Special Issue: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Deaf President Now Movement

I was a student at Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts, in March of 1988, when Deaf President Now (DPN) broke out. My classmates and I were not aware that the signing deaf community had a rich history of activism and self-empowerment, for this was not taught to us in those days. We were familiar with the history of Clarke School and the hearing luminaries, such as Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Alexander Graham Bell, and Grace Coolidge, who played significant roles in the school’s past, but deaf people’s long-simmering discontent with 124 years of control by hearing presidents at Gallaudet University was a complete surprise to us.

One morning, as I was tidying up my dormitory room before heading to class, a fellow student burst into my room, waving his hands frantically, motioning me to follow him. I was reluctant at first but decided to follow him down the hall to the “recreation room,” which was where we relaxed by watching television or playing various games. There sat probably a dozen boys in front of the television, which was broadcasting events from Gallaudet. I was completely mesmerized—never before had I seen so many deaf people signing in one place.

We had a “houseparent,” who essentially served as a supervisor for my floor. She would remind us of the importance of speaking and refraining from signing. As we watched the events of DPN unfold on television during the morning and evening news, we became emboldened and started signing to each other. She tried to interfere, but we stood firm and continued signing. This was our time and our place, and the houseparent knew this. We read the newspapers—I believe they were the local Northampton paper and the Boston Globe—but we grasped only that DPN was about a deaf president. Clarke School had two deaf employees, Kevin Nolan Sr. and Winchell Moore, who might have explained more. I do not recall, however, having a conversation with either one of them about DPN. We did not understand much else at that time—the rich history, the oppressive and paternalistic attitudes imposed by hearing people on deaf people, and, most importantly, that deaf people were seizing agency that belonged to them.

March 2013 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of those events, the Deaf President Now movement, that changed Gallaudet University.¹ Over the course of eight days, the protest, which was led by the student body and the alumni, was staunchly supported by the school’s faculty and staff and was overwhelmingly endorsed by local and national media. It led to the resignation of the newly appointed hearing president, Elisabeth Zinser, and the selection of her successor, I. King Jordan. Deaf and a Gallaudet graduate, Jordan became the eighth president of Gallaudet University, shattering forever the institution’s control by hearing presidents.

Sufficient time has now elapsed, and enough distance has been gained from those exciting times so that we can take advantage of comprehensive perspectives on the legacy of DPN. Past milestone anniversaries of DPN typically were celebratory—and rightfully so. We in the Deaf community have had much to celebrate. During the spring 2013 semester, however, we took a more scholarly tack. A total of twelve different panels and lectures utilized a two-pronged approach: the first goal was to illuminate the roles and contributions of DPN participants that had not previously been explored. The second goal was to begin assessing the significance of DPN over the past quarter century.

The DPN protest was remarkable not only for its short duration but also for its overflowing support from the campus community (though support was by no means unanimous) and those outside campus. Politicians, activists, and especially the media consistently recognized and affirmed DPN as a civil rights movement. There are few examples in our history where deaf people transcended cultural and linguistic differences and galvanized in support for a common cause. Past examples include campaigns to overturn prohibiting driving rights and to promote passage of the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1991. These...