cecilia may baldwin resigns

Apparently she got tired of receiving "aggressive threats" - I just read the letter. You can get the full story over at Elisa's Xanga.

If you go over to Sonny James' blog you will see another side of Jane Fernandes:

As the fall homecoming quickly approached, we had a booth to give out maroon and gold ribbons (MSAD colors) to the people that donated to the Eric Plunkett scholarship. The monies that we've collected were huge, we easily ambassed over the $25,000 needed to become endowed.

At the end of the semester, we were called into the Provost's ofice to meet with Eric's parents. Eric's parents thanked us for coming forward to work with the Provost for Eric and the scholarship. We all had a nice brief personal converstation and received a gift basket from them. I left the office stunned to find that Eric's parents were misled by Dr. Fernandes that she has initiated the scholarship and has seen to it that it has quickly become endowed. From that day forward, I never saw Dr. Fernandes as my Provost but as a person who is a cozener, when the credit should have been due to Deb Skjeveland, a real compassionate person who thought nothing of herself but for others. She is now a program manager for Camp Lakodia in South Dakota.

I bet Fernandes doesn't respond to this either. Maybe if she says "Hi!" it will all magically be okay. (/snarcasm)

Also, a Guest Blogger on DeafDC.com makes the point that there are similarities between Harvard and Gallaudet:

Are Gallaudet and Harvard representative of what’s going on around the nation? I, for one, am glad to see students and folks stirring up the pot because complacency can hurt us. A friend and I have had many discussions about how Americans in general are apathetic, thus letting Republicans walk all over us.

The Gallaudet faculty has passed several no-confidence votes. Is this similar to Harvard in that this faculty is resistant to Fernandes’ attempts to raise academic standards by demanding more work, being more strict with students, and doing more research? Or is this a case of the faculty thinking that Fernandes has not done enough to help them achieve their goals during her tenure as Provost?

His conclusion is very wrong, though. He believes the Board of Trustees should not reopen the process because if they do they will give tacit permission that this could happen again on issues which are "less important." Well, what should possibly be MORE important to a Deaf university than that the students, staff, and people around the world in the Deaf community are against this decision? When the village which is raising the child stands up and says NO, you pay attention.

What is likely to be trivial and still cause this kind of outcry? For so long? Students staying at college after they could have gone home? People donating money for food and water and other necessities? It would be hard to top that, you know? I am not the type of person to accuse others. But this isn't just a bunch of kids on the lawn anymore. It hasn't been for a while. This is a movement.

poem I found in a conversation
ikj
gonna go out tarnished
could have changed the world
he was raised by the fire, then stifled it
the moment his hold loosened it escaped
and now it's bigger

I feel a bit bad for Cecilia May Baldwin. A friend of mine reminded me that they're still people. We get caught up in our excitement and forget that they may really believe they're doing the right thing, frustrated we don't understand. Oh, some people may be intentionally deluding others - that's politics. And some people may be bad all through. Still people though. And it's not easy to lose your job. Ridor would remind me of all the things that have been done by them or in their name: yes. But then none of us are angels.