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.

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?

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

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

:

POWER vs.
EMPOWERMENT
MerriamWebster’s 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 one’s life. It therefore challenges our ideas about the way things are, should be, and could be.

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.

WHAT IS D.P.N?
What were the reasons?
Who was Involved?

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

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

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

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!”

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.

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.

Jerry Covell A government
A government major who would earn a master’s 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

• 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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?"

Dr. Jordan changed his mind. He announced his support for the students —and a deaf president for
Gallaudet
University.

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

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.

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!"

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.