CSUN University News Clippings

Protests unlikely for deaf university’s new leader; CSUN’s Roslyn Rosen is finalist for post

(October 19, 2009)

By JESSICA GRESKO, The Associated Press
2009-10-18 11:52:47.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

The nation’s premiere university for deaf and hard of hearing students will soon have a new president, but the school’s choice isn’t likely to stir the same protests that shut down the campus when a new leader was named three years ago.

Gallaudet University plans Sunday to announce its choice for the 10th president of the nearly 150-year-old school. Reaction is expected to contrast markedly with 2006, when students formed human chains at campus gates to block entry, set up a small tent city and at one point burned an effigy of the chosen president. The candidate at the time, Jane K. Fernandes, was criticized for her management style and for not learning sign language until she was an adult.

“Honestly, the candidates this year are pretty safe choices,” senior Amanda Amati wrote in a message before the school’s choice was announced, adding that the four finalists for the job all have deaf backgrounds or a history with the school.

Amati was a freshman at the time of the first protests and said no one wants to see a repeat of the protests this year.

The new president will head a school of nearly 1,900 students - about 1,100 of them undergraduates. About 90 percent of the undergraduate students are deaf or hard of hearing.

But the new president will also face challenges like recruiting and retaining students, a harder job since many deaf children are now mainstreamed at an early age. Funding is also an issue. Founded in 1864 by Congress, Gallaudet still gets about 70 percent of its budget from federal money. The budget is about $160 million for 2010, but if Congress cuts funding it could jeopardize the school.

In addition to an approximately $400,000 base salary, the president’s job comes with the keys to the school’s “House One,” a 20-room Victorian mansion where flashing lights go off when the doorbell rings to alert the family someone is outside.

The new president will replace Robert R. Davila, who took over after the turmoil over Fernandes’ selection. It wasn’t the first time the school has had difficulty choosing a president.

In 1988, students demanded the selection of the school’s first deaf president, protests that led to the selection of I. King Jordan. It was Jordan’s decision to retire that prompted Fernandes’ selection, which protesters said at the time was made without any input from students or faculty.

This time officials put students and faculty on a presidential search committee and tried to be more inclusive in the process. The school announced its four finalists in September, and each then gave a speech at the university and met with students.

The finalists are T. Alan Hurwitz, who has spent nearly 40 years at Gallaudet’s rival, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf; Roslyn Rosen, formerly Gallaudet’s chief academic officer and now the director of the National Center on Deafness at California State University, Northridge; Ronald J. Stern, who heads the New Mexico School for the Deaf; and Stephen F. Weiner, Gallaudet’s provost. Hurwitz is the only one of the candidates not to have at least one degree from Gallaudet.

The new president will take over in January.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Publication: Associated Press