What was unique about the deaf student leaders?
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Deaf President Now: Profiles and viewpoints
Bridgetta Bourne-Firl
Student Activist
Jerry Covell
Student Activist
Greg Hlibok
Student Activist
Tim Rarus
Student Activist
Phil Bravin
Board Member
Elisabeth Zinser
Hearing Presidential Candidate
Jane Spilman
Board chairperson
President’s Council on Deafness
Special Advisory Group
Jerry C. Lee
Former President
Dr. I. King Jordan
Former President
In their own words…Personal accounts of DPN events of 1988
Notable Quotes
The Deaf President Now (DPN) Protest
In March 1988, Gallaudet University experienced a watershed event that led to the appointment of the 124-year-old university's first deaf president. Since then, Deaf President Now (DPN) has become synonymous with self-determination and empowerment for deaf and hard of hearing people everywhere. The Issues A...
National Deaf Life MuseumResource Type: History
Quotes about the DPN protest worth sharing
The following quotes were made during, or shortly after, the DPN protest of March 1988. The source for these and other quotes use
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Deaf President Now (DPN)
A big event that occurred in Deaf history was the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement.
DPN was a huge protest at Gallaudet University that started in March of 1988. The students, faculty, and staff at the university as well as the national deaf community were united and fought together for one clear goal…
To finally have a deaf person run the world’s only deaf university–Gallaudet.
When it came to election time, the University’s Board of Trustees chose a hearing candidate, Elizabeth A. Zinser, as Gallaudet’s seventh president. After six hearing presidents, the staff, faculty, students, and alumni of Gallaudet were ready for a deaf president.
However, the Board of Trustees chose a hearing candidate over two qualified deaf finalists instead.
Everyone was stunned. Including me, when I learned about it. They immediately demanded that a deaf president replace Zinser. A protest broke out. The protestors shut down the entire campus during this movement. They blocked campus entrances; no one could enter the school. Man
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Tim Rarus, '88, most experienced of the "Gallaudet four"
Tim Rarus, a government major from Arizona, was the most politically experienced of the “Gallaudet four,” the students who quickly rose to leadership positions during the DPN protest.
The other three were Greg Hlibok, Jerry Covell, and Bridgetta Bourne. As the outgoing Student Body Government president, he had served on the search committee for the new president of Gallaudet and was well-versed in the events that led up to DPN.
Rarus has always been remembered as one of the most outspoken students. Bourne said this of him in a 1988 newspaper interview: “He always chooses the strongest words. He’s not afraid of anyone.”
Update 2013
Tim Rarus comes from four generations of deaf family members. A graduate of Arizona School for the Deaf, he went to Gallaudet University to get his bachelor’s degree in government. His first job leaving Gallaudet was working for Senator John McCain as a staff assistant and advising the senator on disability and ADA issues.
Tim has enjoyed a long career c
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