(Source: Gallaudet University)

As I reported last May, Gallaudet University, the nation's only university catering to the needs of deaf students, has been embroiled in controversy over the hiring of its new president. Well, thanks to the efforts of student protesters, the new prez has been ousted.

Here's a snippet from InsideHigherEd.com:

In an abrupt reversal, Gallaudet University's Board of Trustees on Sunday dismissed Jane K. Fernandes from her position as the next president of the institution.

A board statement issued Sunday evening said that with "much regret and pain," the board had come to the conclusion that "it is in the best interests of the university to terminate Dr. Fernandes from the incoming president's position." Ever since Fernandes was appointed in May to become president, the former provost has been the target of protests. In the last month, those protests have escalated to the point that the university for the deaf was at times effectively shut down.

The board met at a hotel in Virginia, and as news of the decision arrived on campus, students broke out in cheers, chanting "Yes. Yes. Yes." Hundreds of students were gathered outside on the Washington campus Sunday night, toasting the news with Modelo Especial beer, cases of which materialized at the celebration. Noah Beckman, the student body president, said that he was sitting in his tent - where he is sleeping as part of the nonstop protests - when he saw students carrying signs with the news. "I stood up and my legs were shaking" from the reports, Beckman said.

The reason for the opposition to Fernandes has been much debated. Student protesters have said that she lacks the leadership traits and personal skills needed to head the world's most prominent university for the deaf.

Fernandes and her supporters have said that she was being rejected for not being "deaf enough." Fernandes, who is deaf, was raised reading lips and did not learn American Sign Language until she was in graduate school at the University of Iowa. Protesters have responded by saying that Fernandes herself has raised the "deaf enough" issue to try to portray their movement as politically correct.

Read the full story here.