Checkmate? Never!
I was so exhausted yesterday that when I got home in mid-afternoon, I fell asleep pretty quickly. I had one very intense dream where I was on the subway with a male interpreter (quite gorgeous, and as it turned out, straight). The topic was, natch, the current stalemate between the Gallaudet Board of Trustees and the community. Most of the dream centered on our discussion, and the details were quite true to what had really occurred. Later in the dream, we got, ahem, distracted. But the point here is that I’ve had dreams for the past two weeks where the current situation has played a prominent role. It’s clearly something that’s weighing heavily on me and consuming much of my psyche right now. I woke up after 8 pm quite stiff and both arms were asleep. I must’ve been an immobile lump for hours and hours.
Once my arms ceased their pin-prick tingleTINGLEtingle, I groped for my pager, hoping to read good news. I scrolled down past a ton of new messages (hm! Something big happened!) and got to the first one. I read it, gasped for breath, and thought, “No, my mind is still quite fogged up. Back up here.” Re-read it in stunned silence. No. I understood it right the first time. The Board of Trustees has proven itself to be really deaf and dumb, decreeing that they weren’t budging, and now they need a new provost. Fury and a deep sadness spread throughout my entire body. I read each new message and they all conveyed similar sentiments of outrage and disappointment. There were declarations of war.
One thought pierced my shock, and that was, “All that work to re-activate the local GUAA chapter? For what now?” I’d spent the last 24 hours fighting to get officers to reactivate the local GUAA chapter so we could draft a resolution supporting the FSSA. I’d just succeeded a couple of hours previously (but unknown to me since I was fast asleep), but to what end? Then again, it wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference, would it?
I checked the blogosphere and the usual sites were strangely silent. Wassup?? It’s now 1:45 pm the next day, and Elisa’s and the FSSA’s sites have all but ceased to update. Ridor posted a couple of items that are his own thoughts and perspectives. The local listserv has had no updates from Gally since yesterday morning. I’m concerned, because we need to get together on this and know whether it’s just a few of us who want to declare out and out war while everyone else is focused on a new provost or if we want to fight for both Fernandes’ figurative decapacitation and a new provost or if the majority is going to roll over or what.
I can understand why the BoT did this in a way. They’re afraid to set what would be a very dangerous precedent of giving in every time people object to the next president. But at the same time, it is incomprehensible how they can be as immovable as the Rock of Gibraltar in the face of so much opposition, especially with GUAA, NAD, prominent Deaf community members, organizations, and so many alumni speaking out against this choice. I stand by my open letter, which points out that without support or the ability to build support, the woman cannot lead. I am disgusted, discouraged, disappointed, and in pain. I love Gallaudet too much to accept this decision. At this point, without knowing what FSSA has planned and without hearing from our representatives, I have decided that my financial donations are ceasing as of this moment and I am not going to support Gallaudet or set foot on campus in any way. I may change my mind once I hear the plan from our reps or from FSSA, but I’m not changing my mind about donations. I cannot believe this. I’m furious with the utter lack of leadership the administration and the Board have shown in the last two weeks.
A friend of mine was out of the contiguous United States from May 2nd through May 10th. When he returned, he had a crash course in what had transpired in his absence.
For his background analysis and perspectives, go here:
http://sandmanssandbox.blogspot.com/2006/05/framing-stalemate-background on.html
http://sandmanssandbox.blogspot.com/2006/05/framing-stalemate-thoughts-on.html
http://sandmanssandbox.blogspot.com/2006/05/framing-stalemate-what-now-gallaudet.html"
Once my arms ceased their pin-prick tingleTINGLEtingle, I groped for my pager, hoping to read good news. I scrolled down past a ton of new messages (hm! Something big happened!) and got to the first one. I read it, gasped for breath, and thought, “No, my mind is still quite fogged up. Back up here.” Re-read it in stunned silence. No. I understood it right the first time. The Board of Trustees has proven itself to be really deaf and dumb, decreeing that they weren’t budging, and now they need a new provost. Fury and a deep sadness spread throughout my entire body. I read each new message and they all conveyed similar sentiments of outrage and disappointment. There were declarations of war.
One thought pierced my shock, and that was, “All that work to re-activate the local GUAA chapter? For what now?” I’d spent the last 24 hours fighting to get officers to reactivate the local GUAA chapter so we could draft a resolution supporting the FSSA. I’d just succeeded a couple of hours previously (but unknown to me since I was fast asleep), but to what end? Then again, it wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference, would it?
I checked the blogosphere and the usual sites were strangely silent. Wassup?? It’s now 1:45 pm the next day, and Elisa’s and the FSSA’s sites have all but ceased to update. Ridor posted a couple of items that are his own thoughts and perspectives. The local listserv has had no updates from Gally since yesterday morning. I’m concerned, because we need to get together on this and know whether it’s just a few of us who want to declare out and out war while everyone else is focused on a new provost or if we want to fight for both Fernandes’ figurative decapacitation and a new provost or if the majority is going to roll over or what.
I can understand why the BoT did this in a way. They’re afraid to set what would be a very dangerous precedent of giving in every time people object to the next president. But at the same time, it is incomprehensible how they can be as immovable as the Rock of Gibraltar in the face of so much opposition, especially with GUAA, NAD, prominent Deaf community members, organizations, and so many alumni speaking out against this choice. I stand by my open letter, which points out that without support or the ability to build support, the woman cannot lead. I am disgusted, discouraged, disappointed, and in pain. I love Gallaudet too much to accept this decision. At this point, without knowing what FSSA has planned and without hearing from our representatives, I have decided that my financial donations are ceasing as of this moment and I am not going to support Gallaudet or set foot on campus in any way. I may change my mind once I hear the plan from our reps or from FSSA, but I’m not changing my mind about donations. I cannot believe this. I’m furious with the utter lack of leadership the administration and the Board have shown in the last two weeks.
A friend of mine was out of the contiguous United States from May 2nd through May 10th. When he returned, he had a crash course in what had transpired in his absence.
For his background analysis and perspectives, go here:
http://sandmanssandbox.blogspot.com/2006/05/framing-stalemate-background on.html
http://sandmanssandbox.blogspot.com/2006/05/framing-stalemate-thoughts-on.html
http://sandmanssandbox.blogspot.com/2006/05/framing-stalemate-what-now-gallaudet.html"
posted by moi @ 5/13/2006 11:12:00 PM
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