Three recommended finalists for Gayaudet's Interim-President announced
I received this email from one of those idiots who added my email to some Gayaudet or Deaf emailing list. This one got my attention because they got three candidates for the interim-president as they look for a permanent president. The first one in list is Robert Davila, former Vice-President of NTID at RIT.
I do not know the other two candidates, but I wanted to comment on Robert Davilla. I do not think he is the best person for Gayaudet. He probably supports Jane Fernandez's position on sign-language and other communication methods. Look at NTID now. NTID is flooded with non-signers and the faculty working at NTID do not sign in front of people who use sign-language as their mode of communication. You can blame the current Vice-President, Alan Hurwitz, but I believe the problem may have started with Robert Davilla. Robert Davilla did a lot for NTID and I am not trying to deny the good things he tried to do for NTID, but his introduction of NTID's Cocklear Implant Centre and securing grants from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf are some of the few major contributions Davilla made that increased barriers for Deaf people who use sign-language.
These actions actually increased audism at RIT, for example non-signers actually successfully sued RIT for inadequate interpreting! Yes you read that correctly, non-signers actually won their case of inadequate interpreting because they complained that the interpreters were too fluent in ASL! If you were a student during the mid 90's and returned to RIT during the mid 00's you would immediately recognize reduced quality in ASL interpreting and increased total communication among the interpreters!
He is a member of Kappa Gamma; a so called purely Deaf fraternity and he probably was my first exposure to Kappa Gamma. My impression of Kappa Gamma after finding out Davilla was a member was that Kappa Gamma was more oral than Kappa Phi Theta (but eventually I met more Kappa Gamma members who were not as oral as Davilla, so I bet Davilla was one of Kappa Gamma's rotten grapes).
I do not expect much to happen during the 18 to 24 months of the interim-president term, but if Robert Davilla is appointed the position and no one objects, then I would be very suripised because I think Robert Davilla is equal to Jane Fernandez's position. Again, in a short time a lot can happen and who knows Davilla will accomplish what Fernandez would have accomplished if she maintained her presidency at Gayaudet.
I know everyone is sick of reading about Gayaudet these days due to all the chaos, but felt I need to express my thoughts about Robert Davilla and Gayaudet.
This is part of the email I received:
A notice has appeared on the official Web site of Gayaudet University, announcing the names of three finalists that are being recommended to the Gayaudet Board of Trustees for the position of Interim-President of Gayaudet University--a position that is expected to last from 18 to 24 months.Final Three Candidates Announced
The Interim President Selection Advisory Committee forwarded its report containing recommendations of three finalist for the interim president position to the Board of Trustees for their consideration. The Board will meet this weekend, December 9-10, to make a final decision.The three final candidates are:
- Robert Davila
- William Marshall
- Stephen Weiner
2 comments:
To tell you the truth I think every candidate is probably going to have the same philosophies as JKF because in the end, it's all about enrollment, business, and money.
Expanding Gallaudet's method's of communication is probably inevitable whether signers like it or not.
Any candidate that follows the ASL only, not accept others, is going to find themselves in a world of trouble down the road and the result is going to be that they are either fired or Gallaudet shuts down due to lack of enrollment.
The "fix" to this problem should not start at the college level. By then it's too late. It has to start during the time when parents, doctors, and teachers decide it's best to implant the deaf child or use any other method to teach deaf children than ASL.
Why aren't there huge protests about that? Why are we letting this happen at a young age but then making a huge stink about it when those children who had no choice want to get a decent college education at Gallaudet? I think that's working backgrounds and trying to plug a leak in the dam with a band aid instead of looking to the source of the problem.
Buzzair,
I completely agree with you - I was not trying to say the oral problem would end with fixing Gayaudet.
You are absolutely correct, to improve Deaf education begins with how young Deaf people are being taught and the attitudes of their Deaf-Impaired parents and "so called" medical professionals are towards Deaf people.
I was just expressing my thoughts about Davilla being elected as the interim president of Gayaudet.
Now that it has been confirmed that Davilla has been appointed the position, like I said, I do not expect any dramatic changes to be done within his 14 to 24 month tenure. Let's just see how things go, it seems like the people in Gayaudet are happy with him being selected and at least we do not have to worry about another protest until whoever is appointed as the president of Gayaudet.
-
oneninefive
Post a Comment