I’ve just recently returned from a week in DC and the surrounding area. Right now, I’m rather exhausted, so I’ll save my thoughts and reflections for the next post. In the meantime, just like a number of other participants at the conference at Gallaudet, I’d like to post the written version of my remarks. I added a couple comments during the actual presentation, and while I covered the majority of what is presented below, anyone who saw me that day knows I abbreviated this paper quite a bit– after all, there’s only so much you can do within fifteen minutes, which was our allotted timespan for our presentations (I did mine in exactly twelve minutes).

So without further ado, here’s what I said. I’ll be back to comment once I’m not so groggy!

Vlogging/Blogging the Future of Gallaudet: Mr. Sandman’s Presentation

Good morning. I would like to start today by sharing an experience I had recently that may illuminate how many people in the deaf community, from alumni to bloggers to other interested parties, feel about the state of Gallaudet at present.

As a proud alumnus, I occasionally want items that will reflect my pride in Gallaudet. While I don’t go crazy and buy everything in sight that has the word “Gallaudet” on it, I do appreciate clothing and other general items. Several months back, I decided I wanted a couple of things. So being the tech-savvy person I am, I decided to order online from the Gallaudet bookstore. Unfortunately, what I wanted wasn’t available for purchase online. So I decided to e-mail the bookstore, both to ask a question about what I wanted and to make a purchase.

I never received a response to my original e-mail, nor did I get any response of any kind to my subsequent e-mails. Finally, I decided perhaps I should call the bookstore directly. Each time I called, no matter the hour (and this is keeping in mind the time difference between Gallaudet and the West Coast!), I always got the answering machine. I left a message each time, but never received a return call. In the end, I finally had to ask a friend who was present on campus to physically enter the bookstore for me, answer my questions, and purchase the items I wanted, and ship them to me. At that time, the bookstore homepage had a number of items on display on several pages, with links provided for actual purchase. Whether those links worked or not, I have no idea. In my case, I had to have someone physically present on campus act as my proxy in completing the transaction. As of the time I am telling you this, the bookstore homepage merely contains a link with contact information, and nothing else.

This story is intended as an analogy of sorts for how the various actors apart from the administration and Board of Trustees viewed Gallaudet for most of 2006: an institution that could not be approached in any manner other than face to face. Although the protest played out on several fronts, from “real-time” interaction on the ground to the forum of public opinion via media such as the Washington Post to countless posts and forums online, the overall impression those of us on the outside (and I suspect, for many of those on the “inside” had was of an institution that was unapproachable, an administration that was deaf (if you’ll forgive the pun!) to the concerns of everyone else: faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the community at large. In short, just like the bookstore, an administration that was unaccountable to everyone except itself.

At my blog, and countless others, there have emerged two key elements that Gallaudet should consider, and I want to share my thoughts on them today as we consider “Whither Gallaudet?” The first is the need for reform, and the second is the need for accountability. Because I am no longer a student at Gallaudet, and my only tie is that of an alumnus, what I state here is from the perspective of an alumni and an outsider of sorts.

First, let’s consider reform. There are several factors we need to consider, and this conference is part of a conversation we’re all having about these factors. As far as reform itself, the first part is, “What needs reform?” The second is how to implement such reform. The final element is the effectiveness/success of such reform. The second part is, how will Gallaudet change, and from where will change originate? This is where outside parties can wield influence: alumni, parents, vloggers/bloggers, and Congress.

We saw several examples of such outside influence during the protest. Now that we are in a post-protest era, there is a need to examine many questions about Gallaudet: some are wholly internal, some external, and quite a few are a mix of both.

Let’s take one example and examine it. In several of my posts, and in blogs and listservs I’ve read elsewhere, a key reform that many people have been clamoring for is an overhaul of DPS, known in my time as DOSS.

The January 12 report submitted by Covington & Burling as part of the investigation requested by Gallaudet had a number of conclusions; most relevant in my mind was Conclusion #3, which stated, in part, that “we learned that, while DPS encourages its officers to learn ASL, there are no specific requirements for ASL coursework or proficiency. None of the three officers assigned to enter HMB on October 6 received any ASL training beyond introductory courses. One of the officers has taken only the most basic ASL course (ASL I) and received a “D” grade.”

The report also issued a number of recommendations, including the hiring of more deaf and hard of hearing officers, and mandatory ASL proficiency requirements for officers. The sad thing here is that these are the types of suggestions and recommendations people have been making for years. Nothing has changed, not in the wake of DPN in 1988, not in the wake of the death of Carl DuPree in 1990, and so far not in the wake of the events of October 2006. Only now do we have a report stating what the majority of the Gallaudet community and the community at large have known for years: communication is Gallaudet’s raison d’etre, and until equal access to communication is provided for everyone at Gallaudet, problems will remain.

Of course, the simple word “communication” opens a veritable Pandora’s Box– today’s conference is not intended to fully deconstruct what needs to be done, or provide a laundry list of Gallaudet’s faults, perceived or real, or provide concrete answers. What we can do is begin to determine how to start answering this question, and many more. I cannot answer for parents, Congress, or others; but as a blogger, I can make suggestions for how those of us in cyberspace can assist in this process.

First, there needs to be respect for varied views, regardless from which quarters they originate.

Second, parents, alumni, current students, and any other interested parties should participate in the conversations at various blogs and online forums as much as possible. What would be helpful would be anecdotes, examples, and most importantly of all, possible solutions to questions and problems that people outline. It’s one thing to complain, or to dump one’s agenda onto a blog post or comment, it’s another to offer a positive outlook. How can we change the situation? How do we turn the problem into an asset? To do so, it will also be incumbent on faculty, staff, and administrators to monitor and consider opinions, suggestions, and constructive criticism from all, whether in person, in a letter, or online.

This leads into the second major issue I wanted to bring up today: accountability. This is the answer to the second suggestion I made concerning participation. Dr. Davila has already started down this path with his vlogs and communications with the campus community and beyond. But the President of Gallaudet, whether it is Dr. Davila or his successor, is not solely responsible for everything that happens regarding Gallaudet. Yes, the administration and its head serve as a lightning rod of sorts– but the success and future of Gallaudet depends on all of us, not just the President and the Board of Trustees.

Gallaudet is not just 99 acres on Kendall Green– it’s also a reputation that is both national and global. How do we uphold that reputation? The first is through academic excellence. We are struggling with this now because of the PART report, the MSA evaluation, and the current state of deaf education. While many of us may hold Drs. Jordan and Fernandes accountable for their part in the failures leading up to the present, we also need to examine not only what didn’t work then, but what also has worked up to now. What did they do (or not do) that still works? How can we improve on that?

The Board of Trustees has its share of reform and accountability as well. How can they be more engaged in campus affairs? How can they best learn to communicate with all interested parties? Far more importantly, how can the rest of us help them to do that?

University faculty has their own standards in classes for student accountability. But how can the departments as a whole reform themselves and expect accountability? Are the faculty we have at present doing their jobs? How are they succeeding, and how can they do better? How can the different divisions, such as liberal arts and the sciences ensure that they have effective departments? The deans already report to the administration, but how can they in turn convey what they are doing and where they expect their divisions to go? Again, how can the rest of us help them to do that?

Students may form the population directly served by the university, but as I’ve said previously on my blog, students have a responsibility of their own to ensure that the education they are receiving is the one that they want. Will students more actively participate in committees when invited? When surveys and assessment forms are handed out, will students accurately and honestly fill them out? If a student isn’t receiving the education they expect, will they just accept it as “that’s how Gallaudet is,” slack off because little is expected of them, or will they challenge themselves to achieve, make suggestions to their professors and departments for the current class and future course offerings? Again, how can the rest of us help them to do that?

The community at large, which includes bloggers/vloggers, and the alumni, has a unique perspective here: because Gallaudet is simultaneously a university and one of the centers of the Deaf community, both nationally and globally. One of the problems I see on many blogs and in other forums is the tendency to treat Gallaudet’s dual roles as inextricably entwined. All of us need to separate the internal problems that Gallaudet has from the questions surrounding Gallaudet’s role as part of the Deaf-world. Those internal concerns need to be resolved internally– they are no different from the problems other universities face. Gallaudet’s image within the Deaf community and what it stands for also needs to be dealt with on its own merits. It is the area of overlap in the middle, however, where all of us need to do some soul-searching. There are many such regions, from admission standards to bilingualism to the state of K-12 deaf education.

I and others here could go on for hours, days, weeks, even months about all this. But we cannot. Instead, I hope what we talk about here today will prompt additional discussions, both in person and online. In closing, I’d like to answer one question that was posed to us by Jill Bradbury: “How will vlogging/blogging influence the future shape of Gallaudet?”

I think as the deaf blogosphere grows and matures that bloggers and vloggers indeed have a place at the table. Some of us are leaders in our communities or regions; some of us are rabble-rousers in the spirit of Samuel Adams; others are reformers, akin to the muckrakers of an earlier era. But all of us genuinely want to share our opinions, our expertise, our suggestions. Our blogs and vlogs attract attention, which generate comments, which spin off into discussions of their own. We can either view ourselves as the lords of our own soapboxes, or we can treat our domains as part of a larger interrelated conversation that accommodates both questions and answers. Our role may not be one of decision-making, but rather of shaping and guiding the debate we must have if we want a stronger, better Gallaudet, and a brighter future for all.

Thank you.