Word: spilman
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...higher learning for the hearing impaired. Jordan, 44, who is deaf, was appointed after a week of student protests and class boycotts sparked by the naming of Elisabeth Ann Zinser, who is sound of hearing. Zinser, 48, resigned after only two days in office. Board Chairwoman Jane Bassett Spilman also resigned, to clear the way for another student demand: the formation of a new board with a majority of deaf people...
...vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who is not only sound of hearing but is also unable to communicate in sign language and has no experience in education for the deaf. The situation was further inflamed when Board Chairwoman Jane Bassett Spilman was reported to have remarked that "deaf people are not ready to function in a hearing world." (Later she insisted that the comment had been misunderstood...
...students erupted in silent rage, flooding into the streets of Washington and shutting down classes all week. Most of Gallaudet's 2,200 students joined in demands for both Zinser's and Spilman's resignations, and the two women were hanged in effigy. There were also calls for a new board, with a majority of hearing-impaired members, to replace the present 21-member body, which has only four deaf members...
Every politician in Washington, it seemed, wanted to be counted among supporters of the protesters. Seven House members sent Spilman a letter expressing their concern. Presidential contenders from George Bush to Jesse Jackson to Paul Simon weighed in with support for the naming of a deaf college president...
...took this step willingly," said Spilman in announcing her resignation from the board. "In the minds of some, I've become an obstacle. I am removing that obstacle...