A Rush Job? Covell said that?

Gerald "Jerry" Covell, one of the four leaders in the 1988 DPN, recently wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees offering his assistance to be the "negotiator" makes an admirable note,

I will not allow the Board, I. King Jordan, Jane Fernandes, faculty, staff, students, alumni or anyone to tarnish and degrade Gallaudet and consequently, the deaf community.

Good but a little late already in a lot of respect. However, that doesn't mean that this task is an impossible one.

There is always a solution to a problem. I would not even make this offer if I was not so confident that a resolution can be achieved. As in any negotiation, both sides will not walk away completely satisfiedbut everyone involved will be able to “save face” and end the crisis .

But that's not what I'm blogging about. It is Jerry Covell's claim that the search process was a "rush job" with list #1 saying that the usual time it takes to do a presidential search is 12 to 18 months. I don't know where he got that information from but that is untrue. I covered this same "rush job" claim in my May 2, 2006 in my Kokonut Pundits blog.

In most presidential selection process it takes an average of about 6 months before finally selecting a president.

Dr. Bowen reported that Mr. Bill Bowen (from the search firm) spoke about the time line for the search. He has conducted about 200 university president searches. It will probably take about a month to get the job description together, two months for outreach, a couple of months for screening and selection, and a month to come to closure. That adds up to six months which is the average time required to find a university President.

Considering the fact that the Board of Trustess started the presidential search on October 11, 2005. They arrived with their selection on May 1, 2006, almost 7 months later. This falls squarely with the average search process described by Dr. Bowen who had personally conducted over 200 presidential searches. Never mind the fact that when Jerry C. Lee, who was the sixth president, left the university at the end of 1987 and Gallaudet University ended up with a new president, I. King Jordan, about 3 months later, much to every students, faculty, alumni and staff's delight. No one complained about *that* rush job.

A negotiator shouldn't have any vested interest acting as a "mediator" between two parties or else risk certain bias and favoritism that may creep in. Covell clearly has a vested interest since he was one of the 4 DPN leaders and graduated from Gallaudet University. According to the United States Arbitration and Mediation Rules and Procedures regarding bias and interest:

No person shall serve as a mediator in any dispute in which that person has any financial or personal interest in the result of the mediation. Prior to accepting an appointment, the prospective mediator shall disclose any circumstances likely to create a presumption of bias or interest in the outcome of the proceedings or prevent a prompt meeting with the parties.

It is admirable and strong of Jerry Covell to try and step up to the plate after years of being quiet. He has a place in Gallaudet history but now it's not the time nor place for him to serve as a "mediator" or "negotiator" in this dispute. There's too many connection and bias at risk here.

And what would those bias might be you ask? If you look at the rest of the 9 points that Covell pointed out, many of them are the same talking points being heard throughout deaf/hh blogosphere from mainly the anti-JKF crowd. The list seems to exhibit certain presumption of "guilt" or conspiratorial nature on the Board of Trustees part. Even before any independent and separate internal review of the whole process could be done and come up with a conclusion in their investigation.

What we need here is a negotiator or mediator who is neutral and has no interest in Gallaudet University whatsoever except have a goal on seeing a positive result transpire between the two or even three parties involved.