Comments on: HURWITZ! ROSEN! STERN! WEINER! WHOA!

By: John Jr.

John Jr. — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:31:36 +0000

Deaf of Deaf families and all nominated. Now that’s scary! They will do ANYTHING to preserve the old boys and girls network at Gallaudet. That’s their ultimate goal.
FAVORITISM. EXTREME FAVORITISM. Duh!!!
PKZ and KG will increase. That’s SCARY, too.
Nepotism will increase.
Those candidates’ friends will be hired fast.
Gallaudet is never known, since the DPN I, for bringing fairness and balance to campus and the deaf community because Deaf families force just that.
Hlibok wrote a letter to IKJ begging him to be accepted into law school, although he was not very intelligent. Talk about favors!
Now, where was Glenn Anderson in the finalist pool?!
He would have been a much better choice.
Deaf families force favoritism and that is always their good old deal, looking down on others.
None of the finalists were at all that impressive.
Remember NEPOTISM is a real threat to Gallaudet.
Open your eyes! OPEN your eyes! WAKE UP!
All kept blaming IKJ for mistakes, but it was really the faculty that didn’t care for the students and brought Gallaudet down.
Faculty has been extremely lazy, complaining about their so-called low salary, and wanting more vacation time. They are OVERPAID. They do nothing.
Remove tenure and sabbatical for all I care!
I, myself, am from a Deaf family and know better!

By: PKS

PKS — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:35:58 +0000

Seeking “Pure ASL” is the surest way of killing ASL! Research shows that the more flexible a language is, the greater the chance for the language’s survival! Bickering about who is the best, who is deaf, Deaf or even organic Deaf is in my opinion, unnecessary! May the BEST person win and I pray that there will NOT be another protest as such a protest will surely harm Gallaudet in the long run and earn Gallaudet the title of being an “Absurd University.”

FYI: The etymology of the English word “absurd” is derived from the Latin word surdus (deaf, unresponsive to what is said; falling on deaf ears) using the Latin prefix ab- (away; wrongly, badly)

By: dog food

dog food — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:23:10 +0000

I like Hurwitz. He’s done many great things for NTID/RIT and can do well bringing a solid apotheosis to Gallaudet.

Organic ASL? What a ridiculous notion! Thanks for the humor.

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:52:56 +0000

I support Dolores 100%. Shame on the PSAC for not being brave for the new change by having independent, highly qualified, creative people that would help strengthen the GU. Be prepared that GU will be plummeted after having one of those four mediocre finalists chosen. Tsk, tsk, tsk

By: deafmommy

deafmommy — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:36:09 +0000

shelly and don,

bingo! you said it all! this is what we need in a president is an excellent command of ASL and respect of deaf center and a vision that all deaf people are equal, intelligent, and many things that Gallaudet should provide.

shelly, I agree when one does not study ASL, they just don’t have much respect for this language. this is rather unfortunate and it should start when they are babies to adulthood to learn ASL and deafhood issues. once they learn it, maybe we won’t be so divisive as a group and can achieve many things without tearing one another down.

I know all these finalists are good and have a deep respect and love for Gallaudet so they will do a good job.

lets hope that well go on the right path and help the new president make Gallaudet a great university to attend.

By: anon

anon — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:02:57 +0000

Glad you intervewed Hurtwitz, Weiner, and Rosen. I did’t realize that all of them attended oral school.

Did you interview Stern? If so, please share. I know nothng about Stern.

Thanks

By: Don G.

Don G. — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:43:41 +0000

I know I’m jumping in a bit late, but I do want to make a couple of points.

First, I do think ASL fluency in a President of Gallaudet is important. If our President is not fluent and cannot present a good model of ASL, then how can we expect the outside Hearing world to respect ASL, when we don’t even choose a good model of ASL to represent us as our President of Gallaudet?

However, ASL fluency (or dysfluency) is not indicative of whether the person has a strong Deaf “center” or not. Roz may at times in public sign in a more “English” manner, but she has a pretty good Deaf center, and I think THIS should be important in a President of Gallaudet as well — Gallaudet has had enough of the “hearing” mindset (even through to Jordan, unfortunately), and we need a leader/representative who will work to establish (or show that this is a valid and necessary perspective to have at Gallaudet) a Deaf center at Gallaudet and outside of it, within Deaf education and society. (Disclaimer: I am not saying that the other candidates do not have a Deaf center, however, I think some may not put as much of a priority on establishing this as others).

By: Shel

Shel — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:46:45 +0000

Karen, I’m sorry, but I have to disagree on the importance of ASL. It is important to have a strong command of ASL, just as it is important to have a strong command of French, like in Canada. To get higher in the federal government, it is advantageous to be truly bilingual. If a politician tried to mix French and English (FRANGLISH), he would NEVER get a single vote from Quebec, where people get quite testy when French is misused.

I guess it’s the American monolingual mindset that is affecting your view of ASL. I don’t intend this as an insult… merely an observation. (As someone told me, when people don’t study ASL, they don’t develop a respect for it. Looks like this individual was correct.)

It IS important that the Gallaudet president model excellent bilingual skills, in academic ASL, and academic English. When this happens, people…both Deaf and Hearing…would have more respect for ASL as a language, and that would filter down from university level to elementary school.

We CANNOT afford to continue with the monolingual mindset. “communicate in any way”… does that include mangling languages, and possibly causing misunderstandings in either ASL or English? Remember that Gallaudet administrator who mangled the date 2002 in a mockery of ASL, and outraged many Deaf individuals? That administrator showed a clear and shameful lack understanding of basic linguistics of ASL. I’m pretty sure that had he understood basic ASL linguistics, he would NEVER have done that.

A president of Gallaudet SHOULD have a strong understanding of both ASL and English linguistics, in order to truly represent the Deaf community.

I do have an opinion on which finalist I would like to see get the position of Gallaudet President, but I would like to wait until I get all the facts in first.

(Like some of the commenters above, I’m surprised (and not surprised) that there is no variety in the ethnic makeup of the finalists.)

By: Robert Alfred Hawkins

Robert Alfred Hawkins — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:16:24 +0000

Enlighten us about Dr. Bobbie Beth Scoggins experiences on the university level.

By: Insane Misha

Insane Misha — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:26:16 +0000

Honestly, Albert, what is the big friggin’ deal about the age? Heart attack could happen to ANY age.
That has nothing to do with the age, it has to do with experience. How would you like when you hear there will be 22 year old Gallaudet President? I’m sure you would have a “heart attack” over that and make some silly noises.