Case Study: Occupy Gallaudet

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Occupy Gallaudet: Deaf President Now! It all started like any other day, the only difference being that Washington D.C's Gallaudet University president Dr. Jerry Lee decided to come forth with his plans to resign and step down from his position. Now that’s not considered out of the ordinary, I mean it happens all the time. Presidents don't last forever so when they resign its really not that big of a deal. The problems didn't start until March 1,1988 when Dr. Elizabeth Zinser was chosen to be the University's successors. Now under normal circumstances there would be no problems or further discussion of the issue, but Gallaudet University isn't your average school. It's a very prestigious University that focuses on the arts as well as sciences.…show more content…
At about dawn, students had driven their cars to campus and deflated their cars’ tires. Students kept the main entrance to the university on Florida Avenue open and formed a “human shield” to selectively permit entry to other students, faculty, and staff members. In response, the university administration cancelled classes. As a result, students and staff were able to attend meetings and organize rallies that took place throughout the day” (Kim). With the unexpected disruption of the school day, the Board of Trustees had no other options but to come together and create a plan of action to neutralize the situation. “It was at this meeting that Spilman [chair of Board of Trustees] supposedly said, ‘Deaf people are not able to function in a hearing world’” (Jankowski). Adding fire to the flame and causing outrage amongst the protesters. By the time the Board of Trustees could discuss what was happening the students where ready to deliver their demands. Nothing to unpractical but enough to give the Deaf student body the upper hand in there own…show more content…
At the conclusion of the meeting, Spilman told the group that the Board rejected the four demands and that the selection of Zinser stood” (Gannon). When the student body learned that there conditions where rejected thing started to change within the group a bit. They where basically being told that what they wanted didn’t matter and just needed to suck it up and go home. They weren't buying it, and they didn’t believe that there was no way things could change. The next day[Tuesday] the protesters did release the main campus building but they still protested and boycotted their
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