Mystery at Gallaudet.The beating death of a deaf gay freshman leaves students at a Washington, D.C., university searching for answers Eric Plunkett was a typical college freshman. The 19-year-old was eager to make new friends, dive into his course work, and participate in extracurricular activities at Washington, D.C.'s Gallaudet University Gallaudet University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; with federal support. It was founded (1856) as the Kendall School, a training school for deaf and blind students, by Edward Miner Gallaudet (see under Gallaudet, Thomas Hopkins). , a school for the hearing-impaired. Plunkett, who was deaf and had cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. , was even elected secretary of the school's gay group, the Lambda Society, soon after hitting campus. But things were anything but typical September 28, when Plunkett's lifeless life·less adj. 1. Having no life; inanimate. 2. Having lost life; dead. See Synonyms at dead. 3. Not inhabited by living beings; not capable of sustaining life. 4. body was discovered in his dorm room. Police officials refused to classify Plunkett's murder as a hate crime. And in a strange turn of events, a fellow first-year student and friend of Plunkett's, Thomas Minch of Greenland, N.H., was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the case on October 3--only to have the charges dropped by prosecutors for lack of evidence the next day. "We're really relieved because no one wanted to believe Thomas did it," freshman Carla Ring told The Washington Post. "But we believe it was done by someone who was a friend [of Plunkett's]. We're all close, so when you know one of your friends probably did it, it makes it hard." The beating death not only shocked Plunkett's fellow students but brought to the surface an undertone of homophobia homophobia Psychology An irrationally negative attitude toward those with homosexual orientation, or toward becoming homosexual. See Closet, Gay-bashing, Heterosexism. Cf Gay, Homosexual, Phobia. that gay and lesbian students at Gallaudet say is all too common among the deaf. Gays and lesbians at the school fear that Plunkett's death is emblematic em·blem·at·ic or em·blem·at·i·cal adj. Of, relating to, or serving as an emblem; symbolic. [French emblématique, from Medieval Latin embl of the depth of the hatred they face from their peers. "We are fearful," Thomas Green Thomas Green may refer to:
v. dis·crim·i·nat·ed, dis·crim·i·nat·ing, dis·crim·i·nates v.intr. 1. a. . And if people do discriminate, they just don't belong here." |
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