Deaf President Now (DPN) was a student strike at Gallaudet University, the liberal arts university for the deaf in Washington, DC, pushing for the university's selection of a deaf president. DPN took place over an eight day period between March 6 to March 13, 1988. The protest is considered a watershed point in the awareness of Deaf culture by the dominant hearing culture.

Deaf students at Gallaudet began campaigning for a deaf president when Jerry Lee, who had been president since 1984, resigned in 1987. Students supporting the selection of a deaf president participated in a large rally on March 1, and a candelight vigil on March 5. The board of trustees considered three finalists, one hearing and two deaf, and on March 6, 1988, announced the selection of Elisabeth Ann Zinser , Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro -- the hearing candidate. Zinser had little experience with deaf education and no sign language skills at all; her selection outraged community members.

Students associated with the DPN movement closed the University and barricaded the campus, issuing four demands, which were supported by faculty and staff:

1. that a new deaf president be named immediately;
2. that Jane Bassett Spilman , chair of the board of trustees (who announced the board's choice with the comment that "the deaf are not yet ready to function in the hearing world.") resign immediately;
3. that the board of trustees, at that time composed of 17 hearing members and four deaf, be constituted with a 51% majority of deaf members;
4. that there be no reprisals.

Students were joined by deaf and hearing supporters from all over the country. Three hundred deaf students from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf came to Washington DC by bus, and others came from all over the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Zinser resigned on the evening of March 10. On March 11, about 2,500 demonstrators -- a thousand Gallaudet students along with their supporters -- marched to the Capital, where there were speeches, spoken and signed. On March 13, 1988, the board of trustees met for nine hours. Philip Bravin , the new (deaf) chair of the board, announced that Spilman had resigned, and that I. King Jordan, the deaf dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Gallaudet, had been elected President.

Reference: Sacks, Oliver (1989) Seeing Voices: A journey into the world of the deaf, Harper Perennial, ISBN 0-06-097347-1.

External links

• Deaf President Now anniversary A day-by-day overview of the Deaf President Now movement, from Gallaudet University