Regarding “50 years at CSUN remembered,” originally published on Feb. 12
Dear Editor,
You have covered numerous minority groups in your recent article. The article was a good reflective and a history lesson for young students like myself. I was inspired by the article that affirms CSUN as the most diverse university in the nation.
However, I am genuinely disappointed that you skipped an important minority group-Deaf and hard of hearing students. We went through numerous difficulties just as any other minority group has. Alas, we went through more difficulties than other minority groups in terms of communication accessibility.
I can write books on the history of integrating deaf and hard of hearing students in Cal State Northridge. Yet you cannot mention this very important minority group. You have uttered how CSUN is the first university ever in the nation to have a Central American Studies program, such a number of minority students enrolled, graduation rates, etc. . But absolutely nothing about the deaf? Maybe you are in need of a history lesson.
It all started with the NLTP, or the National Leadership Training Program that is designed for deaf, hard of hearing, blind, deaf-blind, and hearing students. CSUN is the university that conceived the new concept of post secondary education interpretive services. The undergraduate students want to enroll into CSUN with interpreting services. More and more students are demanding them, hence the establishment of the National Center on Deafness, the name for the supporting services division. The number of deaf and hard of hearing students has exploded to nearly 300 in the late 1980s. Today, CSUN is still considered the largest public mainstream liberal arts university in the world.
We have had a deaf Associated Students Senator and a deaf AS Vice President in the past. The deaf students had protests back then to demand more interpreting services that were ignored. We do have as rich a history as any minority group on campus.
A minority group overlooked is a blunder.
Darren Hause Vice President Deaf CSUNians Cal State Northridge
