent buses, fly here, and be here. Our home needs us!
We must take back Gallaudet.
Andy Lange
GUAA President
PS. The GUAA was NOT consulted on this “postponement.” The GUAA had no input into this decision whatsoever.
PSS. It’s nice that President Jordan can send emails to ALL Alumni when we at GUAA are unable to do so.
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