In March 1988, the students at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., surprised the world by protesting the appointment of another hearing president. Deaf President Now! reveals the groundswell leading up to that history-making week when the students and other advocates seized the campus and closed it down until their demands were met.
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Deaf President Now!
eBook. Print book available. In March 1988, the students at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., surprised the world by protesting the appointment of another hearing president. Deaf President Now! reveals the groundswell leading up to that history-making week when the students and other advocates seized the campus and closed it down until their demands were met. The authors conducted more than fifty in-depth interviews with the principals and others, including student leaders Greg Hlibok, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Jerry Covell, and Tim Rarus, Gallaudet Board Chair Jane Bassett Spilman, Elisabeth Zinser, the president for two days, and I. King Jordan, Gallaudet's first deaf president. More telling disclosures in this book reveal the critical role played by a little-known group called the "Ducks". A tight-knit band of six alumni determined to see a deaf president at Gallaudet, the Ducks began formulating their plans for a protest when former President Jerry Lee first announced that he would be leaving, some nine months before the actual revolution. Deaf President Now! details how they guided the student leaders to ultimate success, including an analysis of the reasons for their achievement in light of the failure of many other student movements.
Controlling Our Destiny
eBook. In March 1988, students at Gallaudet University led a successful protest to demand the selection of the university's first deaf president. The Deaf President Now (DPN) movement was a watershed event in American deaf history; it achieved self-governance for the deaf community and placed Gallaudet in the center of a national media spotlight. Controlling Our Destiny is Philip Bravin's personal perspective of these momentous events. A lifelong member of the deaf community and proud Gallaudet alumnus, Bravin was a member of the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees and the chair of the presidential search committee during DPN. Although the deaf community had been strongly advocating for a deaf president to lead the university, the board (which had a hearing majority) selected the lone hearing candidate. Bravin recounts the discussions and decision-making that happened behind the scenes leading up to and following the ill-fated announcement. He reflects on the integrity of the process and the internal conflict he experienced as a deaf person who supported a deaf president yet felt compelled to abide by his duties as a board member. After the protests, his leadership was recognized when he was selected as the first deaf chair of the board. Photographs and documents add depth to Bravin's account, many of which will be seen by the public for the first time. I. King Jordan, the first deaf president of Gallaudet, provides a foreword in which he shares his own unique insight into these events. Controlling Our Destiny captures the energy and the urgency of DPN. Readers will understand the complexities of the presidential search process and the cultural and historical contexts that triggered the protest. Bravin's memoir contemplates power, access, community, and the enduring legacy of a movement that inspired deaf people around the world.
Deaf Empowerment
Employing the methodology successfully used to explore other social movements in America, this study examines the rhetorical foundation that motivated deaf people to work for social change during the past two centuries.
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