Deaf President Now!: The 1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University

1. August 1987 to February 1988: The Road to DPN

1 . August 1987 to February 1988 The Road to DPN AUGUST TO JANUARY On August 24, 1987, after only three years at the helm, Jerry Lee announced that he would be leaving the presidency of Gallaudet University on January 1, 1988. His resignation came as something of a surprise to many people at the university. In his letter of resignation, addressed to the university's board of trustees and shared with the campus community, Lee wrote that he wanted to return to the world of business and that he had "received an outstanding opportunity to join Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc., one of America's newest Fortune 500 companies, as Vice President of Administration."l A week 1. The president of this Bassett, Virginia-based firm, Robert H. Spilman, is the husband of Jane Bassett Spilman. At the time of Lee's resignation Mrs. Spilman was the chairperson of the Gallaudet University board of trustees. later the campus community was informed that the board had accepted Lee's resignation "with the deepest and most profound regret," and that it would be meeting in mid-September to "develop the strategy ofthe search for the [next] president." The Official Search On Tuesday, September 15, about three weeks after Lee announced that he would be leaving, the board of trustees met in a special session to officially approve the establishment of an eleven-member search committee to recruit and screen applicants for the seventh president ofthe university . (The search committee had been set up prior to the meeting by board chairperson Jane Spilman.) This committee was chaired by Philip Bravin, an IBM executive and a deaf member of the board, and it consisted of six members of the board and five others. The university administration, alumni, students, college and pre-college faculties, and staff each had one representative on the search committee. The chair, vice-chair, and three other members of the search committee were deaf. Objections to the composition ofthis search committee came primarily from two sources. First, many deaf faculty and staff members felt that the President's Council on Deafness (PCD) should be represented. As noted in the Introduction, the PCD was an advocacy and advisory group composed of deaf faculty and staff members who sought to ensu,re that the concerns of deaf people on campus were understood by those in positions of authority . Members ofthe PCD were unhappy that they were being excluded from representation on the official presidential search committee, and PCD chair William Marshall and vice-chair Nancy Bloch met with Lee on Monday, September 14, the day before the board convened to approve the committee's structure and mandate, to insist that they be included in the search process. They were eventually assured that the PCD, along with seven other groups representing various campus constituencies, would have an opportunity to interview the semifinalists for the position in February. These other groups were the central administration, the deans, students, college faculty, pre-college faculty, alumni, and the staff. The second source of opposition to the composition of the search committee came from the pre-college faculty. Because the board wanted to limit the size of the search committee, only one Gallaudet faculty member was selected to represent the entire college and pre-college faculty. Since 2 : AUGUST 1987 TO FEBRUARY 1988 this representative was the chair ofthe university faculty, H. Neil Reynolds, the pre-college faculty was less than enthusiastic about this decision. Announcements ofthe vacancy were distributed nationally, and a deadline of October 26, 1987 (later extended a month) was established. The announcement specified that the person the search committee was looking for should have, among other things, an "earned doctorate" and should demonstrate "proven management effectiveness" and "broad successful administrative leadership." The candidates were also required to have a "broad and deep knowledge of deafness." This latter quality, according to the announcement, was "necessary," although "sensitivity to the issues significant to individuals with disabilities ... may be an acceptable alternative ." Similarly, while proficiency in sign language was expected, a "willingness to learn" was also mentioned as being acceptable. Announcements of the vacancy were published in a number of journals and newspapers, including the American Annals ofthe Deaf, the NAD Broadcaster (a monthly publication of the National Association o(the Deaf), and the Chronicle of Higher Education. At a regularly scheduled meeting of the board of trustees in October, some board m~mbers expressed their...