Commentary on Neoliberalism in the Gallaudet University Administration

One of the unfortunate, side-outgrowths of DPN – or in other words, an unpredictable/incidental consequence – was the post-DPN involvement of I. King Jordan in the burgeoning trend of neoliberalism in Washington, DC in the late 1980s and beyond.

When we protested for a “Deaf President Now!” in 1988, did anyone think that demand would come to be related to US economic issues and eventually also global economic policy? Yet, when Jordan assumed office, he very quickly headed in that direction, no doubt as a result of hobnobbing with DC-bigwigs such as Sen. Harkin or Washington Post co-owner Donald E. Graham, which included getting involved with the Federal City Council. (One concrete indication of such was the special Washington DC VIP license plate that Jordan had on his car for many years, which was inexcusable.) We can still see remnants of that relationship in the current efforts being made at GU toward revitalizing commerce on 6th Street adjacent to the campus, which is currently being spearheaded by the Assistant Vice President for Administration.

After DPN, it didn't take long for Jordan's true colors to begin showing. When administrators and faculty members at KDES set up a new plan to emphasize bilingual education and ASL in 1991, Jordan quickly shut it down. This was no doubt due to him following the wishes of Sen. Harkin who, by this time, was already maneuvering to increase the use of cochlear implants among deaf children.

This, then, was the beginning of the end for both IKJ and Harkin, since neoliberalism's strong influence is now, with the partial (philosophical/political) success of the Occupy Movement and the successes of other protest movements around the globe, seemingly beginning to slowly wane, or if not wane, then at least slow down (and will hopefully be headed in the other direction soon), and it’s not an exaggeration at all to say that the Unity for Gallaudet protest played a role in setting the stage for the general Occupy Movement.

In truth, both Jordan and Harkin were actually pro-neoliberalist extremists, since the “monetization” of the human body (as would be the result of the rampant, unchecked use of cochlear implants that they both envisioned) represents one manifestation of neoliberal extremism. We can’t rule out Tony Coelho’s influence in this trend as well, especially since he has also been involved with medical implant corporations, albeit implants of a different type (for epileptics, for example)...