Deaf and dumb

Signs of the times.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gallaudet University students blocked access to campus for a second day Thursday, escalating their protest against an incoming president they say lacks the skills to lead the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf and hearing impaired. ...

The blockade began around 3 a.m. Wednesday and forced the university to cancel classes for a second day Thursday as about 200 students protested at the front gate. Some linked arms and formed a human chain to block the main entrance to campus while about 10 police officers looked on from across the street.

The protests began last spring when then-Provost Jane K. Fernandes was appointed to replace president I. King Jordan, beginning in January, by the school's board of trustees.

Students intensified their protests on Oct. 5, when they took over Gallaudet's main classroom building -- an occupation that was marred by complaints about rough actions by campus police. Since then, the demonstrations have escalated, with students blocking campus gates, forcing school officials to move or cancel classes.

Plummer, who signed through an interpreter, and other students and some faculty said they felt shut out of the selection process for the next president. Some also felt the field of candidates was not ethnically diverse. ...

Fernandes has said some people do not consider her "deaf enough" to be president. She was born deaf but grew up speaking and did not learn American Sign Language until she was 23.