Response to Gally Tent City Mayor Corrigan's Last Words

http://www.deafread.com/media/lastwords.html

Dear Mayor of Gally Tent City

I have been in awe of you and the videos in which you've given presentations to for all of us to see and share with one another both in and out of Gallaudet University. Many of what you shared, I was in total agreement with, and agreed with you on the need for a better Gallaudet for our tomorrows. I believe the decision on behalf of the Board of Trustees to decide to terminate Dr. Jane K. Fernandes was in the best interest of Gallaudet both personally and professionally.

However I do not support your choices of words which were, "....what did we achieve, we achieved the impossible, that is the removal of our biggest villain in our deaf community, other different kinds of community, and the world, that person is Jane Fernandes, is now removed...."

Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, while in my opinion, was not the strongest candidate for the position as President of Gallaudet University however, she is a human being, and with this said, we need to respect this. She, to me, is not a villain, however is a human being who may have done things in the past that were not in the best interest of Gallaudet University. We should hold back our own personal feelings towards Dr. Jane K. Fernandes as we had our voice in this heard. She, like many of us, loves Gallaudet. As she said yesterday in her statement, "....I love Gallaudet University and I believe I could have made a significant contribution to its future. I hope that the Gallaudet community can heal the wounds that have been created. I trust that we all want a stronger, better, more inclusive Gallaudet...."

Now like you said, we have the opportunity to move forward as an University in which ALL members of the Deaf community and its' family and friends are welcome. Let's move forward with love and compassion for Gallaudet and let's all respect one another like the way we would like to be respected whether or not if the person did respect us or not.

To borrow one of my quote from a previous blog, "When one falls, the other one helps by picking the one who fell and helping that one go on with the journey wherever the journey may be."

Unity for Gallaudet!