State of the University Address (SOTU)

[Video Transcript Start]
[Video presented in English and ASL]

Welcome everyone! Welcome to those of you here and those who are watching via live stream.

This is actually my second State of the University address

in front of all of you, and I’m happy to report to all of you —

and you may remember how I say this — not my presidency, but our presidency.

Our presidency is strong.

What’s important is that today I’m going to be sharing with you

some updates about a number of different things. Of course, we have our Gallaudet six priorities,

and those priorities have been shared with the community. Some of you may not have seen them and some have,

so let me show them to you now.

So while I’m not going to go into detail on all six priorities, I did want to give you some reports,

and I have shared information through blogs and in various meetings, but what’s important today is to focus on some critical things that you need to know,

so we can continue the success we’ve had throughout the upcoming year.

First and always of most importance, student success and academic vitality.

One thing you may note today is that I will be alternating

between two words: students and learners. You know, we have over the last year,

been talking about lifelong learning and by that we mean that students are here at Gallaudet

for a specific time period in their lives, but when you come to Gallaudet, that’s officially a time —

and I should add here you may come to Gallaudet through our Clerc Center, through our pre-kindergarten language acquisition program,

but you come to this university or to the Clerc Center however you might through your journey as a learner.

So I’ll be alternating between the two words, learner and student, throughout my presentation.

We’re here because of our students and their learning.

And while we recruit students and we work to retain students, it’s important that we know that our ultimate goal is

and always has been to create innovators, change makers, and leaders.

And that has been Gallaudet’s legacy that has been carried on throughout the years, and that continues to be what we do and our mission.

As we can look to see products of our university seated here, within our employees and around the world.

There is no place like Gallaudet. No place creates the kind of people

that we create here at Gallaudet University.

This is a good time, during the State of the University address,

when we’re all gathered together, to reflect a bit on the journey through which we’ve come, and also to think a bit about the future.

And in doing so we recognize the privileges we have to serve here at Gallaudet.

The privilege we have to learn here at Gallaudet, and the privilege we have to work and engage with our community

and the work that we do here at this university. When we think about the importance and the significance

that experience gives us, we very much value that, and with that value comes a great responsibility,

to continue to work towards achieving the mission of Gallaudet University.

That is our collective responsibility.

You know, here at Gallaudet, we enroll students and we work to retain them

as they go about their learning, and we graduate them from various programs and that happens at Clerc Center as well as the university side.

So I’d like to share with you first some good news.

Here at Gallaudet, we increased our enrollment by 105 students this past fall.

That’s the largest increase in enrollment for Gallaudet, and that’s a significant number. Congratulations to everyone on that.

That was a community effort to make that happen.

And what’s even more amazing, is that the numbers that we’re seeing now, for the upcoming fall semester,

are indicating the enrollment to be even higher. Which means that we are succeeding

in getting our stories out, and demonstrating the value that we have as a university

because people are choosing Gallaudet right and left. So, again, congratulations to everyone for that.

So why the picture of the horses? I was told this story some time ago.

Someone was talking to me about wild horses out west,

and I think they were referring to Colorado, where there is a number of different herds of wild horses.

I don’t know how many of you have traveled out west and had the opportunity to see these horses. What I learned about this is people very often

would come upon these herds and take one of the horses, for whatever purpose they had, and others would do the same,

each one taking a horse away from the herd. People didn’t think that was a concern —

that taking one of these horses had no ill impact on the horses at all —

but it was realized that in fact the horses had a social structure

and when one single horse is removed outside of that social structure,

the structure is changed and it shifts in a negative way.

The structure becomes weaker as a result, and the same holds true for our community.

When we invite people to learn with us together as a community,

every time a single person leaves our community, we suffer a loss.

With each person departing, we become weaker and suffer losses. And for that, it is critical that we recognize

and see every person as valued member of our learning community.

It is our job and our mission to make sure we retain our learning community and to keep it intact.

Because every single person brings with them

a perspective, experiences, wisdom and knowledge,

heritage from their family and their life experiences, and when they leave our community,

we suffer a loss as a result with each and every person. And they as well suffer a loss.

The most wonderful story I hear is when people tell me they’ve returned to Gallaudet

after having left. For whatever reason, they may end their studies and leave Gallaudet before they finish,

and yet they return to finish what they started. People know that when they leave,

they may leave to become more mature, or work on something, but there is a loss that’s suffered.

And they feel the desire to come back and finish their degree. Their degree is the number one predictor of lifetime income.

And it’s our job and our responsibility to make sure that our community and all of our employees

provide opportunities, employment opportunities for our learners. And that’s why we’re here.

It’s important for us to keep our community strong and intact.

And I will add, wild, just like the horses.

That wild, strong spirit that they display, that sense of openness and freedom is the same kind of sentiment we have here within our community.

We’re open to learning and examining ourselves and from that, become free. And that’s what we represent as a community.

And what we must continue to keep as we remain intact as a community.

Next is academic vitality. We are very proud and pleased to report that we have established a GSR Study Review Team.

This team is important because we have agreed as a community

that we must start preparing ourselves for the 21st Century in terms of our education, to meet the needs of our students

and to prepare them for the world beyond Gallaudet. And that all begins with our GSR Review.

The team consists of the following individuals:

So this team now is studying and working — am I missing anyone from this slide, let me just check?

No one’s missing? Okay, good to know. This team is co-lead by Leslie Rach and Lindsey Buchko.

They will be leading the team for the upcoming year, and they’ll be studying a number of different bits of information and ideas,

understanding better how to design our GSR programs here at Gallaudet. I encourage you to look at the individuals on this list

and learn more about what they are doing. They’ll be sharing updates with you from time to time

during the year about the progress they are making and they’ll also ask many of you to be part of their process. So please volunteer.

Share your information and your wisdom with those on this group.

So I am delighted to share this with you. I know many of you have been hearing about 6th Street

for some time now. And we’ve been working for a number of years now and are finally now at the stage

where we are developing what’s called the program aspect of what’s actually going to be happening on the corner

of Florida Avenue and 6th Street. That corridor will become not just something for Gallaudet,

but for Washington, D.C., a culture and creative corridor.

We are now working with this design team

or with this steering committee to come up with a design that will create possibilities on that corner

to really showcase to the world what Gallaudet is and who we are and so we can reach out to the world

through that 6th street corridor and the world can, in turn, meet Gallaudet at that entry way at 6th street.

Two of our Vice Presidents, Carol Erting and Paul Kelly will be leading this effort. Provost Erting and Vice President Kelly

will be the chairs of the steering committee. You see represented on this committee faculty and administrators

all making up this very important team.

The Lyceum up on the third floor of College Hall

is just above the president’s office and it is a room

that has been designated as a space to be used for 6th street planning.

You’ll be able to see the work that they’re doing. It’s going to be set up like a lab, and much of the information will be displayed on the walls.

You are invited to come and share your ideas with all of them. The Lyceum will be set up as an incubator

where ideas can be shared about different things that might be seen on 6th street. It will be open and visible to all of you

as a community. And I wanted to thank that team for their visionary work.

I know many of you heard me talk about this idea of citizenship.

Citizenship is vital. Not just as a member of the Gallaudet community,

but in our city, here in Washington, D.C., our nation and in the world.

We must make sure we are preparing our students,

our learners to be citizens of the world.

You know, this is a place where we can experience and experiment what it means to be a good citizen.

What exactly does that mean? What are the behaviors and the values and the ideals

that being a good citizen actually reflects? This is the space where we have the community come together

and ask questions and build concepts about experiences, where we understand better our behaviors

and what we believe it means to be a good citizen and reflect as to whether or not

we are a good citizen of our community. Citizenship holds us together united.

It’s one thing that guarantees you’re a member of the community. That as a citizen we come together

and form this community. As a citizen of this community, it connotes some sense of belonging.

You belong in this community. If you’re an international person, an international student who comes to Gallaudet

as an immigrant to this country, you’ve come here to learn you as well are a citizen of this community undoubtedly.

It’s also important that I share with you

a test of citizenship that will be experienced in April. It will be Gallaudet Hill Day,

that will be happening in April. And that’s a day that many of us will be traveling to Capitol Hill to visit with Congress.

There will be a team who will be working together to prepare individuals for that day and we welcome every single member of this Gallaudet community

to be a part of that. Even those of you who are watching via live stream, you can go to your state legislature

and be a part of what we’re doing here. But we want to communicate to the individuals on the Hill

how important Gallaudet is and the value that we give to the world.

It’s important for them to recognize our importance and our value. And this will be a great opportunity for us to share

that with the legislators on the Hill. On Tuesday, February 7th, during common time,

we’ll getting together and giving you more details about that Gallaudet Hill day and what you can expect.

Please make sure and attend that event. That will be a kickoff event for this effort.

Those of you who are watching on live stream, you can contact our government relations office and get more information, as will more information

be shared during that meeting at common time. Each one of you plays a role here as a citizen

and your presence is important here. You come here for a purpose.

You come here to work perhaps. You come here to teach. Or perhaps you come here to learn. Or maybe it’s just to engage within the community.

And that’s your purpose for being here. The most important thing for each of us to do is to recognize that we are a citizen and in doing so

we respect the citizenship of others who are members of this community, as well.

We are all equally here respected members of our community and we need to engage one another

with respect and compassion.

You know, when you have strong citizenship as a foundation,

you can begin to build strong communities. But communities just don’t happen naturally

and automatically. Community building actually happens through relationships that are formed.

It’s through relationship building that we build communities. When we’re curious about other individuals

and when they’re equally curious about us. When we come together to learn from one another and what each other’s presence means to one another

in terms of our own learning. It’s through those associations that we build community.

And I just wanted to take a moment to speak to the sign I’m using for immigrant. I know there are a number of signs that represent different things,

one representing your picture photo on a passport and that stamp that’s given,

that’s one sign I’m using to represent that idea. But however you sign the word “immigrant”

we want to welcome you to our community. Whether you are an individual of color, you are welcome as a citizen here.

If you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or practice a different faith

than those that I mentioned, or perhaps practice no faith or religion, you too, are welcomed.

For those of you who are disabled, I mean

we know that Deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind are technically considered to be disabled.

But we also understand that there are others who identify with other disabilities, you, as well, are welcomed.

If you’re a member of a signing community here at Gallaudet, you are welcome.

If you are hearing and don’t yet sign, but hopefully learning, you are welcomed, as well.

If you are a woman, know that we are committed.

Committed to protecting your rights to have freedoms

from violence and sexual assault. And this applies to males, as well.

So all of us, every single person, is welcomed here.

I did want to mention two other groups. If you are a Trump supporter, you are welcomed.

If you are a Hillary supporter, you are welcomed. If you support Jill Stein, you are welcomed.

If you support any other party, you are welcomed here. All political thoughts and perspectives

are welcomed at Gallaudet.

Thank you for that. And this is important. All are welcomed.

And yet welcoming environments are created through relationships. When we come together and understand one another

with compassion. Your daily actions are essential

in how they influence people’s feelings and their sense of being welcomed.

Each one of you owns that responsibility. If you feel somewhat removed like you don’t belong,

find a way to engage. Find a way to understand where those feelings are coming from.

There are times when it is a group’s behavior that’s excluding you. And there are times, as well, when that feeling

comes from the own experiences that we bring when we already come feeling defeated

and feeling less than. And when we engage with the person who has that feeling,

it’s important that we ask them about where that feeling is coming from and better understand their life experiences

that have led them to be who they are. It’s important that we understand how our past experiences influence where we are

and what happens in our lives now. That’s what layer of analysis that needs to be happening, and then look at others’ behaviors.

Where can we ask for clarification and understanding about why we’re feeling the way we are?

Engage in dialogue through asking of questions. Because once those conversations start, they are powerful.

And they can change all the lives of every individual involved. Transformation is possible.

We can become an even stronger Gallaudet in the years to come.

It’s a daily practice. It’s not a one-time thing. I certainly know that’s the case.

It’s every single minute of every day, every hour, we have to continually self-examine ourselves and be mindful of ourselves and relationships

with other individuals, recognizing the impact we have on them.

And if we should make a mistake, we return to that individual and reconcile, ask for apologies

and be willing to admit when we make a mistake. And accept that admission with kindness and compassion.

It’s on us. We all know about this. Right?

We all had our green T-shirts on. You all remember those T-shirts?

You know, this is typically associated with sexual assault and violence on campuses where we show as a community that we can change,

that we don’t have to wait for something to happen to change, but we can come together. It’s on us, it’s our responsibility to take change.

And this continues to be a place that we want to ensure that it’s free from sexual assault and violence. It is on all of us, each and every one of us.

But I wanted to take a moment to talk about why I selected this picture. It is on us.

And this ties right into the story of citizenship and community building. But it also leads to something else.

And that is Title IX. I have to say, one of my greatest learning moments

occurred last fall with a group of students. We all know students are important. But students were asking me questions

about the investigation as it related to a Title IX case, and it was then that I notice that had we sort

of co-mingled this idea of a legal process with community healing.

That somehow there’s been an overlay of those two components.

And what we learned together was this notion of “I Heart Consent” students began talking about what it meant to give someone consent.

And that experience was a wonderful way of showing how a community can come together and heal.

I understand that it’s a small part of that healing process. And I’ll be able to update you a little bit more.

Going now to the HOEZ situation. I know there’s a lot of conversation and was a lot of conversation over the spring about the HOEZ investigation.

There had been a formalized investigation that was conducted. And as you know when it comes to Title IX,

there are many details that are not allowed to be shared. There are legal restrictions.

But two very important things I wanted to say is that the investigation is ended.

Individuals have been identified and findings will be shared with each of them.

What’s most important, though, that I want to share here is that we must continue to support

our Title IX process. And please know that we have taken an approach

within this investigation that supports what’s already in law,

in legislation, that’s related to restorative justice, that affords a way to bring healing and resolution

for those individuals involved. And we continue to emphasize that the culture

around this campus absolutely must be one where we respect and value every single person

of this community. Assault and violence are unacceptable.

And the narratives and stories about that behavior is not acceptable either.

For many of you who may not know, the narrative around this kind of a story creates

an environment that is unsafe for males and female alike, not just for women, but for males and females alike.

When we talk about violence as it’s non-important or non-significant, that creates a hostile environment.

So please be aware of the language that you use. And your behaviors.

It’s my commitment to continue to support all of this work to create a safe environment

for every member of our community.

Last Fall or rather last January, even before that, when I was negotiating with the students,

I committed to the students that I would create a diversity strategy team. And we did that last Spring.

At the end of the semester many of those members graduated and left our community.

And so we’ve reestablished that committee this past Fall. The diversity team members are on the screen here

behind you. Two things that were different this time around.

This time we are actually asking each of the governing bodies, the students, the faculty,

the staff governing bodies to submit names of nominations for individuals to serve on this team.

And secondly, each person is committed to serving 18 months.

My learning from last Spring was we selected a group of people who were not able to stay on long enough for this team to be successful.

And so we changed and redesigned the way the team would be formed and selected individuals who could stay on for the full term.

They’ll be working for 18 months upon which we’ll select another group of individuals who will serve the following 18 months.

I certainly want to thank the individuals on this team for their willingness to step up and serve. Their role will be to advise me as president,

to advise the provost, and the future CDO, as well as the executive team

on issues of diversity, strategy, and thinking about how we can improve the work that we are doing in this area.

It is absolutely critical now that we have a group of people from the community that advises and informs

the leaders of this community about what we can and must be doing.

I want to share with you that our CDO search that was started this last Spring has ended.

We have relaunched the search with the forming of this group.

I have two co-chairs now who will be serving on this new search committee.

Chief of Staff to the President, Heather Harker, is one of the co-chairs.

And Gaurav Mathur. Those two individuals will be leading the search committee.

Our hope is to select an individual as CDO by the end of Spring and have someone here no later than Fall.

It’s not lost on me that I said this a year ago. But as with many things, it’s also what we learn

through a process that’s just as important as the outcome.

So the team who conducted that had last search worked very hard, diligently, and mightily,

I have to say. And we have learned a lot through that process. A tremendous amount of information has been learned.

And with much regret, but with great pride I want to share with you that we will continue to work

on this critical mission for the university to hire someone full time for this position.

It has been four years and 114 days, and yes we are counting, since we last had a CDO here at Gallaudet.

That’s an awfully long time. And we are committed to stopping that clock. Thank you.

Accessibility. We have to be able to commit to accessibility

to one another. As individuals and as an institution it’s our responsibility to do so.

I want to remind you when you see something that’s not accessible don’t ignore it.

When you see something, report that. And if you can, do something!

Whatever you can do within your area of responsibility to fix it. Report it.

Let someone know something needs to be done to make something that’s not accessible, accessible. We are finding more and more instances

that there will be a problem with accessibility. And the chain of communication has just broken down.

I need and I want individuals to really be able to focus and fix these things.

But we need to retain that chain of communication. So that each one of us sees it’s our responsibility

to work towards this goal. It’s everyone’s right to be an equal citizen

and participate equally in our lives here in this community. As we said earlier, when we lose one individual

we are weaker because of that. And it’s only with everyone that we gain our strength.

And so the chain of all of us working together is what makes success. It shouldn’t be an after thought.

It should be something that we see and work actively towards to ensure that our community is always accessible.

No surprise to see this slide. Right?

This is one of the hallmarks that I talked about when I came to this university

and I shared my desire with all of you. And now we have established a task force for bilingualism.

I’ve done a Vlog and most of you have probably seen from that we have created a group that will ensure that we come together and understand a framework

of what it is we value, what our principles and practices are,

that are crucial in order for us to be successful in being a truly indeed bilingual university,

from birth through lifelong learning. The bilingual task force committee members

are seen here on this slide.

Just like with citizenship, the discussion of bilingualism is not just held

within this team, this team needs every single one of you. All of you have wonderful experiences with languages,

the way you use language to interact, to communicate, what works, what works best, what you feel is inspirational to you when you communicate.

Ways that language is a detriment because of the in-context. We need all of you and your input in order to be successful

because you have daily experiences. Your wisdom is needed within this group. Find someone you know who is a member of this group,

two or three people, and share with them your experiences. Make your experiences known so they can add it

to their experiences.

What is important with bilingualism is we consider sign language, as we know here being American Sign Language,

and language in its print form, and written and spoken form, in this case English, that we here in America

and Gallaudet recognize that those are our two primary languages. American Sign Language and English.

Yet even so we know there are a number of different languages that we in our community use. Many signed languages, as well as many other languages

that are spoken and written. And bilingualism is about including all of those languages

within our university.

We are strong and we are strong because of you. We are strong because of your leadership,

your commitment, your ability to manage, to do what you need to do to get things done,

to lead and to engage in dialogue. Many of you lead quietly with very little recognition.

You do your job on a daily basis, getting done what needs to be done. And we recognize you, as well.

You may not get the accolades on a daily basis, but from me right now, I want to say you are very important to us.

Students who come here every day and study and go to classes, we thank you and we recognize that we are stronger because of your commitment to learning.

We are strong because we are all learning. And we model learning every day.

Without you, what would Gallaudet be?

So thank you. Thank you for all of your hard work and your participation in this community, Gallaudet.

So the next topic is pretty short. You may remember, I remember it well.

When I first came here, we talked about Gallaudet’s values and needing to identify them.

Well I’ve spent the last year really noting a number of different things.

You know, when we’re not clear about what our values are

here at Gallaudet, it creates conflict.

And that conflict is unresolved and cannot be resolved.

And that’s because we don’t know what are the values

that we hold that lead to this conflict. Conflicts are often a result of not conflicting,

but rather competing values. I value efficiency, let’s say, where somebody else values effectiveness.

I want people to learn and make sure they do things the right way, where someone else wants to get things done as quickly as possible.

So those are examples of competing values.

Oftentimes it feels confrontational and argumentative, but when we take a moment

and recognize the values that we each hold, that drive that conversation, it can help.

I am curious. And I’d like to begin today, just briefly, having you look to the person beside,

in front, or behind you, or text someone who is not here right now. I want you to identify two or three values

that you see present here at Gallaudet every day that are important to you.

What are Gallaudet’s values that you believe should drive what we do here every day.

So look to someone, take a moment with another person, and just share those values and ideas with one another.

What are the top values that you see here at Gallaudet?

Wow! I’m going to have to ask you to stop here for a moment.

This is great. I mean it’s wonderful! The energy in this room just exceeded

what it had been previously. This is great! It’s clear that you have a lot of thoughts about our values.

And so now I’m curious. I’m going to share with you next our Credo and the values that are seen in the Credo.

It’s available on the web, as well. I’m going to share those with you now and I want you to take a quick look at what’s here.

So I’m wondering how many of you actually named one of the things you see here. Let’s say at least three or more of the things

you see here. How many of you named at least three or more of these?

How about one or two of the things that you see here? Can I see a show of hands? Wow!

So there are many values that you clearly have named that are not shown on this slide. So many values that you have come up with

that are not seen here. This is learning, this is curiosity, this is exactly how this works.

So we’re going to be in the near future sending out a survey, a survey about Gallaudet’s values.

And we’ll be launching a more formal discussion about values here at Gallaudet in the near future.

Keep an eye out for that e-mail. And I ask you that you take time to respond.

We’ll be using different forums for discussions of the values, not just through e-mail. I wanted to start with a simple survey.

So I’ll let you know the results. If we have a nice big N, that’s gonna give me a great result.

So I hope you’ll all commit to giving me a big N, a large number of respondents would be greatly appreciated.

So thank you very much. I’m looking forward to that big N, as we say in research.

I see a number of you applauding the slide here.

This was from the Vlog I did the other day.

Right now we are at a time in our country where it looks like we’re trying to divide.

Because there are so many competing values. One of the values is about the safety and security

here in our country. Another value is about being open and engaging

in dialogue with other individuals across the globe. And these two values have now come into conflict.

With some specific concerns on the national scene.

We need to hold space here at Gallaudet. Hold space for the recognition

of these competing values that exist in the world around us, and recognize when we see those same kinds of conflicts

here within our communities, those disparating priorities, whether or not we hold those differing values,

we have to recognize that there is a third value in play. And that is the value we have and the care we have for one another.

I ask that you take that value and the care that you have for others and make it be primary.

Let it guide all of your discussions. That you come to a place of empathy and understanding and how people are impacted

by this conversation. And clearly we are impacting the conversation on a national level. There is a lot of pain, anxiety, and worry

as a result of this national conversation. The details are such that we can’t fully understand them.

But it does require us to support one another as a community.

It does. And I thank you for that.

And now it’s time for question and answers. It looks like we have sufficient time set aside for that.

I did want to thank Trevor Anderson, the president of the Student Body Government who will be our moderator for this portion of our presentation.

So thank you Trevor. He is going to be moderating you and moderating me. Feel free to tell me to summarize those comments

and wrap it up. So for those of you who have some questions

after hearing our president speak, please come up to the stage to ask your question, or if there is any point of clarification.

We do have some time until 1:45 to accept any comments, or points of clarification.

Feel free to come up to the stage. We have a quiet group. Oh, I see one person making their way up to the stage.

Maybe we’ll have you stand here so everyone can see you better.

So can you introduce yourself and tell us who you are? My name is Oather and I’m a senior.

And my question is in regards to you talking about the values.

And looking at the list that you showed us, respect and diversity. I know those are two issues that we see happening today.

So how can we focus our efforts to improving these areas? And would you like me to stay on stage while you answer the question?

BOBBI CORDANO: You know, this is why I talked about citizenship. This is why I mentioned that. I have a story that I want to share with you.

There was a man who came to Gallaudet and some students and staff were able to engage with this gentleman who visited.

His name was Ron Delham. And he was one of the first African American individuals

who was elected from a majority white district in California.

He was in the House of Representatives in Congress and he established the first African American caucus

in Congress, as well. He came to Gallaudet asking how he might get involved,

which was a great benefit to us. And he told a story that I think reinforces my presentation,

and responds to your question as well. The story that he shared, that if you’re a person of color and you’re approached by the police,

you typically will back off and raise your hands in the air. And in some countries, doing that

is actually a sign of aggression. That’s a physical sign of aggression when you greet someone that way.

So he would tell African American young males that maybe that’s not enough to take that stance.

Perhaps it would be better to get on your knees or maybe even lay prostate on the floor. When is it enough to ask someone to do

when encountering law enforcement? He was at Howard University and he told students there

that rather than putting your hands up that way to respond by saying I am a citizen.

That is so powerful because it reminds the police that you are a citizen of this country.

That you are here legally. You have rights. You have the right to be treated as any citizen would be.

That is part of what you say. There may be concerns, but that is a call to action here for every single one of us.

He is now telling us that we don’t really represent this value enough. He is sharing with us

that we’re not doing well enough in this area. And I have seen e-mails from a woman who said

this is not safe enough of an environment for her. I’ve seen LGBTQ individuals say they don’t feel safe,

and those who are transgender.

Even one recently who was experiencing violence. We’re still not where we should be.

But it’s important for us to recognize that we are all on a journey.

And that journey is one that we’re committing to do together as a community. I agree. I hope we all work together.

Great, very well said. Thank you. Good job on keeping the answer short.

Hello to you both. My name is Keith. I know that some individuals have already

left the room. But I did want to ask you if maybe you could talk a little bit more and maybe talk later on about 6th street

and even the Lyceum and what that process is going to mean to all of us and what your input is

and how we can build strong community engagement for the developments that will be happening there?

BOBBI CORDANO: Thank you for that question. And I know you are part of the entrepreneurship program

and Think Biz. You’re busy operating all of that. It’s important to mention your role here.

Ben Bahan. Professor Bahan. Dr. Bahan and Dr. Laura Ann Petito, both of them

are faculty members who will be leading that work. They will be sharing information with the community about what’s going on.

They will involve you in ways that are appropriate. If you have questions, please reach out to Provost Erting

and Vice President Paul Kelly. If the two of you wouldn’t mind standing please. Provost Erting and Vice President Kelly?

If you all have questions and you don’t feel you’re a part of what’s happening, make sure you talk to them.

They can find out ways to engage you more so. I was thinking not just myself, but what others in our community can do to get engaged.

BOBBI CORDANO: Absolutely. A team has been established. They’re getting organized.

More to come. I’m checking to see if I missed anything. I think I’ve covered it all for now.

Even with the experience I’ve had in the past doing this work, the more that we participate, the better results we will see, so I’m hoping that more people will want to get involved.

Thank you. One last thing I wanted to add. That we as a team remember that many of you back in 2008

came up with different ideas. All the of that work is not forgotten.

It will all be included in the work going forward. It’s not forgotten. Looking forward to it. Thank you.

Hello, welcome. Could you tell us your name? I’m Risa Shaw. I’m in the linguistics department.

I’ve been teaching in the linguistics department for a while now. Several students have come to talk about

what’s been happening in the country with the current president. And we talked about them coming in early in the morning

and then staying late at night because they don’t feel safe being off campus. So many students will come here and stay here

because this is where they feel safe. So the students who are really living off campus choose

to stay here because of safety concerns. And I’m wondering how can we make them feel and actually be safe while they’re here on campus.

And if we have the immigration customs enforcement officers,

if they’re actually asked to come here to campus, what is the university’s response going to be here?

And DPS’s response going to be to that type of situation occurring?

If the students are talking about the terror they are experiencing and the fear of people who are going to come,

and detain them in their own rooms, so those types of situations, so those are real thoughts and experiences

that they’re experiencing. And having a hard time focusing on their class experiences because of it.

BOBBI CORDANO: Thank you for bringing that up. Because I know a lot of people feel a lot of anxiety and have a lot of questions about what’s happening.

It’s natural that every person wants to think about what’s happening and how they should respond individually.

Yeah, you’re reinforcing what we expected people are feeling. We appreciate that.

We’ve known this is happening. This is real. It’s what happens every single day for people.

The second thing I wanted to say is that we have called together CLT, the crisis leadership team to study and work together.

We have leaders from all different departments, including faculty members and people from the provost’s office were there to develop strategies

to really accommodate and work with what’s happening. The specifics you asked about, like what about ICE coming,

those are pretty complex questions that I cannot respond to right now. But I do want you to know that we are preparing

for that potentiality to happen. There will be other events.

I don’t have the details to share with you right now. Please know that we are taking the president’s executive orders seriously.

When the president signs an executive order he expects people to comply.

And there are a number of questions about what really was intended

or what’s really meant by that executive order. And now we’re waiting for the courts to interpret that executive order.

There are a lot of parts that are happening on a daily basis. Lots of executive orders are coming out

every single day and decisions are being made. There are constant changes we are confronting.

We are committed to staying on top of this and being mindful and aware and adjusting as we need to.

You all have our commitment to be supportive within the boundaries of the law.

Thank you. I look forward to more of those details being shared

with us at a later point.

I’m Meredith. And I’m a staff member, but I’m actually asking a question on behalf of an undergraduate student

who is not able to be here. I’m bringing their question in their stead.

For our liberal arts program, I know that we’ve seen that the numbers have started to decrease. And we’ve seen an increase in business

and the technology departments on campus. And there have been some staff who have retired

and left the university. And their class sizes are shrinking.

Being that Gallaudet is a liberal arts university, what can we do to be sure that continues to be our focus

and support the programs that are here. BOBBI CORDANO: Thank you for that question.

And also thank you for delivering that question on their behalf.

We are a small university. You know, we’re not like George Washington or Georgetown University.

You know, when a person retires, it has a significant impact on us. So part of what we have begun to recognize

is that we need to start strategically developing a vision in terms of how we can use the resources

we have most effectively. To be the strongest liberal arts college,

small liberal arts college that we can be. Here at Gallaudet we know that now

and people around the world support us. We want to prepare people for being able

to navigate the world. And the best way to do that is through a liberal arts education. So we’ll never give up that component of who we are.

The short-term impacts of retirement and changes is certainly significant that the student experiences in an immediate way.

But our commitment is strong. Because students and learners, all of you,

must be able to continue to think critically, to be thoughtfully engaged in conversations,

to be able to critically analyze issues and the context around us.

That is part of our own intellectual and emotional development. Those are all components of a liberal arts education.

And with that, we need to ensure that we have allocated resources in the right place

to retain that kind of strength. GSR is beginning their restructuring to reset

the foundation which will then be built on over the next couple of years to strengthen our liberal arts education.

Provost Erting would you like to add anything to what I’ve shared? No. Okay, great. Thank you.

My name is Marissa Rivera. I’m an undergraduate student.

And I’m a bicultural and bilingual individual.

When we think about Gallaudet being bilingual, what are the end results?

What’s the ultimate goal? BOBBI CORDANO: Thank you for your question.

It’s an important question. You know, when I first came to Gallaudet,

and also this reflects my experiences growing up. I founded two charter schools,

and very often there would be a cultural conflict between deaf and hearing people. Talking about spoken and sign languages,

when should we sign or use English in written or spoken form or do we Sim Com,

people object when we speak and sign at the same time. And others thought it would be okay. But amongst all this dialogue and conflict,

the conversations often lead to judgments and conflicts

and those sorts of things. They all come from our not understanding the underlying values that drive our decisions.

What are our values? What are our values that allow us to connect?

Just even the two of us. How can I connect to you? Do I have choices with the language that I choose to use?

How do I carry out and live those values out? You know, if I’m a teacher here at Gallaudet,

clearly I teach ASL. And maybe I’m a linguistics teacher and I teach in ASL.

How can I balance English within that context?

Making sure that of course students are here to learn through ASL, but also have the ability to learn English in the same capacity.

So that task force has been called on to really just name out those values that we have.

When we can identify every value that goes into our being a bilingual community, from there we can develop policies.

And that can translate into practices. And when we try to live this out,

it helps us better understand through our conversations, each other.

So when we see ourselves disagreeing, we can look to those values that have been spelled out and understand where those disagreements come from.

Last Fall I was at Jump Start and I have a unique way that I personally sign that.

But I was at Jump Start and I stood before the groups there. And I intended to sign, and I thought after that

I would put down my hands, have an interpreter join me on stage, and I would begin to use then spoken English.

That’s always been a habit of mine, being around people who speak English.

I would Sim Com. It was an unconscious behavior to me to Sim Com.

And 30 seconds as I start to do, this I would stop. But I thought about doing this, standing on stage,

and speaking or SimComing for three or four minutes. And I happened upon this wonderful conversation with Jump Start students.

It was a wonderfully engaging conversation. And we talked about the difference of access

through captioning versus an immersion experience where you may miss information,

but you’re completely immersed in the language environment. So I got a beautiful e-mail from one of the students

who said to me after that conversation, thank you for talking. Because that individual was really able to relate to me

in a different way than they would have otherwise. I have since committed to signing, that individual

said they since committed to signing. But they came to this university coming from a background very similar to my own.

I use spoken English, but my parents did not. So how do we place value around these kinds of topics

and these kinds of discussions? Because they are complex. As your president, I need to understand

every student who comes to Gallaudet and ensure that they belong in this community.

Whether or not they use spoken English. They must have a sense of belonging.

Of course we want to make sure that you all develop proficiencies in the English language in its written form.

But as a community, we all thrive together when we engage in these kinds of discussions.

So I see the bilingual task force as a place to really delve into what it means to have a conversation

in this context. And then I would encourage you to have these same kinds

of discussions amongst yourselves. Because, you know, we are greatly influenced by the world that’s around us.

The world out there is very different from the one we create here. And we are a product of that world.

It’s brought us to where we are. And it’s important that we look at who we are as a result of that.

Liberal arts education really asks us to analyze and critically think about who we are and the question at hand.

And one last thing to say, I do have to share one story with you, there was a professor

at a fairly large university, a prestigious university, at an Ivy league school who asked me a question.

If there are two deaf students who choose to text and not to sign, will not that then become the norm?

What a powerful question, right?

Would you give up signing with someone and just text rather than ever sign?

And that question told me an awful lot about her experience of language, her perception of our language,

her perception of our culture and our world. But I answered her and said no, that’s not what would happen,

that we would text as opposed to sign. But there are some people who are deaf who do use spoken English.

And they will use spoken English because they have been taught that spoken English is the language of success.

To be successful you’ve been taught you must use spoken English. But we all know that American Sign Language is

a language of success, as well. We all know that. But does the world around us?

They don’t. Not yet. And that’s part of what we need to do together

as a community to engage in learning and thinking, you know, every single day I learn something new.

How are we doing with time? We have about 10 minutes left. So maybe 5 minutes before we wrap up.

I’m Kirk VanGilder. And I teach here, the GSR course, program.

And I know there was a large meeting that had happened last Fall when I was here. And there were different religions that were represented.

And thank you to your office for making that event a success. I want to think about how can we really transfer the success and invest in ways that we can enrich

the Gallaudet community? So what kind of resources could be used and committed to raising the awareness about religion

and those who choose not to practice a particular faith or religion? What are your thoughts on that?

BOBBI CORDANO: Right. You’re on the GSR review committee? I am. BOBBI CORDANO: I think that’s exactly

the reason we put you there. That question you just asked. That’s my answer, right?

I mean if you have ideas, you’re going to get put on a committee. You know, one risk though is there is only one of me.

How do we ensure this is infused into the entire campus and the resources are integrated in a more enriching way?

BOBBI CORDANO: There are many colleagues on that committee who have the same passions as you do.

And secondly, I wanted to say we all understand that liberal education is not limited

to just studying social studies and science and computer science.

It’s also about developing yourself as a spiritual person and your spiritual experience.

Religion is about your spiritual life. And that can happen in a number of different ways.

It’s important in the liberal arts education that we understand our experiences really are such that we develop the heart and the mind

and the spirit together. We cannot exclude any part of our life and our personal development through our college years.

And so that’s why I think again GSR is going to help us establish the values around this.

And I hope that we’ll be able to see, being able to address all the three components that I’ve mentioned.

Because that’s what a strong liberal arts education does. And I’m so happy to help you with that.

And be an advocate for you in terms of resources. Thank you.

All right. We have two more questions left. Two more.

Hi there. I’m Conner. I’m a third-year student, an undergraduate student here at Gallaudet.

We’re now here in the year of 2017 and you’re planning for the future. How do you ensure that more undergraduate students

are here at Gallaudet? Many undergraduate students are here but often are not aware and not engaged

with what’s happening in the university? How could people be more involved?

BOBBI CORDANO: How could you help us? Well I’ve thought about ideas, but I wanted to ask you, too. BOBBI CORDANO: Every single month I go to the dorms.

At least one dorm a month. I think I’ve already been

to at least four dormitories over the last Fall.

I will continue to have direct interaction with the students in the dorms.

We also bring students together at MPR to engage in dialogues. I will continue to do that as we did in the past

to get a pulse of the students and how they’re feeling and doing. I think this goes back to understanding

our common time usage and what the students think of that time and the purpose of that time.

You know, there’s a reason why we set aside that time. But we want to look at the values and the values

that students place on that time. That seems to be less of a value these days. Because the values, the behaviors

we’re not really following what was intended through the values. Do you have a sense of why that might be the case?

I don’t have an answer now. But I was wondering how the students could get involved, because they do have a lot of free time. I won’t deny that.

BOBBI CORDANO: I do want to recognize that a lot of the graduate students were involved

in the I Heart Consent program. They got engaged and did this independently.

That’s the power of students stepping up and taking action. In some ways our measure of success is

not just having people come to an event like this, but it’s the action that they take as members of the community.

It’s the citizenship. We create this community and have you actively involved. If that’s happening, I’m completely satisfied.

I know it’s not an easy question. It starts with you. With me.

It starts with all of us. BOBBI CORDANO: Right. But I would like you to share with me any other ideas that you come up with. I will.

Okay, go ahead with your question. My name is Rafel.

And I’m in the linguistics department as a Ph.D. student. I’m representing the Graduate Student Association.

And I have a question because of the fact that I’m an international student I know you had mentioned values and core values.

I have a question for you. I know that you’re a very busy woman. But my suggestion is why don’t you go

and visit the dorms more often? And maybe set up some meetings with different staff,

faculty, and students and to gather feedback in making sure that Gallaudet is a safe place?

What do you think about doing that? BOBBI CORDANO: So I want to make sure I understand. What you’re suggesting is that I should have

a separate meeting with students and faculty who are international students? Yes.

Meet with them at least once. BOBBI CORDANO: Yeah, especially given the time that we’re in now.

Yeah, I am very open to engaging in that discussion. I think that it is very timely and appropriate

that you ask this question. I meet with faculty regularly. I meet with staff separately. I do have meetings with students, as well.

There are international representatives of each of those groups. But maybe you all getting together as a group

to interact with one another. I’m looking to the provost and the executive team to see whether or not we can do that.

I will take your ideas and feedback on that. Thank you.

And now we would like to give you the last few minutes to wrap up. BOBBI CORDANO: Thank you very much, Trevor.

Very nice job. Your leadership within SBG is just wonderful.

Thank you. We wouldn’t be able to do it without all of our students and your support. That’s really what’s led to our success.

Thank you. BOBBI CORDANO: So thank you all for coming.

Thank you for participating and thank you for participating in what we’ve done today.

Go in peace, thoughtfulness, and I hope we can continue to be kind to each other

as we move forward in strengthening our community. Thank you all very much.

[End Video Transcript]