Jane Fernandes

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Jane Kelleher Fernandes (b. August 21, 1956 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is a deaf educator and was the former President Designate of Gallaudet University. On 29 October 2006, the board of trustees of the nation's premier school for the deaf voted to terminate the appointment of Fernandes, who had been the subject of protests.^[1] She was formally recommended to become the new Provost of the University of North Carolina at Asheville on the December 6, 2007. If appointed by the trustees, she will begin her new job in July 2008.^[2]

1 Early life
2 Early career and involvement at Gallaudet University
3 Application for Presidency of Gallaudet University
4 Selection to Gallaudet presidency
- 4.1 Viewpoint of Fernandes Supporters
- 4.2 Viewpoint of Fernandes Opponents
5 Personal life
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Early life

Fernandes was raised in Worcester and is the daughter of Richard Paul and Mary Kathleen (Cosgrove) Kelleher. Her family chose to raise her in an oral education program, meaning her education focused on teaching her to speak, and rejected the use of sign language, in this case American Sign Language (ASL). When Fernandes grew older she made the decision to learn ASL and develop her involvement with the deaf community.

Fernandes attended Trinity College, earning a B.A. degree in French and comparative literature, and the University of Iowa, where she earned her M.A. and Ph. D., both in comparative literature.

[edit] Early career and involvement at Gallaudet University

After graduating from Iowa, she worked for Northeastern University before coming to Gallaudet as chair of Sign Communication. Her next move was to Hawaii where she established an Interpreter Training Program and served for five years as the director of the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind. In 1995 she returned to Gallaudet to become the vice president for the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. In 2000, she was named provost of the University by President I. King Jordan, who appointed her without consulting the faculty, a move which Jordan called "a terrible mistake".^[3]

[edit] Application for Presidency of Gallaudet University

Fernandes in her application wrote:

“

Gallaudet’s mission holds both personal and professional meaning for me. I am a white deaf woman, the daughter of a deaf mother and a hearing father, with both deaf and hearing brothers, all of whom are white people. The generations of white deaf and hearing people in my family have never signed; they have always been oral people. Having grown up deaf, I came to learn Sign Language relatively late, at the age of 23, while I was a graduate student at the University of Iowa. From that time on, I have embraced signing and visual communication as the keystone of deaf education and now the uniting feature of Gallaudet’s diverse, deaf community. While we respect a variety of communication modes and languages among deaf people, we must also unite in affirming visucentric public discourse.

”

^[4]

[edit] Selection to Gallaudet presidency

[edit] Viewpoint of Fernandes Supporters

Immediately after the announcement of the appointment of Dr. Jane Fernandes, scores of students protested against her appointment. According to The Washington Post, "Students objected to the appointment of Jane Fernandes, who is deaf and is currently the university's provost, because she did not grow up using American Sign Language. Some students also criticized Fernandes for not having warm relations with students."^[5] This implies that Fernandes may have been seen as insufficiently associated with the Deaf culture. Opponents of Fernandes claim that the Washington Post article (and, in general, much of the media coverage), were unable to figure out the real reasons for their opposition, although a frequently published reason was that she was "not deaf enough." While this reason for opposition is denied by most protesters today, it is clear to many observers, on both sides, that this protest was at its heart about signers trying to increase the role of American Sign Language at the university that was established in 1864 as an organization that promotes the use of sign language in deaf education.^[6] Specifically, Fernandes attracted opposition due to her opposition to establishing an ASL-only environment on campus and what was perceived as an insufficient commitment to addressing the concept of audism (discrimination against or persecution of anyone based on hearing status). Allegations of racism in appointing Fernandes, who is white, were also raised. It is notable that organizations of students of color had protested the failure to choose as finalist the long-time Board of Trustee Chairman Glenn Anderson, a Black Deaf man. The student paper took polls a few days before the selection. Of those faculty members who responded, 36% gave Fernandes an "acceptable" rating, compared to 53% and 64% for the two other finalists.^[7]^[8]

[edit] Viewpoint of Fernandes Opponents

The protesters pointed to her past managerial actions that they feel are questionable and don't reflect qualities of a solid leader. In November 2006, shortly after the protests, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education declared the university's accreditation in jeopardy. Fernandes's opponents point out that her selection was supported - and may have been outright encouraged - by Dr. I. King Jordan, and that to have allowed Fernandes to become president would have meant a continuation of leadership by an ineffective administration.^[9]

On October 13, 2006, dubbed "Black Friday" by the campus community, Jordan ordered mass arrests which detained up to 134 students protesting Fernandes' selection. This set off even a larger protest which had 1,000 alumni, faculty, students and staff members the following day.

On October 29, 2006, the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University rescinded her contract to be the ninth President of Gallaudet and terminated her in her position as President-designate.