When nobody would listen

On March 6, 1988, the board of trustees at the nation’s oldest university for the deaf, Gallaudet

University, announced that Elizabeth A. Zinser was selected as the university’s president. Zinser was a hearing person with little knowledge of the deaf community. The decision shocked

Gallaudet faculty, staff, and students, who had hoped the board (most of whom were hearing) would for the first time hire a deaf president.

A large crowd of student protesters gathered. Board chair Jane Spilman, a hearing person, refused to listen to the students’ concerns and defended the board’s decision, saying, “Deaf people are not able to function in a hearing world.” The protest escalated, and the demonstrators made four demands: Zinser must resign and be replaced by a deaf president, Spilman must resign from the board, deaf representation on the board must be at least 51 percent, and there must be no reprisals toward any of the protesters.

The board refused to listen and the students responded by refusing to meet with Zinser and blocking campus gates (Mercer, 1998). Zinser realized her candidacy was doomed by administrators’ and students’ refusal to listen to each other. As she notes, “We had found no reasonable means to establish contact or communication on campus. So I resigned.” The board then met the remaining demands.

Ten years later, former protesters, board members, and Zinser returned to Gallaudet to remember and honor the protest. Zinser was asked, if she could go back in time, knowing what she now knows, would she change her decision to resign? She responded, “Gallaudet looms large in my life, in the deeper awareness that I gained for what people who have been oppressed feel. I’ve had fantasies of getting through those gates, talking with all the students and listening to their concerns. But had I found a way to actually sit down and talk to them, in fairly short order I would have concluded the same thing” (Mercer, 1998).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you experienced an encounter in which you and another person refused to listen to each other because of perceived differences?
2. How did the situation affect your ability to receive, understand, respond to, and recall information during and after the encounter?
3. What happened to your relationship with that person? What could you have done differently to facilitate better mutual listening?

Film: Groundhog Day

A weather man is reluctantly sent to cover a story about a weather forecasting "rat" (as he calls it). This is his fourth year on the story, and he makes no effort to hide his frustration. On awaking the 'following' day he discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and again, and again. First he uses this to his advantage, then comes the realisation that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing EVERY day.

Please read the assignment carefully and write a good paragraph in response to each of the questions, referring to at least ONE concept in each of the paragraphs.

1. List several reasons why, in your opinion, characters in the film do not seem to listen to each other.

2. What kind of feedback do they give to each other and how does that influence their communication?

3. What are the main functions of listening for the characters? How do they change throughout the course of the film?

4. What are some of gender differences in their listening behaviors?

5. What adaptations does Phil make that in the end allow him to escape the trap of living the same day over and over?

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