There are 18 members of the board: 3 congressional members, 9 deaf members, and 6 hearing members. We are very proud to see that happen. I also want to add that the new deaf members of the board of trustees were selected not just because they are deaf, but because they bring to the board very special qualities in addition to their deafness. STAFFING REDUCTIONS We have been cooperating with the Department of Education related to a planning review study and to tracking the pre-college program's national mission costs. Significant program reviews are happening on campus as well. For example, the staff reduction plan that I announced last year reached the goal of reducing staff by 2 percent during the year. We expect to reduce that by 2 percent this year and again next year. This will give us some very necessary budget flexibility. MIDDLE STATES ASSOCIATION The Middle States Association Accreditation Organization just finished an accreditation review of the Model Secondary School for the Deaf. I am happy to report that it came through very well. MSA will visit the university programs at the beginning of April this year. We also expect that those programs will be accredited with no problems. FOCUS ON EXCELLENCE We will continue to focus on excellence. We have established three priority areas that I think will lead us to more excellence in our programs. First is communication, especially communication in the classroom. What is the best way to communicate ideas and issues to deaf students in the university classroom? We have added to that issues related to the improvement of learning and instruction. Finally, there is faculty and staff development. What can we do to help faculty and staff people grow professionally and become even better service providers to deaf people? Gallaudet constituencies continue to expand. As more and more attention comes to the university, more and more inquiries arrive related to services we can or perhaps should provide. We will continue to seek funding for these kinds of programs from areas outside the Federal Government. However, I believe very strongly that for Gallaudet to continue to provide outstanding programs in any area, our base budget must be anchored firmly in the Federal appropriation. PRECOLLEGE PROGRAMS One unique feature of Gallaudet is the precollege programs. These are the Kendall demonstration elementary and model secondary schools. Last year we had a significant upgrade in our outreach activities. We are very happy to see that improving. We support the Department's request to combine into a single account the MSSD and the KDES budgets. That should give us addi tional budgeting flexibility and allow us to move the resources to the areas where they are most necessary. ENDOWMENT PROGRAM The Endowment Matching Program continues to be very successful. We completely matched the first 3 years and have almost matched the fourth. So, we are happy to report that we are successful in that regard. We are very enthusiastic about continuing to have this program which will allow us to grow significantly in the endowment area. Construction is due to begin this year on the Hall Memorial Building, the main classroom building on campus. That classroom building, as you know, was built in 1958 and has very serious defi cits. Also, we did a very thorough space analysis and review and found that we need additional classroom space. We plan to begin in the spring with the new construction phase. We are committed to raising half of the money it will cost to do that construction. PREPARED STATEMENT We expect that our partnership with the Department of Education will lead to a significantly improved educational environment. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, this budget will allow us to fulfill our basic mission, but we will not be able to either achieve programmatic initiatives or the kind of compensation that I think we should achieve. Thank you very much for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much, Mr. King. [The statement follows:] STATEMENT OF I. KING JORDAN, PRESIDENT, GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am very pleased to come before you today as the eighth President of Gallaudet University. As you are no doubt aware, the events of the last few weeks are unprecedented in the history of Gallaudet and of the deaf community in the United States and around the world. I believe that these circumstances have reenergized our campus community and have refocused our understanding of our mission. That mission, simply put, is to provide the best possible higher education to deaf students in our university programs, to provide the best possible national demonstration programs in our elementary and secondary schools, to be the world leader in research related to deafness, and to conduct outreach and advocacy programs to improve the lives of deaf people. Our focus, in the near term, will be on excellence in all of our programs. On this auspicious occasion, I also wish to express my deep appreciation, and the appreciation of deaf people everywhere, to the Congress of the United States for the support it has given Gallaudet University during the past 124 years. I am confident that, as we enter a new era at Gallaudet, that support will be continued and strengthened. I come before you today in support of the Administration's budget request for Gallaudet University. I also take this opportunity to express my personal views on several issues, including certain recommendations of the Commission on the Education of the Deaf. Gallaudet for many years aspired to become a distinguished special university, and the Congress has helped us to achieve that goal. Already, Gallaudet has demonstrated that it is an institution of international scope. We draw our students from a select group of college-bound deaf students from all fifty States as well as from many other countries. We serve the outreach needs of a growing proportion of organizations and individuals who interact with and on behalf of deaf people, and we operate the world's leading center for research to improve the quality of life for hearing-impaired people of all ages and degrees of hearing loss. In addition to the events at Gallaudet during the past several weeks, another milestone in the history of deaf education has recently been reached. The public law that created Gallaudet University also established a national Commission on Education of the Deaf. That Commission has now completed its work. While providing guidance to the field of deafness, the report of the Commission also contains recommendations to the Congress that, if adopted, would severely constrain Gallaudet's role in the international arena and as the world's leader in research related to deafness. Although I have already addressed those recommendations before the authorizing committees of both Houses of Congress, I believe that it is essential that I address them here as well. I firmly believe that Gallaudet cannot continue to fulfill its role as the distinguished special university serving deaf people unless we are allowed to continue as the international leader in higher education of deaf people and unless we continue to conduct a full panoply of research programs related to the vital needs of the world deaf community. I ask you to join me today in reaffirming Gallaudet's mission to be the world leader in the education of deaf people and in recognizing the appropriateness of locating such a world leader in the capital of the world's greatest nation. During the past year, much attention has been focused on Gallaudet's tuition structure. We are cooperating with the Department of Education in a study of the costs associated with educating international students and in establishing appropriate tuition for them. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to two things: first, Gallaudet's traditional role in providing higher education for the world deaf community; second, our traditional association with land grant institutions in establishing tuition for U.S. deaf students. This association was noted by our founder, E.M. Gallaudet, when he first sought Federal support for the National College for the Deaf more than 100 years ago: “I felt justified in asking such action of Congress in view of the liberal grants of land to the States under the Agricultural Colleges Act, from the benefits of which the deaf youth of the country were shut out." In focusing on the vital role that Gallaudet plays in furthering the interests of deaf people, it is inevitable that I should address the needs of the people who are the University-namely, Gallaudet's faculty and staff. In fiscal year 1988, Gallaudet University received a reduction in the amount of its appropriation that was devoted to current operations. This reduction came at a time when our President and Board had made a commitment to the faculty to return them to parity in compensation with their peers at other local universities. We have attempted to meet that commitment to our faculty in 1988. However, we are concerned that we will again fall behind at the end of fiscal year 1988 in our compensation programs to faculty and staff. We have begun an intensive review of programs and services. One of the purposes of this review will be to find permanent funding for the fiscal year 1988 increases. To assist in this effort, I ask that you grant the request for additional funds contained in the Department of Education's fiscal year 1989 budget. These funds are vitally needed if we are to retain our highly trained faculty and staff. UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS The focus in our University programs in fiscal year 1989 will be upon excellenceexcellence in teaching and excellence in student performance. This will be the guiding principle for our comprehensive review of programs. We will attempt to provide the most cost-effective programs possible without sacrificing the level of quality that has brought us high rankings in national surveys of college and university presidents. In addition, in fiscal year 1989 we will focus on program development in two major areas. The deaf population of the United States has long been underserved by social service and mental health professionals trained to serve deaf people. Gallaudet proposes to launch two new graduate programs designed to help correct this deficiency: A Master's degree in Social Work and a Ph.D. program in clinical psychology. During coming months we will be studying the feasibility of establishing these programs given the current constraints on our funding level and the need for compensation improvements for all of our faculty and staff. In the areas of research and outreach, I am committed to programs designed to meet the needs of expanding constituencies. Gallaudet will continue to seek funding for expansion of these programs from sources other than Federal appropriations. Howewer, I firmly believe that in order for Gallaudet to maintain quality programs in these areas on an ongoing basis, we need to retain a funding base rooted in our appropriation. MODEL SECONDARY SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF AND KENDALL DEMONSTRATION ELEMENTARY A unique feature of Gallaudet University is the existence of its two pre-college programs-the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) and the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES). Both schools continue to develop exemplary instructional programs, conduct research and develop and disseminate materials for both mainstream and residential school settings. The GAO recently completed a study of the national mission of these schools which revealed a high level of satisfaction among the users of educational products developed by MSSD and KDES. ENDOWMENT MATCHING PROGRAM Under my administration, Gallaudet remains committed to increasing the proportion of funding that comes from sources other than direct appropriation. The endowment matching program has proved very useful to us in convincing potential donors to support us financially, and during the first year of its existence we were able to match the available funds. We look forward to the continuing challenge of increasing our endowment funds. FISCAL YEAR 1989 BUDGET The budget request of $63.5 million for Gallaudet University includes an increase for operations of $1,225,000. These funds will be used primarily for compensation improvement programs. Also requested is an increase of $43,000 in the endowment matching program that would bring it to the $1 million authorized in the Education of the Deaf Act of 1986. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for this opportunity to come before you today, and I welcome your questions. BIOGRAPHY OF I. KING JORDAN Position: President, Gallaudet University. Birthplace and date: Glen Riddle, PA-June 16, 1943. Education: University of Tennessee, 1973, Ph.D. Psychology; University of Tennessee, 1971, M.A. Psychology; Gallaudet College, 1970, B.A. Psychology. Experience-present: President, Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. 1986-3/7/88: Dean, College of Arts and Sciences. 1983-86: Chair, Department of Psychology. 1982-88: Professor of Psychology. 1977-82: Associate Professor of Psychology. 1973-77: Assistant Professor of Psychology. Co-chair, Committee on Education, D.C. Mayor Dixon's Transition Team, 1990. Chair, Committee on Education, D.C. Commission on Budget and Financial Priorities, 1990. Member, National Institute on Deafness and Communicative Disorders Advisory Board, 1990. Member, Electronic Industries Foundation Advisory Board, 1990. Honors and awards: Honorary Doctor of Laws, New England College, 1990. Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1989. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF STATEMENT OF WILLIAM E. CASTLE, DIRECTOR BUDGET REQUEST Senator HARKIN. We will now hear from Dr. William Castle, director of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. As I said in my opening statement, a request of $37.2 million or $14,000 more than appropriated for fiscal year 1991, which, of course, when you take inflation into account, it is really not an increase at all. Dr. Castle, welcome again to the subcommittee. Please proceed. I am very happy to be with you again this morning. You know that $14,000 increase is with respect to the endowment fund. We would have to match that in order to collect it. REPETITIVE MOTION INJURY I would like to highlight a few things, if I could, please. I want you to know that we are still dealing with the repetitive motion injury problem that our interpreters have faced for some time. We have faced a short fall in equipment purchases for the past 3 years because of budget limitations. I anticipate that if we are level funded in operations, we will have the same problem for a fourth year in a row. COMPENSATION LEVELS We have the same problem as Gallaudet and Howard University with respect to meeting salary increments of an order that would make us competitive with other institutions. FOREIGN STUDENTS You may note also that this is the first year that NTID has admitted foreign deaf students. This is coincidental to the fact that we were the chief host of the International Congress on Education of the Deaf this past summer. Analogous to what Gallaudet has done with its board of trustees, we now have 56 percent of the membership of the national advisory group of NTID composed of deaf persons. This follows carefully the recommendation that came forth from the Commission on Education of the Deaf. PREPARED STATEMENT Mr. Chairman, I greatly appreciate the committee's interest in being sure that the special institutions remain viable with respect to their operations. Senator HARKIN. Dr. Castle, thank you very much. And again, thank you for being here. We have some questions that I want to cover with you on NTID. [The statement follows:] |