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POWER
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• List three words, in your notebooks, that come to
  mind when you see the word POWER. Discuss with
  the person next to you, the meanings of the words
  that you came up with and how you relate it to
  different forms of power.

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POWER

• Have you ever felt Powerful?
• Was it with someone else?
• Was it at someone else's expense?
• How did you feel?
• Did anyone get hurt?
• Did anyone benefit?
• What was the positive and negative impact of
  feeling powerful?

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ANSWER THIS.

• Have you ever felt powerless?
• How did this feel was someone powerful at your
  expense? Did you get hurt?

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Place positive examples in the circle and
negative examples inside of the circles.
POSITVE
NEGATIVE
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Define Empowerment

• Power
• Helping
• Achieving
• Succeeding
• Change

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POWER vs. EMPOWERMENT

• Merriam-Websters Online dictionary notes that
  the verb empower dates back to the 1600s and
  means "to give official authority or legal power
  to.
• Empowerment involves sharing power, acting on
  issues one views as important, and gaining
  control over ones life. It therefore challenges
  our ideas about the way things are, should be,
  and could be.

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Other terms to explore in defining Empowerment as
it was experienced at Gallaudet University

• Mutual respect
• Diverse perspectives
• Developing a vision
• Realistic solutions to an issue.

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WHAT IS D.P.N?

• What were the reasons?
• Who was Involved?

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Deaf President Now
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Why the protest?

• In March, 1988, the Board of Trustees met to
  select the 7th president of Gallaudet University.
  After a wide search, the board considered three
  candidates. Two of the candidates were deaf. One
  was hearing.

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Hearing President Picked

• Sunday, March 6, the Board picked Elizabeth
  Zinser, a hearing educator, to be president of
  Gallaudet.

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Students Take Action

• By Monday, March 7th morning, Greg Hlibok, the
  recently elected president of the Gallaudet
  Student Body Government, explains that the
  students' action.

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Students Rally

• The students and many deaf individuals felt that
  the next president of Gallaudet University should
  be deaf. 
• They came to Gallaudet University to show how
  they felt. They held a big rally. They said, We
  want a deaf president now!

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IGNORED

• The Board of Trustees ignored the rally and the
  feelings of the students and the deaf community.

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• By Monday morning, March 7, the students, backed
  by faculty and deaf adult leaders, closed the
  campus and locked the gates. Some marched in
  protest to the White House. The students knew
  their action was drastic. But they felt it was
  necessary.

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STUDENTS THAT LEAD
Greg Hlibok, elected president of the Student
Body Government only two weeks before the first
Deaf President Now rally, Hlibok would go on to
earn a law degree from Hofstra University. Today
he works as an attorney for the Federal
Communications Commission.
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STUDENTS THAT LEAD
Jerry Covell A government A government major who
would earn a masters degree in government and
political science at the University of Maryland,
Covell now works as director of the Illinois
Commission of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
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Board Rebuffs Students

• The students took their concerns to the
  Gallaudet. Board of Trustees, and the Board
  rejected their concerns. The students felt that
  the Board President, Jane Spilman, was not
  respectful. Anger focused on Ms. Spilman. At
  left, the students chanted, "Spilman out!"
• Night fell, but the protest continued to grow.

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The Protest Continues

• The students took their concerns to the Gallaudet
  Board of Trustees, and the Board rejected their
  concerns. The students felt that the Board
  President, Jane Spilman, was not respectful.
  Anger focused on Ms. Spilman. Night fell, but the
  protest continued to grow.

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• With the gates locked, the protest continued on
  campus. More signs appeared. People who supported
  the protestdeaf and hearingwere determined that
  Gallaudet University have a deaf president.

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The next day, the story was in the newspapers.
Many newspaper and TV reporters came to campus.
People around the world learned about the protest
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Hearing President Responds

• In the face of the protest, Dr. Zinser, the newly
  selected Gallaudet president, refused to resign.
  She said that the Board had not asked her to
  resign and she would not do so.

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• Student leader Greg Hlibok, actress Marlee
  Matlin, and the new president Elizabeth Zinser
  were invited to explain their perspectives on a
  national TV news program. Dr. Zinser said that
  Gallaudet would have a deaf president in the
  future. Greg Hlibok said that he had heard people
  say that before. Marlee Matlin interjected "look
  at me" to ask "why not (have a deaf president)
  now?"

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Dr. Jordan changed his mind. He announced his
support for the studentsand a deaf president for
Gallaudet University.
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Resignations

• Dr. Zinser announced her resignation. Ms. Spilman
  also resigned. Deaf President Now had begun to
  succeed.

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Deaf President Picked

• On Sunday, March 13, the Board of Trustees met
  all day long. When they had finished, they
  announced that Gallaudet University had a deaf
  president. He was Dr. I. King Jordan. Dr. Jordan
  applauded the students for their work.

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• While, the movement toward cultural equality for
  deaf people had grown for decades, the Deaf
  President Now protest succeeded in seven days.
  The nation called it a civil rights victory for
  deaf people. At left, students, teachers, and
  friends at the Capitol sang and signed, "The time
  is now!"

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HOMEWORK

• Have students explore Web sites related the Deaf
  President Now protest and empowerment. They can
  begin by exploring some of the links on our
  Resources page of the DPN for Teachers and
  Students Web site.