Did Deaf Professional Network Say "Not Deaf Enough" about Fernandes?

Here's an article that I've rediscovered called "Chronicles of Deaf Higher Education: Search for the Next Gallaudet President" via the Deaf Professional Network link. The story was done on April 30 prior to the protest beginning May 1. It discusses the President Select Committee (PSC) where it basically says that students didn't like Fernandes because she wasn't fluent enough in ASL for them.

“Students on the campus sensed the initial fissure. Niesha Washington, a vocal student and president of the Black DeafStudents Union (BDSU), along with David King, a BDSU member and Diversity Now Coalition liaison, met with other student leaders on the campus to explore their concerns about the presidential search process with hopes that they would be able to collaborate as a larger group. Asian and International student organization leaders immediately lent them their support. They were later joined by the Latino Student Union.

However, many other students were ambivalent about taking the action to “stop the process.” These students did not feel galvanized by issues brought up in relation to possible racism, but instead objected strenuously to the fact that one of three finalists, Dr. Jane Fernandes, does not have a fluent grasp of American Sign Language. Those students felt that disrupting the process would be a futile battle and wanted to focus on endorsing a candidate who exhibits commitment to and fluency in ASL. In addition, many of them were generally pleased with the fact that all finalists were deaf.”

Interesting write up by Alison Aubrecht and Julie Bourne saying that many, if not most, students felt, literally so, that JKF was not “Deaf” enough because of her lack of ASL fluency. Alison Aubrecht is a former Gallaudet University Buff n Blue staff reporter with an eye for details. But were the reporters' keen and sharp observations prior to the protest whose writeup constitutes as damning evidence saying that the protest was really about or even partially so on the issue that Dr. Jane K. Fernandes was in fact not "Deaf" enough for them?

Even Bourne-Firl elaborated on the "not Deaf enough" meme in that same article.

Bourne-Firl described how when she presented at different locations, many people asked her why the selection of a late-deafened deaf adult was made instead of a culturally deaf person, and she used this story as an analogy. She concluded, "Now is the time for Gallaudet to select someone with a strong deaf center."

Surprisingly, those sections of the article have been kept mum or not discussed by the majority of the protesters and other people interested on the issues about the protest.

That is until now.