The Deaf President Now Movement At Gallaudet University

The Deaf President Now movement occurred at Gallaudet University, a deaf university in the United States. The university was established by congress in 1864 to serve the deaf and the hard of hearing. The university can also be used for graduate students who are hearing and want to pursue an education in the language through immersion and a bilingual education. The university plays an important role in the Deaf culture. A main reason it plays such an important role is due to the fact that it was the first deaf university established in the United States. Which makes Gallaudet University the heart of deaf culture.

In March of 1988, Gallaudet University students created a crucial movement that changed the university and changed the way people

looked at the university forever. The movement was called Deaf President Now. It was sparked due to the university electing a hearing person to be president. The students believed it was time to elect a deaf person as president, and were extremely confident that a deaf person would be the next president due to two of the three candidates being deaf. But, when Elisabeth Zinser won, the hearing person, the students were outraged which sparked the student protest Deaf President Now.
Deaf President Now became the most influential student protest that the university has ever faced.

According to the videos I watched, not only were the students involved in the protests, but so were some of the faculty and alumni of Gallaudet University. The students demanded four things from the board:

Elisabeth Zinser must resign and a deaf person selected as president, Jane Spilman must step down as chairperson of the Board of Trustees, deaf people must constitute of 51% majority on the Board, and there would no reprisals against any student or employee involved in the protest (“History Behind DPN”).

The video also included actress, Marlee Matlin. She received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from Gallaudet University. She was also assigned to the Board of Trustees of the university. In the video, I was surprised to see that she was embarrassed of saying she had an honorary degree from Gallaudet University. However, I began to understand why she might have had shame and the feeling of embarrassment. That is because the protest was rightful in wanting a deaf president and she supported the students in the protest. Before Deaf President Now, Gallaudet University always had a hearing person as president. Therefore, Marlee Matlin agreed it was time for a

change.
Nobody held back when it was time for the protesting.

The people were appalled by the idea of another hearing person as president again for many reasons. According to Nick Anderson of The Washington Post, “The ranks of deaf scholars who held doctorates had grown to more than 100, according to a history of the movement on the Gallaudet Web site, and there were numerous deaf people in senior administrative posts at various educational institutions.” So that begged the question amongst the people, why can’t the university be ran by someone who was deaf? Students blockaded the campus, rallied, marched, boycotted and then quickly grew supporters from all over the country. All of this attention from the media and the country led Elisabeth Zinser to resign. Ultimately, the students and deaf people won. That was a turning moment in the history of the deaf community for everyone. Everyone now saw deaf people as more capable and able to be equal to hearing

people.
The videos made me feel very emotional due to the passion of the students, faculty, and alumni. It impacted the way I look at the deaf community and deafness itself. I am ashamed to admit it, but I had always believed that deafness was a sad or bad thing and unfortunately, I believe that most of the hearing world also looks at it that way. Nonetheless, the videos and articles showed me the deaf community in a way I’ve never seen before. I saw hundreds of deaf people protesting together for their rights. I saw true love, passion, and desire in everyone in the videos. I could almost feel the frustration of the students and people protesting for a deaf president. The university is the number one deaf university in the country, yet they had always had a hearing president. The contradiction and unfairness of that was immense. But, because of the protest and movement, history was made and the first deaf person became president.
I see in today’s world, for example the Black Lives Matter movement, a striking similarity. It started as a small movement that gained media attention and impacted the entire country. The entire country started to boycott and protest. Which has ultimately been creating a change. The power of the people willing to come together for a change can be extremely influential in the world and can be seen through many examples throughout history. If everyone wants a change, comes together, then a change will come.