Look at the deaf youth of America. Centered around Gallaudet University in Washington DC, they are outraged because a candidate of the last choice was selected to be the next President of Gallaudet College.
Arbitrary, indoctrinated by the old-fashioned oralism of her upbringing, self-important and blindfolded by her own mentors, they say she is not fit to be their president. She lacks charisma, warmth and presence; they say, and doubts are raised about her fundraising, administrative flexibility and ability to lead others to greater goals. She does not represent us, they said, she does not support our traditions and does not respect our goals. They are enraged over perceived wrongdoings and apparent fixing of the process she was selected by; "steamrollered!" they scream.
They are enamored of other candidates who were empathetic and solidly on their side, candidates showing leadership in demanding the best from their students and encouraging them to push onwards, and who were trusted to be fair and supportive first. The clear vision of these other candidates was the vision of these kids.
Imagine that. Students actually revolting and attempting to change the staid administration of their college. Not content with waiting till they graduate to set fire to the world, these kids are audacious enough to start before they hatched from their collegiate coocoon. They wanted someone to lead their college in the way they wanted to be taught, and in the way they wanted their future children to be taught.
The new president is wrong, wrong and wrong for them. She said the college must accommodate all kinds of deaf students. She missed the point, as seems to be the pattern. The college must accommodate the new generation of deaf young people who want to take the reins in their own hands. All kinds of deaf people, who are angry and ready to take the world on, starting with trashing the hidebound and dismissive administration of their own college.
Won't wonders cease! In the old days we were expected to take it or leave it, or in the words of a rueful Black friend, "you takes it an' you likes it." In past days of paternalism and white-father rule, it worked. One just didn't bite the hand that feeds us; we were supposed to accept the system and be grateful for it. We little deaf children were worthy of the charity for funding and the passion to be educated in the currently hyped way. We were to be saved with medical methods, aural methods, then oral methods, and all sorts of sign languages from Visible English and cued speech to now Bi-bi education. Outstanding exemplars among us were trotted out on restaurant tables and displayed to others in conventions as proof of the miraculousness of the current hot method.
Those days are over now. The kids have grown up and have learned to take what was available and worked best for each of them if fortunate, and now know that they need not accept what is handed out on a silver platter. If it means taking over the administration of the very college that educated us, so be it. Our deaf youth have reached a maturity level that demands they select their own leaders, their own priorities, and their own goals.
The dilemma now, kids, is that the system has firmly pushed this unsuitable president upon you and your future generation. Taking the lead of past fathers, they are standing firm and are saying THEY know best and YOU must swallow it.
You have a decision to make now. Take it, or reject it and go elsewhere (thank God we have other institutions to attend, and legislation mandating interpreters) or stay and fight, risking your education in the process. Maybe your own future, too, if the system succeeds in crushing you and labeling you with terms that make you unsuitable for consideration for graduate school and by future employers. There are other factors at risk, too: your college funding, your time line for future milestones, and your course in life. What future changes will happen because your college education became interrupted?
Keep in mind that what you do also affects Gallaudet. If you stay away, Gallaudet gets the message that people will not accept institutionalism. If you accept it and stay, Gallaudet gets the message that arbitrariness can be forced upon a student body successfully. If you fight the system, something will break and no prediction can be made whether it will be you or the system.
You have lots of work to do this summer, and I wish you all, faculty, students and staff of Gallaudet all the best. | 
