Deaf President Named, Ending Gallaudet Strife

Gallaudet University’s board of trustees Sunday chose I. King Jordan to be the first deaf president in the 124-year history of the school for the hearing impaired, and announced that board Chairwoman Jane Bassett Spilman has resigned.

Jordan, dean of the school’s college of arts and sciences, was chosen to replace Elisabeth Ann Zinser, a hearing woman, who resigned early Friday after protests from students seeking a deaf leader had virtually paralyzed Gallaudet’s campus.

Spilman, who had come under fire from protesters for her handling of the crisis, will be replaced by Philip W. Bravin, one of four deaf members on the board.

“In this week, we can truly say that we, together and united, have overcome our own reluctance to stand for our rights and our full representation,” Jordan told scores of students at the hotel where the trustees had met.

‘Highest of Praise’

“The world has watched the deaf community come of age. We will no longer accept limits on what we can achieve,” he said. “I must give the highest of praise to the students of Gallaudet for showing us all exactly how, even now, one can seize an idea with such force of argument that it becomes a reality.”

In a clean sweep for student protesters, Bravin announced that the board of trustees will form a task force to study composition of the board and institute a plan to ensure that a majority of the school’s 20-member trustees panel was deaf. There also will be no reprisals against student protesters, Bravin said.

“I took this step willingly,” said Spilman in announcing her resignation. “In the minds of some, I’ve become an obstacle. I am removing that obstacle.

“We wanted a deaf president,” she said. “In the end, the best choice was a hearing candidate (Zinser), but there was no deliberate deception in either our methods or choices.”

News of Jordan’s selection was received with joy on Gallaudet’s campus.

“We love it. We know now the university is going to be ours,” said Gallaudet graduate student Paul Singleton, who is deaf. “He’s the perfect president, the perfect selection.”

There was pandemonium in the campus gym, where about 200 students had gathered throughout the day as the board met.

Jordan, a finalist for the position when Zinser was selected, stunned protesters by endorsing Zinser’s presidency at a news conference Wednesday, but gave protesters an emotional lift when he retracted his backing of Zinser the next day.

Before becoming dean of Gallaudet’s largest undergraduate department in 1986, Jordan, 43, served as a psychology professor at the school. He becomes the seventh president of the nation’s only liberal arts college for the hearing impaired.

Another deaf candidate who was considered for the presidency was Gallaudet board member Dr. Harvey Corson, the superintendent of the Louisiana School for the Deaf.

Week of Turmoil

Jordan’s appointment comes after a tumultuous week in which clamor for a deaf president grew from an isolated campus protest to a national platform for deaf rights.

Students forced school officials to cancel classes Monday, when they blocked all entrances to the campus and prevented faculty and staff from entering. Throughout the rest of the week, students boycotted classes, and on Wednesday, more than half the school’s faculty voted to back the protesters.

Meanwhile, congressional investigators plan Tuesday to scrutinize Gallaudet’s board of trustees and presidential selection process.

Gallaudet, chartered by an act of Congress in 1864, receives 75% of its $76 million budget in federal funds.