Gallaudet University History

The History of Gallaudet University Before Gallaudet University was a university, it was an idea that started in 1856, with Amos Kendall. Kendall donated two acres of land from his Washington DC estate to establish a school and housing for twelve deaf students and six blind students. Kendall called this grammar school, the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind. This school was the first school in the world dedicated to advancing the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. Edward Miner Gallaudet was appointed as superintendent of the school. After much persuasion from Kendall, Congress agreed to charter the school; agreeing to fund the tuition cost for deaf, dumb and blind to attend the school. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill that authorized the Columbia Institution to give college degrees. The college was originally named the National Deaf-Mute College. In 1865, Congress removed the responsibility to educate blind children. The Institution was renamed, the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. Edward Gallaudet became the first president of the Institution, which now included a college. In 1894, the college portion of the Institution was changed to Gallaudet College in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a founder of the …show more content…
Students in the undergrad program, have a choice of over forty majors in the fields of arts or science. Each year Gallaudet accepts a small portion of hearing students, only about 5% of the student population is hearing. The University is a bilingual university, having English and ASL incorporated. However, the University views both deaf and hearing people alike. The graduate program is open to deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students. The grad program offers master degrees in arts, science, doctoral and a variation of degrees regarding professional services to deaf and hard of hearing