It can be roughly said that the Gallaudet Presidents from Elstad to Cordano parallel, in vague terms, the characteristics of the US presidents from Eisenhower to Clinton. Gallaudet President Elstad can be compared to US President Eisenhower. Neither of them really had the corresponding background necessary for their jobs. Eisenhower was not a politician and it wasn’t even clear at first whether he would go with the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. Analogously, Elstad’s administrative service was ambiguous. He was a K-12 educator with some more expansive administrative experience as a regional leader in Rotary International. By moving into higher education administration he was entering uncharted waters.
A rough comparison can be made between Gallaudet President Merrill and US President Johnson. Both excelled in their jobs, however each incorporated a major defect within their administrative philosophies. For President Johnson his major downfall was the escalation and support of the war in Vietnam. President Merrill was the enthusiastic about cued speech and he did much to promote its escalation and promulgation. He was fortunate to have avoided the judgment of history on this point while he was alive.
Gallaudet President I. King Jordan can clearly be compared to US President Richard Nixon. Although Jordan was close allies with Senator Tom Harkin, he was actually conservative in his values. Jordan was a “law and order” guy who actually never did support DPN in his heart. After dozens of people in the community chastised him via TDD during the first few days of DPN week, including former President Merrill, he decided to go with the flow and adopt a pro-DPN persona. Eventually such a false persona could not hold and it broke down. Similarly, although Nixon was aligned with conservatives, he was one of the most progressive Republican US presidents in modern times. Little recognition is given to Nixon on these points, but he actually did a great deal to continue LBJ’s “Great Society” programs (even including the federal program that allocated funding to improve teacher training in the field of Deaf education). Nixon was dishonest and experienced a great political fall. Jordan was also dishonest and recklessly took his cues from Andrew Imparato for his major policy decisions, leading to his spectacular downfall in 2006.
Gallaudet President Davila compares roughly with US President Gerald Ford – both of them swooping in to re-establish stability and common sense. Both Nixon and Jordan had nearly wrecked the idea of the US presidency and the Gallaudet presidency, respectively. President Davila faced the near-impossible task of picking up the broken Humpty Dumpty metaphorical eggshell pieces that Jordan left behind in order to reconstruct the Gallaudet presidency and stave off institutional disaster. It was a miraculous feat that only someone of Davila’s administrative and political experience could pull off, since he had served previously as Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Education. His maneuvering there to convince Secretary Alexander to approve last-minute additions to the Federal Register, pertaining to issuing guidance on how to implement the IDEA law, plus his dual saving of the institution of and the presidency of Gallaudet University makes him the most important educational administrator in Deaf history in the United States, even more important than EMG.
Gallaudet President Hurwitz roughly compares to US President Jimmy Carter. Both were masters in their domain, but both came onto the scene at the wrong time, politically. President Hurwitz would have been more successful in place of President Merrill for that era. Jimmy Carter tried to extend Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, but simply suffered a “shortfall” of talents – which is not a negative assessment. He was very good at what he did, but simply not quite good enough to achieve what he needed to achieve.
Now we see Gallaudet President Cordano roughly being comparable to US President Clinton. Both seem great and are/were policy wonks, but both lack the primary characteristics necessary to do their respective jobs. Bill Clinton was actually only successful because of Hillary Rodham Clinton. She added the extra knowledge and capabilities that Bill Clinton lacked. Without that, he would have never functioned successfully as US president. Cordano, similarly, is missing certain required skills. She would never have made it this far without her chief of staff’s experience and know-how. This raises the question, will Cordano survive, politically? If she doesn’t, will Harker apply to be the next Gallaudet president? Will there be an Interim Gallaudet President in the meantime?
Stay tuned...
Amendment (July 18, 2024): Former Gallaudet Provost Roslyn G. Rosen appears to have had some influence so far with the Cordano administration.
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