Washington, D.C. ? Students at the nation’s only liberal arts university for the deaf and hearing-impaired promised Friday to keep the campus shut down in a protest over its incoming president.

Gallaudet University students have blocked access to campus buildings since Wednesday, and the incoming president has refused to step aside.

It remained unclear whether university officials will use force to move the demonstrators.

After meeting with police and school officials for three hours Thursday, protest leaders agreed to open one side entrance to avoid being arrested. But others on the blockade of up to 200 students refused, and all entrances remained closed Friday. Classes were canceled for a third day.

Fernandes has said some people do not consider her “deaf enough” to be president. She was born deaf but grew up speaking and did not learn American Sign Language, the preferred method of communicating at Gallaudet, until she was 23.