When time is up, everyone switches seats. Keep the conversations G-rated. And no talking allowed. The last rule was the easiest to follow, since Gallaudet is one of the few colleges in the world where American Sign Language dominates all nonwritten communication. With a flurry of hand movements, about two dozen speed daters started to get to know one another on a recent Friday night as they sat in folding chairs arranged in two concentric circles in the campus student center.
Most were deaf Gallaudet students, although a few hearing students from Towson University who know sign language also attended. There were more women than men, making matchups slightly difficult.
The questions would have been familiar to anyone who has been on a first date: Where are you from? What are you studying? Where do you live? What do you do for fun? What are your favorite restaurants? But instead of a quiet, intimate conversation that could be overheard only by those sitting close by, it was easy for anyone who knows sign language to eavesdrop. Organizers had to keep shooing away spectators who gathered to watch.
That constant shortage of conversational privacy makes dating on the campus difficult - especially in such a small, tight-knit college community, which has fewer than 1, undergraduates and a total enrollment, including graduate students, of about 1, Speed dating has gained popularity - and cultural cachet - in the past decade. It gives singles an opportunity to gather and meet several potential dates at one time, spending a few minutes with each.
The subject came up during an episode of "Sex and the City. Gallaudet-style speed dating was part of a class project for Silvels, who is studying deaf education. Each student in one of her graduate courses had to come up with a project that would explain Gallaudet to the Washington community or bring together different groups on campus.
