Deaf President Now

Deaf President Now (DPN) was a student protest in March 1988 at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. The university, established by an act of Congress in 1864 to serve the Deaf, had never once been led by a Deaf president since its origination. The protest began on March 6, 1988, when the Board of Trustees announced its decision to appoint a hearing person over other highly qualified Deaf candidates as its seventh president .

Gallaudet students, backed by a number of alumni, staff, and faculty, shut down the campus. Protesters barricaded gates, burned effigies, and gave interviews to the press demanding four specific concessions from the Board. The protest ended on March 13, 1988, after all four demands were met including the appointment of I. King Jordan, a deaf person, as university president.

Gallaudet University was established in 1864 in Washington, D.C. by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet's youngest child, Edward Miner Gallaudet. The college grew out of what had been originally a Deaf school for children, which had been established in 1857. Gallaudet was the world's first university for deaf and hard of hearing students. The historical background, cultural ideologies of the Deaf world, and the richness of the deaf community at this university was what set the stage for the protests that occurred.

Deaf students at Gallaudet began campaigning for a deaf president when Jerry C. Lee, who had been president since 1984, resigned in 1987. The issue lay between the Board of Trustees, which consisted of a majority of hearing members, and the deaf community. There seemed to be doubts that the deaf community could match the abilities and achieve as much as a hearing community. The motivation behind the protest for DPN was not simply about the current election, but about uniting and strengthening deaf students, faculty, and staff. Students supporting the selection of a deaf president participated in the large rally beginning on March 1, 1988.

For the rally, Gallaudet alumnus John Yeh (later owner of Viable, a Rockville, Maryland company that offered Video Relay Service that allowed deaf people to communicate with hearing parties through the use of interpreters and web cameras) underwrote a good deal of the costs of the rally, including bales of fliers and thousands of buttons that read "Deaf President Now". Many other alumni participated in the events as well. A candlelight vigil was held on March 5, 1988. The Board of Trustees considered three finalists: University of North Carolina at Greensboro assistant chancellor Elisabeth Zinser, who is not deaf; I. King Jordan, Gallaudet's Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Harvey Corson, a deaf man serving as the superintendent at the Louisiana School of the Deaf.

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