1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,600
Speaker 1: This episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class is

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,480
Speaker 1: brought to you by Squarespace, the all in one platform

3
00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:07,640
Speaker 1: that makes it fast and easy to create your own

4
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,480
Speaker 1: professional website, portfolio, and online store. For a free trial

5
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,400
Speaker 1: and ten percent off, visit squarespace dot com, slash history

6
00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,680
Speaker 1: and enter offer code history at check out. A better

7
00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 1: web starts with your website. Welcome to Stuff you Missed

8
00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:33,920
Speaker 1: in History Class from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello,

9
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,840
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Wilson. So just really

10
00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,080
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, we mentioned our rule of

11
00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,879
Speaker 1: thumb about the sort of the most recent history we

12
00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,280
Speaker 1: normally talk about, so like that's the late sixties, early

13
00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:52,479
Speaker 1: seventies usually naturally. Having just said that, just now, we're

14
00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,320
Speaker 1: gonna do something today that breaks that rule just a

15
00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,040
Speaker 1: little bit um because I've been looking for a while

16
00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,040
Speaker 1: for a podcast sub that was in some way related

17
00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,240
Speaker 1: to a disabled person or disability rights. And the trouble

18
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:11,400
Speaker 1: is a lot of these stories have this distinctly inspirational overtone,

19
00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,480
Speaker 1: and there's this whole thread of like overcoming hardship, and

20
00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,520
Speaker 1: it's very presented in a way that ultimately comes off

21
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:24,679
Speaker 1: as being like an a heartwarming, uplifting tale told too

22
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,800
Speaker 1: non disabled people about a disabled person. Right, it seems

23
00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,840
Speaker 1: like a very positive take on things initially, but when

24
00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,000
Speaker 1: you stop and think about it, you kind of realize

25
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 1: that it sets up people with disabilities as other and

26
00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,240
Speaker 1: having to overcome things to be equal. Yeah, it's not

27
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,400
Speaker 1: really how it should be. Yeah, it's not that we

28
00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:49,920
Speaker 1: never tell inspirational stories. I mean we do that pretty

29
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,600
Speaker 1: often on the show, like when we talked about Elizabeth Blackwell,

30
00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,120
Speaker 1: who was the first woman to earn an empty in

31
00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,920
Speaker 1: the United States. That was a hugely inspirational story and

32
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,160
Speaker 1: event it especial really inspired other women. But if you

33
00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,040
Speaker 1: told a story today about a woman going to medical school,

34
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:07,800
Speaker 1: that would be just a story about a woman going

35
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:13,119
Speaker 1: to medical school. Yes, However, if we told not we necessarily,

36
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,240
Speaker 1: but like the American media, if the American media told

37
00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,120
Speaker 1: the story of a blind doctor in eighteen forty nine,

38
00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,560
Speaker 1: the tone would be pretty similar to the story of

39
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:27,960
Speaker 1: a blind doctor. In drives me a little bit nuts, yeah,

40
00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,680
Speaker 1: and I know it drives other people nuts also, So

41
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:34,560
Speaker 1: I was really I've been on the lookout for a

42
00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,120
Speaker 1: while for a story that would not fit that mold

43
00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:40,120
Speaker 1: because I kind of don't want the you know, the

44
00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,560
Speaker 1: podcast to contribute to that pattern of setting people up

45
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,680
Speaker 1: as being inspirations for other people rather than you know,

46
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,600
Speaker 1: actual human beings with agency and you know, the ability

47
00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,760
Speaker 1: to do things on their own. Um. Which is why

48
00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 1: when we did that threat on Facebook a couple of

49
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,000
Speaker 1: weeks ago that said please tell us events to talk

50
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,919
Speaker 1: about and someone said death press in it now please

51
00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,520
Speaker 1: And I looked into what that was about. I said, Okay,

52
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,200
Speaker 1: we're going to break our rule. This happened in some

53
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,840
Speaker 1: of you may remember it. I don't personally remember it.

54
00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 1: I do not either. It was national news at the time, though, uh.

55
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,400
Speaker 1: And this is essentially a student protest that changed the

56
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,000
Speaker 1: course of both Galatt University. I have also heard it

57
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,280
Speaker 1: pronounced galudet with like the U sound. I've heard people

58
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,480
Speaker 1: pronounce it both ways. And also deaf culture in America

59
00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,400
Speaker 1: that makes it sort of exciting and new. It's very

60
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,680
Speaker 1: exciting and new. Definitely lake outside kind of our stuff

61
00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,480
Speaker 1: because it is a little more modern and researching it

62
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,280
Speaker 1: was a very different process. Because of that, it's well

63
00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:45,400
Speaker 1: documented and recent. So for background, Galata University is a

64
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,760
Speaker 1: United States school that's dedicated to the education of Deaf

65
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,280
Speaker 1: and Heart of Hearing students. It's also a bilingual university

66
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,560
Speaker 1: which has classes taught in both American Sign language and

67
00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,720
Speaker 1: in English. When it's funding comes from both federal sources

68
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,280
Speaker 1: and non government sources. There are also a few hearing

69
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,040
Speaker 1: students who enroll every year, and usually these are people

70
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:07,920
Speaker 1: who want to have a career that's in some way

71
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,840
Speaker 1: closely related to the deaf and Heart of Hearing community.

72
00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,640
Speaker 1: So if someone wants to teach at a school for

73
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,119
Speaker 1: the deaf, or to work with organizations for the deaf,

74
00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:19,320
Speaker 1: things like that, a lot of times those people will

75
00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,680
Speaker 1: decide to go to college at Caladet. And in addition

76
00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: to all of that, Galladet is also really viewed as

77
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,200
Speaker 1: the heart of the deaf community and of deaf culture

78
00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,520
Speaker 1: in the United States. And the school started in eighteen

79
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,080
Speaker 1: fifty six, so fairly recently compared to some other universities,

80
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,440
Speaker 1: and that was when former Postmaster General Amos Kendall donated

81
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 1: some of his land outside of Washington, d C. To

82
00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,000
Speaker 1: start a school for blind and deaf children. And at

83
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,680
Speaker 1: that point, schools for the deaf had really only existed

84
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,719
Speaker 1: in the United States for less than forty years, so

85
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 1: the concept was still very new, and twelve of the

86
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,480
Speaker 1: first students at Kendall School were deaf, and the other

87
00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,760
Speaker 1: six of the students that were enrolled that first go

88
00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:02,920
Speaker 1: around were blind. A year later, the school was incorporated

89
00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,240
Speaker 1: as Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and

90
00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,840
Speaker 1: dum and Blind, and the school's superintendent was Edward Minor Gallaudet,

91
00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,400
Speaker 1: whose father, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, had founded the first permanent

92
00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,359
Speaker 1: school for the deaf in the United States, and that

93
00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,520
Speaker 1: was in Hartford, Connecticut. The elder Gallaudet had traveled around

94
00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,640
Speaker 1: Europe to learn about teaching methods for deaf children after

95
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,159
Speaker 1: he had met a young deaf girl who really did

96
00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,080
Speaker 1: not have any access to education at all. Edwards mother,

97
00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,960
Speaker 1: Sophia Fowler Gallaudet, was deaf and also served as the

98
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:40,359
Speaker 1: Columbia Institution's matron. In eighteen sixty three, Congress passed a

99
00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:43,920
Speaker 1: bill to quote authorize the Columbia Institution for the Deaf

100
00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:48,400
Speaker 1: anddom and the Blind to confer degrees, and President Abraham

101
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: Lincoln signed this into law on April eighteen sixty four,

102
00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,640
Speaker 1: and so with this the Columbia Institution became the National

103
00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,960
Speaker 1: College for the Deaf Anddom President Lyndon Johnson signed an

104
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,920
Speaker 1: act creating the Model Secondary School for the Deaf at

105
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,719
Speaker 1: Galadet in nineteen sixty nine, and Richard Nixon signed a

106
00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:10,080
Speaker 1: similar bill the year after that creating an elementary school

107
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,719
Speaker 1: for the deaf, and these two schools are actually part

108
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,599
Speaker 1: of Galadet today. Acts of Congress have also continued to

109
00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,520
Speaker 1: shape the university, changing the name to Galadet College in

110
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,360
Speaker 1: honor of Thomas Hopkins Galadet and also granting at university

111
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,560
Speaker 1: status in nineteen six. Diplomas for graduates of the school

112
00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,000
Speaker 1: are also signed by the current president, so it's easy

113
00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,320
Speaker 1: to see all of this governmental involvement in the establishment

114
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,719
Speaker 1: and development of the school as a hearing nation attempting

115
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,040
Speaker 1: to see to the best interests of its deaf citizens,

116
00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,880
Speaker 1: and that was one of the sentiments that actually sparked

117
00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:48,120
Speaker 1: the deaf president now protest in n Another piece of

118
00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,159
Speaker 1: this was a schism that kind of starts with two

119
00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,960
Speaker 1: different schools of thought about the best way to provide

120
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,560
Speaker 1: education for deaf people. And this goes all the way

121
00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,000
Speaker 1: back to the earliest days of schools for the death

122
00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,440
Speaker 1: on one end, where the oralists who thought that deaf

123
00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:04,919
Speaker 1: people should learn to speak and to read lips to

124
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,560
Speaker 1: better fit into a hearing world. And then on the

125
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,040
Speaker 1: other end of the spectrum are manualists who thought that

126
00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:15,000
Speaker 1: deaf people should learn sign language to communicate with each other.

127
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,720
Speaker 1: Edward Minor Galladet supported the use of sign language. He

128
00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,640
Speaker 1: knew when you sign language because of his mother. On

129
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,000
Speaker 1: the other hand, Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone,

130
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,400
Speaker 1: whose mother was also deaf, was completely in favor of

131
00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:33,280
Speaker 1: the oral method. So in the earliest days of education

132
00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,400
Speaker 1: for deaf people in the United States, educators really fiercely

133
00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,960
Speaker 1: debated which method was better, and the idea of signing

134
00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:46,680
Speaker 1: versus speaking really extended into every aspect of of people's lives.

135
00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,920
Speaker 1: It affected how doctors worked with deaf families, and how

136
00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,360
Speaker 1: parents raised their deaf children, and in some cases it

137
00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,679
Speaker 1: even created a schism within the deaf community itself between

138
00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,800
Speaker 1: the deaf people who could sign and consider themselves to

139
00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,559
Speaker 1: be what's now called culturally deaf, and the deaf people

140
00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,240
Speaker 1: who could not. And to add to all of this context,

141
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,120
Speaker 1: every president of Galadet University had been a man who

142
00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,560
Speaker 1: could hear. And we'll talk more about that after a

143
00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,480
Speaker 1: quick word from our sponsor. So in the earliest years

144
00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,680
Speaker 1: after Galadet was founded, it was a legitimate claim that

145
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,280
Speaker 1: there weren't really any deaf people in the United States

146
00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,880
Speaker 1: who were qualified to be president of the school, because

147
00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 1: before that point there had been really almost no way

148
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,560
Speaker 1: for a deaf person to get a college education. They're

149
00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,120
Speaker 1: just was no educational system for deaf people in the

150
00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:41,760
Speaker 1: United States. At Galadet and at other schools for the deaf,

151
00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:46,240
Speaker 1: whether they taught manualist or oralist methods, were overwhelmingly people

152
00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,120
Speaker 1: who could hear. Some schools for the deaf did not

153
00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,840
Speaker 1: allow deaf teachers at all, believing them to be unqualified

154
00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,000
Speaker 1: to teach deaf students. And even as we were approaching

155
00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,840
Speaker 1: the part of history where this protest took place, Galadet

156
00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,000
Speaker 1: can tenued to be taught and run mostly by hearing people.

157
00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,959
Speaker 1: This went on for many years of its history. By

158
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,560
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, only about twenty percent of the faculty

159
00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:14,360
Speaker 1: and administrative staff were deaf. In nineteen eighty three, Galladet's

160
00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,640
Speaker 1: fourth president, Dr. Edward C. Merrill retired. He and all

161
00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:20,920
Speaker 1: the presidents before him had all been able to hear.

162
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:25,000
Speaker 1: As we mentioned, he and others actually started to advocate

163
00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,640
Speaker 1: for a deaf president to lead the university, but that

164
00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,360
Speaker 1: idea really did not gain much traction. Then, between nineteen

165
00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,400
Speaker 1: eight three and nineteen eighty seven, Gallaudetts saw this series

166
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,800
Speaker 1: of presidents come through in quick succession, and the resignation

167
00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,680
Speaker 1: of the seventh president, Jerry Lee, was really sudden and

168
00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,160
Speaker 1: kind of caught a lot of people by surprise. And

169
00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,320
Speaker 1: at that point the Board of trust Fees brought on

170
00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,760
Speaker 1: a consultant to try to get the best candidate for

171
00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,240
Speaker 1: his replacement, and it put together the search committee of faculty, staff, alumni,

172
00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,080
Speaker 1: and students. At this point, the argument that there weren't

173
00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,680
Speaker 1: any qualified deaf people that could be president of the

174
00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,280
Speaker 1: university was really completely invalid. That was gone. Uh. There

175
00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:04,400
Speaker 1: were more than one hundred deaf people in the United

176
00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,880
Speaker 1: States who had doctoral degrees, and many of them were

177
00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,320
Speaker 1: Galada alumni, as were some of the past hearing presidents,

178
00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,280
Speaker 1: and had experience in school administrations. So there were some options.

179
00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:17,640
Speaker 1: There were lots of options, and a pool of eighty

180
00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,480
Speaker 1: seven applicants was narrowed down to six finalists. Three of

181
00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,199
Speaker 1: them could hear and three of them were deaf. Those

182
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,360
Speaker 1: six finalists were then narrowed down to three. Dr Harvey

183
00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,040
Speaker 1: Corson was a deaf man who was superintendent of the

184
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,800
Speaker 1: Louisiana School for the Deaf. Dr I King Jordan was

185
00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 1: a deaf man who was at the time serving as

186
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,360
Speaker 1: Galadet's dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. And

187
00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:44,160
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Zenzer was a hearing woman who was assistant chancellor

188
00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,480
Speaker 1: of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. So at

189
00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,080
Speaker 1: this point we had two of the three final candidates

190
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,880
Speaker 1: who were deaf. The student body, the faculty, and alumni,

191
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,320
Speaker 1: along with many deaf advocacy groups, had been lobbying for

192
00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,000
Speaker 1: quite some time for the university to have a deaf press,

193
00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,240
Speaker 1: isn't it. They had also been getting letters of support

194
00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,280
Speaker 1: from people like then Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush,

195
00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:11,160
Speaker 1: then Senators Bob Dole of Kansas and Bob Graham of Florida,

196
00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,640
Speaker 1: and other politicians supporting the idea of putting a deaf

197
00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 1: person into the presidency. Here's part of George Bush's letter

198
00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:22,000
Speaker 1: on the matter. I've become aware of the two basic

199
00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,520
Speaker 1: principles that underlie the disability rights movement. The right of

200
00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:28,199
Speaker 1: disabled people to control their own lives and the right

201
00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:32,440
Speaker 1: to integration and involvement in society. Galadat University has a

202
00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,640
Speaker 1: critical role to play in advancing these principles. It is

203
00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:37,880
Speaker 1: held in the highest regard by deaf people throughout the

204
00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,600
Speaker 1: United States and the world. It provides an excellent education

205
00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:45,679
Speaker 1: and a meaningful future for thousands of deaf persons. More importantly,

206
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 1: Galada University is a symbol of leadership and opportunity not

207
00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,240
Speaker 1: only for deaf people, but for all of us. His

208
00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,720
Speaker 1: letter also points out that considering how Galadat is funded

209
00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,959
Speaker 1: by the federal government, it has an obligation to set

210
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,760
Speaker 1: an example in this matter. Um the sentiment he's kind

211
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,000
Speaker 1: of expressing here a lot of times people here today

212
00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,600
Speaker 1: expressed as nothing about us without us, which is basically,

213
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,200
Speaker 1: don't you go making laws for people without consulting those

214
00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,520
Speaker 1: people about those laws. You may be well intentioned, but

215
00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,600
Speaker 1: not well informed. Well, and I feel like we should say, uh,

216
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,719
Speaker 1: everyone involved in this story had good intentions, Like there

217
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,600
Speaker 1: was nobody who was setting out to just make the

218
00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:30,920
Speaker 1: make the deaf community suffer. That's not what anybody had

219
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,840
Speaker 1: in mind. No, and I'm sure everyone making decisions they

220
00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:39,360
Speaker 1: weren't just you know, throwaway decisions. They were considering them thoughtfully,

221
00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,760
Speaker 1: but sometimes not always with all of the best information.

222
00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,720
Speaker 1: A right A letter from the student body government informing

223
00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,040
Speaker 1: the faculty of a rally being planned to support the

224
00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,520
Speaker 1: selection of a deaf president began. The idea of a

225
00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,760
Speaker 1: deaf person being named president of this university is exceptionally

226
00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,440
Speaker 1: important to us and to the entire community of people

227
00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:02,320
Speaker 1: concerned with deafness and education, and in our view, now

228
00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:06,160
Speaker 1: demands our action. So the students had been rallying for

229
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,440
Speaker 1: a week in advance of the announcement of who the

230
00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,840
Speaker 1: next president would be. They had been distributing flyers, even

231
00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,480
Speaker 1: camping out on the president's lawn. The student body president,

232
00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,880
Speaker 1: Greg Libak, wrote to Zenzor and asked her to withdraw

233
00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,280
Speaker 1: her candidacy, which would have guaranteed that the next president

234
00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,840
Speaker 1: would be deaf. The text of a flyer for a

235
00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,320
Speaker 1: rally that was held on March first reads as It's time.

236
00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,840
Speaker 1: In eighteen forty two, a Roman Catholic became president of

237
00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,560
Speaker 1: the University of Notre Dame. In eighteen seventy five, a

238
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:39,480
Speaker 1: woman became president of Wellesley College. In eighteen seventy five,

239
00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 1: a Jew became president of Yeshiva University. In nineteen twenty six,

240
00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:46,920
Speaker 1: a black person became president of Howard University, and in

241
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:51,120
Speaker 1: nine the Galludet University presidency belongs to a deaf person.

242
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,440
Speaker 1: To show our solidarity behind our mandate for a deaf

243
00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,440
Speaker 1: person of our university, you are invited to participate in

244
00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:06,800
Speaker 1: a historical all caps rally. So basically, everyone, seemingly everyone involved,

245
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,360
Speaker 1: was really behind the idea of a deaf person being

246
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,040
Speaker 1: named president. And with all of these factors combined, like

247
00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:17,040
Speaker 1: with such a huge outpouring of advocacy on the part

248
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,840
Speaker 1: of the student body and the alumni and everyone else, uh,

249
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,320
Speaker 1: and you know, the Vice President of the United States

250
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:24,400
Speaker 1: and senators and all of these other people saying that

251
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,360
Speaker 1: we really think this is what's time. People pretty much

252
00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,520
Speaker 1: thought that what was going to happen was that either

253
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,320
Speaker 1: Dr Corson or Dr Jordans, the two deaf candidates, one

254
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,920
Speaker 1: of them would be selected as president. However, on March

255
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,360
Speaker 1: the six the Board of Trustees announced that the next

256
00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:46,440
Speaker 1: president of Gallaudet would be Dr Elizabeth Senser. So basically

257
00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,360
Speaker 1: everyone had been expecting the Board of Trustees to announce

258
00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,480
Speaker 1: a deaf president, and what everyone was also expecting and

259
00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,320
Speaker 1: had been planning for, was for the Board of Trustees

260
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,760
Speaker 1: to come to the campus to announce the new president.

261
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,240
Speaker 1: But instead, what they did they sent out press releases

262
00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:03,520
Speaker 1: at six thirty in the morning, which was about an

263
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,320
Speaker 1: hour and a half before anybody thought the announcement was

264
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:11,760
Speaker 1: going to come. Does not perhaps surprising to find out

265
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,960
Speaker 1: that the reaction was immediate and it was huge. People

266
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,280
Speaker 1: were furious. A crowd had already been forming to wait

267
00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:20,800
Speaker 1: for the announcement, and at the encouragement of Gary Olsen

268
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,640
Speaker 1: from the National Association of the Deaf, they spontaneously marched

269
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:26,640
Speaker 1: to the hotel where the board had been meeting to

270
00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:30,040
Speaker 1: demand an explanation. When they got there, there was basically

271
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,560
Speaker 1: a press conference going on the chair of the board,

272
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,240
Speaker 1: James Spillman, and Phil Braman, who was one of the

273
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:40,000
Speaker 1: deaf trustees, were answering questions from reporters, and the protesters

274
00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:44,640
Speaker 1: interrupted and demanded to speak to the board. Eventually, some

275
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,200
Speaker 1: of the protesters were allowed to meet with the board,

276
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,880
Speaker 1: and during that meeting, Spillman allegedly said that deaf people

277
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:54,360
Speaker 1: could not function in the hearing world. She denied ever

278
00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,000
Speaker 1: having said this, claiming that it was a misunderstanding by

279
00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:01,600
Speaker 1: her interpreter. Regardless, it really solidified opinion against her, and

280
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,800
Speaker 1: many people cited it in letters and speeches afterwards. So

281
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,400
Speaker 1: she actually said it or not, it still really was

282
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:09,800
Speaker 1: a big black park became hugely associated with her, and

283
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:11,440
Speaker 1: there are lots and lots of letters that were sent

284
00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,480
Speaker 1: to the board or to newspapers or things like that

285
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,680
Speaker 1: that or like anyone who would say this should not

286
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:22,120
Speaker 1: be running the school death. So as protesters talked to

287
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,440
Speaker 1: the board, they didn't reach any kind of agreement, and

288
00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,600
Speaker 1: eventually the crowd dispersed, but by the morning, a full

289
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,280
Speaker 1: scale civil rights protest was in the works. That gallod

290
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,360
Speaker 1: It students were holding sit ins, they boycotted, they held

291
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,160
Speaker 1: rallies and marches, they wrote letters and supported their objectives

292
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,600
Speaker 1: UM and in their letters and their speeches and their

293
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,560
Speaker 1: addresses that they gave people framed this as a civil

294
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:49,000
Speaker 1: rights issue. UH. And additionally to all of that, they

295
00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:51,800
Speaker 1: blocked access to the campus by forming a human chain

296
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:55,160
Speaker 1: to keep the faculty and administrators out, effectively shutting things down.

297
00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,000
Speaker 1: And as the news spread UH civil rights leader Reverend

298
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 1: Jesse Jackson wrote letter of support to the students of

299
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,720
Speaker 1: the university. This is a portion of it. The Board

300
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,840
Speaker 1: of Trustees has an obligation to respond to student concerns

301
00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,520
Speaker 1: with sensitivity. There is no time to resolve this dispute equitably.

302
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,200
Speaker 1: The problem is not that the students do not hear.

303
00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:16,520
Speaker 1: The problem is that the hearing world does not listen.

304
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,360
Speaker 1: The entire nation owes the students of Galadat its gratitude

305
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,080
Speaker 1: for reminding us once again that each of us has

306
00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,159
Speaker 1: the ability and the right to achieve I urged the

307
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,080
Speaker 1: Board of the university to move forward and recognize the

308
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:33,160
Speaker 1: justice of its students demands. By the day after the announcement,

309
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,200
Speaker 1: the protesters had created a list of these four demands

310
00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,240
Speaker 1: to present to the board. They were Number one, Elizabeth

311
00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,680
Speaker 1: Zenser must resign and a deaf person be elected president.

312
00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,320
Speaker 1: Number two, James Spillman must step down as chairperson of

313
00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:52,600
Speaker 1: the Board of Trustees. Number three, deaf people must constitute

314
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:56,080
Speaker 1: a fifty majority on the board. And number four, there

315
00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,959
Speaker 1: would be no reprisals against any student or employee involved

316
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,480
Speaker 1: in the protest. These demands were presented to the board

317
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,680
Speaker 1: in a three hour long meeting. However, the board did

318
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:11,399
Speaker 1: not yield, so following that meeting, uh. The board had

319
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,560
Speaker 1: planned to make an announcement in the university auditorium basically

320
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,200
Speaker 1: saying that they were not yielding their position, but before

321
00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:22,520
Speaker 1: Spellman could begin, a deaf faculty member named Harvey Goodstein

322
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,360
Speaker 1: came on stage and announced it himself, and he encouraged

323
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,879
Speaker 1: everyone to leave, which they did and spontaneously marched to

324
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:32,320
Speaker 1: the Capitol Building and held an impromptu rally there. I'm

325
00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:34,679
Speaker 1: not sure if we have said that the school is

326
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,760
Speaker 1: basically in Washington, d C. So a lot of the

327
00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,320
Speaker 1: rallying and protesting happened sort of in the context of

328
00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,399
Speaker 1: these huge, important government buildings for the government of the

329
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,000
Speaker 1: United States. And the next day was Tuesday, March eight,

330
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,560
Speaker 1: and while the campus was open, most of the students

331
00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,760
Speaker 1: boycotted their classes. It was about this time that the

332
00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,240
Speaker 1: protests formed the Deaf president Now Council, which included representatives

333
00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,639
Speaker 1: from the student body, the fact gualty, the staff, alumni,

334
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,000
Speaker 1: as well as people who worked as interpreters, fundraisers, and

335
00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:09,240
Speaker 1: legal liaisons. Greg Libach, president of the student body, became

336
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,600
Speaker 1: one of the protests prominent leaders. Also among the students

337
00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,639
Speaker 1: leading the protests were Jerry Covell and Brigitta Bourne, who

338
00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,800
Speaker 1: had been running mates to lead the student government, and

339
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,760
Speaker 1: Tim Rariss, who was majoring in government, and together they

340
00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:26,000
Speaker 1: were all known as the Galadet four cited frequently is

341
00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,800
Speaker 1: like the foremost prominent student leaders of the protest, and

342
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,520
Speaker 1: the protest was really ongoing, it became national news. And

343
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,000
Speaker 1: as these meetings and protests and rallies went on, with

344
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,440
Speaker 1: both sides becoming just more and more entrenched in their stances.

345
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,159
Speaker 1: Greg Libok, Elizabeth Sencer, and actress Marley Matlin appeared on

346
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,119
Speaker 1: ABC's Nightline on Wednesday, March ninth, talk about the protest.

347
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,359
Speaker 1: Nightline closed captioned the broadcast for all viewers, with anchor

348
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,800
Speaker 1: Ted Copple saying it was because the network had learned

349
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,320
Speaker 1: that many deaf people did not actually have access to

350
00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:01,960
Speaker 1: close captioning. You can see the on YouTube today. Pretty cool,

351
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,080
Speaker 1: which is also kind of one of the weird things

352
00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:07,800
Speaker 1: about working on this episode is like footage that still

353
00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,800
Speaker 1: exists of the easy, easy to find and watch at

354
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 1: your desk. Um. So, after several days of protests and

355
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,680
Speaker 1: boycotts and sit ins and marches and rallies and letters,

356
00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Senser announced her resignation on the night of March tenth,

357
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,680
Speaker 1: and so for a sort of a brief moment, all

358
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:32,240
Speaker 1: of these rallies of protest briefly turned to celebration. But

359
00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 1: the students also recognize that they still had a long

360
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,040
Speaker 1: way to go. A lot of them started wearing buttons

361
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,240
Speaker 1: that said three and a half, since at this point

362
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 1: only half of one of their four demands had actually

363
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,119
Speaker 1: been met. And at this point it was Friday and

364
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,440
Speaker 1: spring break was scheduled to start, but many students decided

365
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,240
Speaker 1: to stay on campus. The start of the weekend was

366
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:56,640
Speaker 1: fairly quiet, and then the board reconvened on Sunday. That night,

367
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,920
Speaker 1: the board held one last press conference, and that's the

368
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,199
Speaker 1: event in which they made a number of announcements. The

369
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 1: first was that James Spellman had resigned as the board chair.

370
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 1: The second was that Phil Braven, who was deaf, had

371
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:12,480
Speaker 1: been named as her replacement. The third was that a

372
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 1: task force was going to be established, and that task

373
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 1: force's job would be to figure out the best way

374
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,520
Speaker 1: to get of the Board of Directors to be comprised

375
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,760
Speaker 1: of deaf people. They also announced that there would be

376
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,879
Speaker 1: no reprisals for the people who had been participating in

377
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:31,160
Speaker 1: the protest and Their last announcement was that I King

378
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 1: Jordan's would be the next president. And in the words

379
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,680
Speaker 1: of Greg Libach quote, now we have respect, we have everything.

380
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: It's just the beginning for all of us. And in

381
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: the words of Jerry Koble, he said, dp N has

382
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,640
Speaker 1: profoundly and significantly affected my life. It made me more

383
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 1: committed to serve my people. It made me more determined

384
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 1: to have America and the public accept and respect deaf people.

385
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,800
Speaker 1: Allow deaf people to control their destiny, and preserve the beauty, tradition,

386
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 1: and values of our culture and language. The ultimate goal

387
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,680
Speaker 1: is to see deaf people empower themselves and know their rights,

388
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,719
Speaker 1: resulting in necessary changes in all walks of life. So,

389
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,399
Speaker 1: in addition to serving as President, I King Jordan actually

390
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,119
Speaker 1: became a huge advocate for deaf people and for the

391
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 1: disabled community in general. He was a lead witness in

392
00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 1: support of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Kind of interesting

393
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 1: side note about his story is that he was able

394
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 1: to hear when he was born, and he became deaf

395
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:31,159
Speaker 1: as a result of an accident when he was in

396
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 1: his early twenties. He was a young man UH and

397
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:41,280
Speaker 1: he enrolled at Gallatt as a deaf person that he

398
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,640
Speaker 1: did not yet know how to sign, so he sort

399
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: of had to learn how to do sign language and

400
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,400
Speaker 1: everything else at the same time as he was studying

401
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:54,040
Speaker 1: at university. I would think that would be extremely stressful,

402
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:55,880
Speaker 1: and I think that was extremely stressful. He actually did

403
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:57,679
Speaker 1: this talk at my alma mater, which I found on

404
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: the internet, which I'll just makes it a weird circle

405
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,520
Speaker 1: of events where he talks about this story and talks

406
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,479
Speaker 1: about how there were some people who were very patient

407
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 1: with him and some people who were not h in

408
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,200
Speaker 1: part because of the schism that we've talked about before

409
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,680
Speaker 1: between manual and oral instruction. There were people who um

410
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: really firmly believed that being taught sign language was the

411
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 1: only way to do it, and we're not really patient

412
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,240
Speaker 1: with someone who knew how to speak and not sign.

413
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: So anyway, uh. Following DPN, a number of other laws

414
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,960
Speaker 1: were passed that gave the deaf community better access to

415
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: jobs and schools and technology, as well as legal protection.

416
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 1: And the five years after the protest was over, there

417
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,680
Speaker 1: were more laws and bills passed related to the rights

418
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,960
Speaker 1: of the deaf community and access to resources and education

419
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,800
Speaker 1: that had been passed in the entire previous history of

420
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,760
Speaker 1: the United States as a nation, and the protests also

421
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: united the deaf community in many ways. So the schism

422
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 1: between oralists and manualists has continued until today, with deaf

423
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:02,000
Speaker 1: people who know sign language sometimes considering themselves quote culturally deaf,

424
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 1: while people who speak and read lips are not. Tim Raris,

425
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 1: who was one of the galladet for described it this

426
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: way quote. Before d p N, I was not one

427
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,560
Speaker 1: to interact with deaf people who were not culturally deaf,

428
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: like myself. Deaf people have a history of fighting among themselves.

429
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,520
Speaker 1: Yet during dp N we all work together for that

430
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: common goal a deaf president. Never mind the mode of

431
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: communication our president would choose or his background, as long

432
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: as he was deaf, and together we accomplished that goal.

433
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:34,160
Speaker 1: So today, most children who are deaf UH learn sign language.

434
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:38,680
Speaker 1: There's there's much less debate on the front of UH,

435
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: do I teach a child sign language or do I not?

436
00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: A much bigger debate now is about cochlear implants, and

437
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:48,160
Speaker 1: that is a whole other issue that we're not going

438
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,399
Speaker 1: to talk about on this podcast. You know, that's like

439
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,080
Speaker 1: a can of worms, both medical and cultural. They're beyond

440
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: the scope of today's way outside of the scope I

441
00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: King Jordan was president of Gallaudet until December already first

442
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:04,240
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, and in a weird twist of events,

443
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,160
Speaker 1: after having been this, you know, this historic person put

444
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 1: into this role, the end of his tenure as president

445
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 1: was also marked with protests, as the student body objected

446
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: to the way the search um for his replacement was

447
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 1: handled and for the candidate that was selected for that

448
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,879
Speaker 1: as well. Um, that story does not have quite the

449
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 1: civil rights implications as this one did, but uh, it

450
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,440
Speaker 1: was kind of an odd thing to have his entire

451
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: time as president kind of bookended by these two massive

452
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 1: student protests. Yeah, part of it. I mean, having worked

453
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 1: in the university, I can imagine that since he served

454
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: for roughly eighteen years, they haven't had to put together

455
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: one of those committees yea, So it becomes kind of

456
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 1: a starting from scratch every time. Even if you have guidelines,

457
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,120
Speaker 1: it's still most of the people that are in those

458
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 1: positions have never done that job before searching for somebody.

459
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 1: He did have a long tenure, so I can't imagined

460
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: there would be some what do we do this? And

461
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:07,399
Speaker 1: students feel strongly about their universities, which is good. I

462
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 1: remember being just all angry about various administrative decisions when

463
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:19,160
Speaker 1: I was in college. I know, mom, It's okay. Yeah,

464
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 1: I was busy with other things. Do you have listener

465
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: mail for us? Do you have listener mail our our

466
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 1: listener mails from Ashlyn who wrote to us. I'm surprised

467
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:33,200
Speaker 1: she was able to write a letter of this link

468
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,359
Speaker 1: as quickly as it came after the episode that it's about,

469
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: which is our our phone? It was lickety split, it

470
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:40,639
Speaker 1: really was. I would like to did we give you

471
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,919
Speaker 1: an advanced copy of this? Um, I'm not trying to

472
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 1: tease you. I really was happy about this, so Ashlyn says.

473
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 1: I'm a graduate student working on a PhD in genetics,

474
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 1: so I love when you guys do episodes on science

475
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 1: related history. I also love to spot all the other

476
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: topics you guys pick. But I'm also a huge history nerd. Anyway,

477
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 1: I just listened to your flu epidemic episo it and

478
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 1: I had a few things I thought you might find interesting.

479
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,199
Speaker 1: The first is about one idea as to why the

480
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,040
Speaker 1: flu epidemic killed so many healthy young people who would

481
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 1: normally deal well with the illness. One leading hypothesis is

482
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: that the nineteen eighteen flu triggered an immune response that

483
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 1: was much stronger than usual. Young people typically have much

484
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 1: more robust immune systems than children and the elderly, which

485
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: is why the latter groups are the usual fatalities during epidemics.

486
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 1: In the nineteen eighteen flu epidemic, however, a strong immune

487
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 1: system worked as a disadvantage. The immune systems of young

488
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,199
Speaker 1: people essentially overreacted to the nineteen eighteen flu, leading to

489
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: massive levels of inflammation of the lungs that cause fluid

490
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 1: build up conducive to bacterial infection. Additionally, the inflammation could

491
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 1: be so strong that patients would stop breathing. On the

492
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 1: right side, our medical knowledge and technology is better today,

493
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 1: and this type of immune system overreaction is better treated.

494
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,919
Speaker 1: So holly, even if you do get some kind of

495
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,440
Speaker 1: crazy flu, you're much more likely to get better, especially

496
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,480
Speaker 1: because you're over paranoia or paranoia, and help you get

497
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: to the doctor early. Another interesting thing is the way

498
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 1: our modern flu vaccines are made. This is a thing

499
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: side note that I knew but we didn't say, and

500
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 1: so I was glad someone wrote to us to give

501
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 1: us an excuse to talk about it. Now, the flu

502
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: travels around the globe each year, with the cycle starting

503
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,160
Speaker 1: in China. Producing the vaccine takes a long time eight

504
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: months of memory serves, and so the vaccine producers have

505
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,120
Speaker 1: to guess what strains will hit the US far in advance.

506
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 1: They do this by looking at the flu strains that

507
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,880
Speaker 1: are active in China as the global flu cycle starts up.

508
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: Usually those strands end up coming over to the US

509
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,439
Speaker 1: and the vaccines are effective. Other times, the flu strains

510
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 1: mutate before they get to the US, or a different

511
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 1: strain makes a late surge. In this case, the vaccine

512
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: is much less effective. The last thing I wanted to

513
00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: write to you about is and this is the thing

514
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 1: that made me want to read the letter the most.

515
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,160
Speaker 1: The plague incorporating game that Tracy mentioned. It is a

516
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,720
Speaker 1: siultaneously super fun and kind of creepy since the goal

517
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,520
Speaker 1: is to wipe out the human race. Every time I

518
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,640
Speaker 1: do it. Every time I beat a level, I would

519
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,719
Speaker 1: think victory. OMG, I just killed millons of people. I'm

520
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 1: a monster. Do it again. And but fear not, Tracy,

521
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 1: there are several flaws in the science of the game

522
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 1: that make a plague inc style infection unlikely. The biggest

523
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: problem is the mutation feature in the game. You click

524
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 1: a button that allows you to turn your points, which

525
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 1: you earn for infecting and killing people seeing creepy and mutations.

526
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: For all the bacteria that are already infecting people in

527
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: real life and entire population in bacteria can't pick up

528
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,479
Speaker 1: a new mutation all at once. Bacteria mutate on the

529
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: individual level, so a super deadly bug wouldn't be able

530
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: to infect people silently then suddenly switched to kill mode

531
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,360
Speaker 1: by mutating. Any deadly mutations would have to start up

532
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 1: in one location and then spread so we'd have a

533
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 1: better chance at containing it. So it's not very advantageous

534
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 1: for a pathogen to be super deadly in the first place.

535
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 1: Over time, most diseases involved to be less deadly. This

536
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,480
Speaker 1: makes sense if you think like a bacteria. If you

537
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 1: infect and kill someone in a single day, you don't

538
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 1: have much time to spread to other people. If you

539
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 1: make someone mildly sick for two weeks so they can

540
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,160
Speaker 1: go to work in the movies, you can infect all

541
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: kinds of people. Really deadly diseases are the ones usually

542
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 1: in animals and then switch over to infecting humans. They

543
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 1: haven't had time to get better at not killing people.

544
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: That's why swine flu and avian flu, which are not

545
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 1: used to infecting people, are worse than the regular flu

546
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 1: that's been infecting people forever. And then she went on

547
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: with some other ideas for future podcasts. Thank you so much, Ashland. Yes,

548
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: reassuring and informative. Yes, I played. I played that game.

549
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 1: They have scenarios now in in that game where you

550
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: can play as various things, and I played one on

551
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 1: the airplane last night that was basically black plague to

552
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: play um and it always makes me a little nervous

553
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: to play it on the airplane because you're looking at

554
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 1: this little screen that has countries slowly going red and

555
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: planes flying on it, and I'm always afraid someone's gonna

556
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: think I'm doing something nefarious could be but I'm not. Also,

557
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 1: I think playing something like that on a plane, when

558
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 1: you're basically trapped in the steel tube with a bunch

559
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 1: of other people who may or may not be carrying credit,

560
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 1: adds an extra layer of paranoyant. Yes, So you'd like

561
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,920
Speaker 1: to write to us about this or anything else, or

562
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: a history podcast at Discovery dot com or Facebook is

563
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com slash mist in history and doct twitter

564
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 1: is miss in history. Are Tumbler is miss in history

565
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: at dot tumbler dot com. At our pinterest is pentest

566
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: dot com slash missed in history. If you would like

567
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 1: to learn more about what we've talked about today, you

568
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 1: can come to our website and you can put the

569
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 1: word sign language in the search bar and you will

570
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,120
Speaker 1: find an article called how sign language Works. You can

571
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 1: do that and I'll pull up more at how stuff

572
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 1: works dot com. And you can find us at misston

573
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: history dot com for more on this and thousands of

574
00:31:47,600 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 1: other topics because it has stuff works dot com