Being represented by someone who doesn’t understand your life or your struggles is frustrating. It was especially frustrating for the students and faculty of Gallaudet University when the board selected yet another hearing president of the university. Gallaudet is a university known for educating and growing students who are Deaf or hard of hearing. It has been this way for 150 years. In the video Deaf President Now, both the sides of the Board of Trustees and the American Deaf Community were discussed from the protest after the selection in 1988. Though both sides defended their beliefs on what they thought was best for Gallaudet and the student body, the American Deaf Community was correct in my eyes.
There were two clear sides throughout the protest of 1988. There was the belief that a hearing president could best represent the university because they had the ability to communicate with the hearing world and it wasn’t time to have a deaf president representing the university yet. There was also the belief that the students and faculty of Gallaudet should be represented by people that understood them and therefore, could
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They believed that now wasn’t the time to take on a deaf president. They believed this because of all of the responsibility that came with being president and all of the communicating with other schools and the public. The American Deaf Community was outraged. They believed that they deserved to be represented by someone who understood them and their struggles. They believed that a deaf person could do anything that a hearing person could do except hear and that included being president of their university. They believed this because it was their university and not having a deaf president was like a slap in the