Wednesday, October 29, 2014

On this date in 2006

Eight years ago today: On Oct 29, 2006, Gallaudet University's board of trustees voted to revoke the appointment of incoming president Jane Fernandes following protests from students and faculty. Dick Kinney, an investment adviser from Milwaukee, later told the Chronicle of Higher Education that the board decided to commission a study to find who would meet three criteria: The candidate needed to have experience in higher education, an earned doctorate and significant hearing impairment. Only 27 people in the world fit all three criteria, he said. That’s part of why the board ended up going with an unpopular internal candidate, Gallaudet University provost Jane Fernandes who did not learn sign language until she was an adult. She now holds the same position at UNC Asheville. The trustees made Robert Davila interim president until 3 years later, when T. Alan Hurwitz took the position permanently. Hurwitz previously served as president of New York's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID).