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Via Frozen Tropics, we find this story from Voice of the Hill about a recent change in policy at Gallaudet University, the nation's premier college for the deaf and hard of hearing in Northeast D.C. According to the story, Gallaudet recently extended its student code of conduct rules to include student behavior off campus after neighborhood residents lodged complaints about rowdy late-night parties hosted by students from the school.
The change in rules has reportedly already had an impact, but the story goes on to detail a popular sentiment among residents that because they are deaf or hard of hearing, drunk and partying Gallaudet students had been routinely let off easy by police officers responding to noise complaints for fear of appearing to be discriminatory.
Kerensky said that when he confronted disorderly students, they would “play dumb,” adding that they displayed an attitude of impunity, as if they had learned most hearing people will back down from an argument with a deaf person for fear of appearing discriminatory. “You’d get their attention while they’re peeing and wave to them, and they’d say, ‘what?’ ... It’s insulting.”
Several officers experienced the same thing. “When I opened the door, it was like, ‘I don’t understand you, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Burgess said this week at a police-citizen meeting.
Lt. Barbara Hawkins said that before last spring, officers often just told partygoers to pour out their drinks and go inside the house, partly for fear of appearing discriminatory.
“So that was one of the biggest things we were trying to address,” Hawkins said, referring to the “special treatment” the students received.
Before the change in the student code of conduct, Gallaudet could not punish any students caught violating the school's rules at off campus locations. Other universities in the city, including Georgetown, Howard and GW already have clauses in their codes of conduct governing off-campus behavior.
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Did he really say "play dumb?" Yikes.
This may be indicative of ignorance on my part, but why would their parties be loud? I would ASSUME that they aren't listening to music or even verbally talking, so aside from walking or running around where is the noise coming from?
Noise complaints? Really? I'm sure deaf people can party equally as hard as those who can hear, but I mean, they party loudly? Why?
Yes I'm a little confused about how this could be a loud party. Perhaps hearing students were in attendance too?
I live near Gallaudet.
Those parties are ANYTHING but quiet.
They crank the bass up so that the whole block shakes.
They scream incoherent noises all hours of the night.
Its out of hand!
Why would you assume they're not listening to music? Anyone who's partied with deaf folks know they loves them some bass, not wisely but too well.
I always pretend to be deaf when a resident catches me taking a leak on their begonias. Hot tip: grunting and making bogus "sign language" moves with your hands adds authenticity.
I have seen Gallaudet Students get away just taking beers and drinks at bars all around the city...when the bartender tries to get them to pay for it they just dont pay any attention to the bartender or just act like they dont understand...and yes even "play dumb"...no bartender or bar owner is going to jump over the bar and chase down a deaf person over a beer
When I have a loud party and people come to complain I answer the door with bananas in my ears. Then, when they complain about the noise, I saw "What? I can't hear you - I have bananas in my ears." Works every time.
Also, I think Galudet's team should be The Fightin' Helen Kellers.
My brother used to go to a college which had a dorm shared with deaf students. He would come home every summer telling us about how they just didn't realize they were being loud at all since they can't hear. Stuff like televisions, yelling, bass from their music, etc. I guess it's not their fault but yeah it happens a lot.
Yeah, deaf people are totally loud. Being unable to *hear* sound does not take away your ability to *make* sound. And it most definitely takes away your ability to judge how annoying your sounds are to other people.
I am somewhat curious how the deaf community, particularly that of Gallaudet University, addresses the use of alcohol among its students. Of course binge drinking among college students is nothing new, but surely the pitfalls that can accompany a night spent alternating swigs of beer with gulps of liquor would be that much more harmful to somebody without the ability to hear. If previous comments are to be believed, a lot of deaf kids, not unlike their hearing counterparts, throw caution to the wind and party on anyway. A quick Google search found some academic studies on the topic ("College Drinking among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students: Problems and Prevention," a study written by two professors at Gallaudet, for example), but I'm wondering if anybody has more insight into this.
I can vouch for the ability of deaf people to party hard. A friend of mine in college dated a deaf girl. She and her friends were quite the partiers.
OK I admit i am now somewhat jealous/curious about these raging Gallaudet parties.
Go to the basement of the pour house on a Wednesday nite and you will see that yes indeed, deaf college kids ...now are you ready for this.... act a lot like other college kids.
Guest #9:
Yes, it is their fault. They deaf students are making the noise so who's fault should it be if not theirs? Even deaf people can figure out that turning a radio up to full volume with a bunch of students yelling noises and dancing would make a lot of noise. If not the first time they do it then at least the second or third when their neighbors tell them it is loud.
I mean come on these people are deaf, not stupid. They know what they are doing. The problem is that they are young college students who use the deaf issue to try to get away with things. Any college student would try anything to continue to party and drink.
The last person at Galludet that tried to crack down on the loud parties (and the trashing of hotel rooms at homecomming) was removed from the Presidency of the school by protestors. I can't see her replacement or the gutless Galludet board taking any sort of hard line against the students now.
Actually you are totally wrong. The current administration is indeed taking a hard line.
The current administration is able to handle incidents like these in the proper manner, while the previous administration was totally incompetent and botched handling these sorts of issues.
This is just more evidence to show why Fernandes was incompetent. The protest had nothing to do with Fernandes allegedly taking a hard line. She was ineffective as a leader and unfit to lead. The faculty voted against her multiple times.
I think part of the problem is the area of the district where the college is located, where college parties in NW would get shut down a lot sooner for various reasons.
Besides that, this change in policy will be good and is probably needed, but only if it has any teeth and will actually suspend or dimiss students. We have a similar problem with dealing with the Catholic University students every year since they like to run rapid. So far since labor day, its has been a little nuts, with even a togo party that would put animal house to shame.
I'm Deaf -- I graduated from Gallaudet. I went to a couple of hearing-led parties in Georgetown and Catholic University of America and yes, I attended ... er ... maybe 1,873 deaf-led parties. I can vouch that the hearing ones are incredibly quiet to a point where I feel like I'm in some kind of "Clue" film.
Let's face the music: Deaf parties are much better than hearing parties.
LOL. Did I say "music" already?
R-