When Silence Isn't Golden

That's overstating the case, but Kierkegaard's description of the "dizziness of freedom"--and the agony of choice--does seem relevant. "It's the temptation of assimilation," says a Gallaudet trustee. "There's a lure, you know: Don't be deaf. Get an implant. Don't learn sign language. Lip-read. Become one of us."

If Fernandes, who is open to alternate ways of interacting with the hearing world, is forced out--and even she sounds uncertain sometimes whether she will prevail--she will be a victim of her culture's collective fears. But whether Fernandes leads it or not, Gallaudet will have to change with the times, become less a refuge from the outside world and more a competitor within it. "That's very tough for a place that has welcomed so many students of varying abilities over the years," says the trustee, who notes that historically black colleges had to endure a similar reconceptualization in the 1970s, after the Ivy League began poaching their most talented black students. Sooner or later, Gallaudet too will have to be just a college, not a cocoon.