Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University International Student Insurance

Gallaudet University, located in Washington, D.C., is a federally chartered private university for the deaf and hard of hearing. It opened in 1857 as a grammar school for deaf and blind children, but in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill to authorize the institution to confer college degrees. It was founded by Edward Miner Gallaudet, son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the founder of the first school for the deaf in the nation. It was the first higher education institution for the deaf and hard of hearing, and even today, it’s the only one in the world to tailor all of its programs and services to accommodate this group. The university is officially bilingual, conducting classes in American Sign Language (ASL) and written English.

The first class of three students graduated in 1869, and their diplomas were signed by then-President Ulysses S. Grant. This began the school’s tradition of all graduates’ diplomas being signed by the sitting U.S. President. Today, the school enrolls almost 2,000 students and counting each year. The school colors are buff and blue, and its athletic nickname is the bison.

Campus History

Gallaudet was the site of the Deaf President Now university protest in 1988. The school had never been led by a deaf president, and when the Board of Trustees announced its appointment of a hearing person as the university’s seventh president over qualified deaf candidates, students, alumni, staff, and faculty led a weeklong protest. They barricaded gates, burned effigies of the chair of the Board of Trustees and the appointed president, and gave interviews to the press. Other supporters of the cause included then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and several U.S. Senators. The protest ended a week later when the appointed president resigned and I. King Jordan, the deaf Dean of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, was appointed as the university president.

On Campus

The campus is also home to Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, which serves deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through eighth grade, and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, which serves students in grades 9–12.

Notable Alumni

Notable Gallaudet University alumni include actresses Linda Gove and Marlee Matlin; actors Bernard Bragg and Nyle DiMarco; Gallaudet University presidents I. King Jordan and Robert R. Davila; and poet Ella Mae Lentz.

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