Club Retells 'Armenian Case'
By Sandra Mehterian
Staff Writer
Members of PCC’s Armenian Club will culminate their week-long effort to
educate students on the “Armenian Case” with a candlelight vigilance Friday
night. Saturday, April 24, will mark the 67th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide.
Armenian Club President Ohanes Dimejian summed up the hopes of the club
members as being education. “The more educated they (non- Armenians) become,
the better they can judge,” said Dimejian.
What Dimejian wants the people to judge is the Turkish government, their
involvement and later denial of the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. On
"We are deprived of going back to our homeland, they
(the Turkish government) don't even admit there was a
genocide. There is no repayment. "
а
—OHANES DIMEJIAN
April 24, 1915, the Turkish government started a systematic elimination of all
educated Armenians and most members of the Armenian clergy.
In Turkey, there was an economic problem within the government which
spread to the rest of the country, as with the affluent Jews in Nazi Germany, the
Armenians were discriminated against. As a Christian nation in the area of
Europe that was considered Moslem, they were a minority, yet even without the
religious conflict they were a distinct people, with distinct personalities, traits,
cultures and ideas. With the start of World War I, the problems of the Turkish
economy became worse, weakening the power of the government and country as
a whole, plus the geo-political goal of forming a chain of Mongol-Moslem nations
led to the slaughter of Armenians, according to Dimejian.
Dimejian wanted to clear up what the club was most concerned about in this
issue of the genocide. He explained that it was the Armenian Case not just the
massacre that mattered.
“We don’t focus our attention on one day a year. We are working for the
‘Armenian Case,’ the church and religious matters, the culture that is being lost,
the genocide issue, but most important, the fact that we are deprived of going
back to our homeland. They (the Turkish government) don’t even admit there was
a genocide. There is no repayment.”
Dimejian commented on how there are political parties working constantly
toward obtaining justice. Dimejian also blames the media for not helping tp solve
the Armenian Case. “The lack of public support toward the realization of a ‘Free
Armenia’ and the assumption that all we do are violent acts is based on the fact
that there is very little media support and only cover large scale protests and
violent acts.”
“We don't condone killing, as Christians, but I guess that’s the only way,”
added Ida Bilemjian, also a member of the Armenian Club. Ida’s dream, as with
many other Armenians is the realization of a “free Armenia,” away from Soviet
intervention and Turkish law, a separate country.
April 24 is commonly used as a rally day as nationalism for Armenia runs
high on that day. “Soviet Armenia isn’t free, you have to accept the Communist
philosophy to live in this Armenia. We do not want to be Communist," said
Bilemjain, who also sees the church’s role in the realization of the “free
Armenia.”
“The church played a very strong role in Armenia, but it isn’t everything. In
the 20th century we must rely on political actions to realize a 'free Armenia.’ ”
“We have been a nation for 3,000 years,” said Dimejian. “We have a right to
be a nation, even if we must acquire it by force. We must preserve our culture, the
language, the art more than Americans who have only been around for 200 years.
It’s all a matter of nationalism.”
He added, “I have my own language, religion, culture, poetry, homeland, but
I am denied this homeland. It's not an emotional issue of the past. I am dealing
with it today.”
In order to acquire the land taken by the Turkish government after the
genocide, Dimejian thinks that there are two ways to go. He explained that there
was the idealistic way and the realistic way.
The idealistic way would, through education on important issues, force
America and the rest of the world to recognize the atrocities focused on the
"The Armenia of today is not a free Armenia, nor will it
be until America admits that there was a crime
committed against the Armenian people and stops
sending money to Turkey. "
—IDA BILMEJIAN
Armenian nation by the Turkish government and demand justice in the form of an
admittance of guilt by the Turkish government and payment for the crimes.
The realistic way is through the use of power, the fear of violence, plus the
threat of constant terrorist activities.
“The Armenia of today is not a free Armenia, nor will it be until America
admits that there was a crime committed against the Armenian people and stops
sending money to Turkey,” said Bilmejian. “Then Turkey will have to give us
back our homeland and we will have a free Armenia. Until then it seems all
anyone can do is protest and wait.
»
Tonight at 8:30 there will be a candlelight vigilance to commemorate the 1.5
million Armenians who died in 1915. The ceremony will be held at Ferrahiam High
School, 5300 White Oak, in Encino. On April 24, the official day set aside in
memory of the martyrs, there will be a gathering in Montebello. Both are open to
the public, and all who are interested in the Armenian Case are invited to
participate.
VOL 53. NO 9 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE. PASADENA. CALIFORNIA APRIL 23. 1982
— Courier photo by Winnie Ho
SILVER TONGUES — The Forensic Team members from riabt to left
(top): William Tate. Susan Banfield. John McTeague, Peggy McGee and
Peter Georgilas, (bottom) Urrector Anthony Georgilas and Kirk Edgar.
Team Takes 3 Gold, 2 Bronze
Forensic Members Strike Gold
Exam Laxness Queried
Requirements Not Met?
By Gia Maneini
Associate News Editor
The professional responsibility of the
instructors is critical to the well-being
of the school. During the Faculty Sen¬
ate meeting on Monday, a letter
brought the Senate's attention to the
fact that some instructors aren't filling
all of their requirements when it comes
to conference hours and final exams.
This laxness of responsibility is not
representative of the majority of in¬
structors. but it was revealed that in
some cases an instructor would dismiss
the whole class from the final exam.
This not only robs the student of one
last grade, which they may or may not
want, but to some degree state funding
is hinged upon those exams.
Instructor evaluation may be
changed from every other year to a
longer tenure because of the ability to
better judge an instructor’s per¬
formance if more time is given for
results to show or not, as the case may
be. Instructors may still choose
whether or not they want to be eval¬
uated by their peers or their depart¬
ment head.
The guest speaker, Vice President
for Instruction Steven Cerra, spoke to
the Senate about the reorganization of
the instructional administration. There
are two main reasons for reorganiza¬
tion that Cerra believed was important.
The fact that there is a need for a set¬
up of the offices for more effectiveness
and better morale, and that reorganiza¬
tion would save a minimum of $100,000.
“It’s a terribly delicate situation,”
Cerra stated, referring to finding a
replacement for the vacant nursing
department head, but he did emphasize
that many instructors could fill that
role because of their high qualifica¬
tions.
Cerra realized that some faculty
members might be disturbed by a
By Lucio Villasenor
Editor-in-Chief
Competing against 80 community
colleges in the country, the Pasadena
forensic team captured three gold
medals and two bronze in the 1982 Phi
Rho Pi National Tournament held
earlier this month in Bloomington,
Minnesota.
Peter Georgilas took two medals as
he teamed up with Peggy Magee to win
first place gold medals in dual acting
and had a bronze with his speech to
entertain. John McTeague captured a
third place gold medal in debate (the
four top debaters in the finals received
AMS President Seeks
Many Policy Changes
By Doug Brown
Staff Writer
AMS President Brian E. Blair has
several plans he intends to accomplish
before the end of the semester. Some of
these plans include new bookstore poli¬
cies and more inter club activity.
Blair plans to meet with Albert E.
DePonte, director of the bookstore, in
order to discuss the possibility of book
lists posted at least two weeks in order
to help students obtain required books
easier. “I want to make it easy for
students to buy books. If possible,
maybe a little cheaper. We might also
plan a book swap," said Blair.
In addition to the book lists, Blair
would also like to have the book buy
back period extended from one to two
weeks. ”1 want to make it (book buy
back) longer so that students have
more time to return books. Some stu¬
dents have to hold on to books a
semester longer because they could not
sell them back.”
Blair’s second major plan is to in¬
crease inter club activity. To facilitate
this, Blair plans to schedule an inter
club dance. “I hope that this will
stimulate inter club activity. Possibly
have more dual club activities, and
other events."
“I hope that through these plans,
projects and activities. I'll be receiving
valuable knowledge which will help me
in future semesters, solving problems
which have been troubling PCC for
years.”
gold medals), and William Tate took a
bronze medal also in debate.
The Lancers were invited to the
nationals after placing high ; i state and
local competitions. They b : intensive
competitions for five days /ery hour-
and-a-half, six times a day against such
states as Alaska, Florida and Washing¬
ton. “It’s the most difficult tournament
of all, because it picks the best of the
nation,” said Anthony Georgilas, foren¬
sic director.
The team was made up of Susan
Banfield, Kent Borja, Maria Chinzi, P.
Georgilas, Barry McGowan,
McTeague, Ms. Magee, Barte
Masciarelli, Ron Secor and Tate. The
Lancers have two more state tourna¬
ments before finishing their successful
season. They will compete at Cal State
Long Beach May 1 and at Rio Hondo
College, May 7 and 8.
“I'm pleased we did well in the
nationals," A. Georgilas stated. “It
brings a great honor to PCC. We're
nationally ranked among the top 10
schools."
P. Georgilas and Ms. Magee were
ranked superior among the judges, as
they teamed up to do a cutting from the
play “Born Yesterday.” Georgilas'
speech to entertain was “Coming of
Age in Canoga Park.” Tate debated the
“Rights of the Accused.”
While gold medalist McTeague de¬
bated the “Power of Labor Unions in
the United States.” “I'm pretty ex¬
cited,” he said. “It took a lot of work
. . . weekends . . . research (to get
ready).”
McTeague started debating at the
start of this year. He said his team¬
mates, Masciarelli and McGowan, got
him started. He took a silver medal
(second) and a bronze (third) in the
state to qualify for the nationals.
“We really showed that there is a lot
of talent at PCC,” McTeague stated.
The ASB president said that forensic
is a very valuable experience. “I'm
pretty lucky to do as well as I did. I owe
a lot, because really it's a team ef¬
fort.”
According to A. Georgilas, the foren¬
sic team will have very few returning
students next year. “We're recruiting
now for next fall.”
— Courier photo by Kent Zachary
FREE ENTERTAINMENT — The Jazz-Fusion band "Visions” (left) enter¬
tains students on a hot Spring afternoon. Also joining in on the fun are
members of PCCs mime company (above).
reorganization and redistribution of
positions and offices and that “if there
were wholesale faculty objection. I
would seriously think about stopping
right now.”
The $100,000 that would be saved was
incidental after the reorganization plan
was conceived, and that the motivation
was “a need for reorganization just for
reorganization's sake,” stressed Cerra.
What Cerra hopes to do in the long
run is develop a more effective system
of administration, bring morale up, and
update the administrative structure
into an uncomplicated, streamlined op¬
eration.
Aid Cuts Protest Set
Students protesting federal finan¬
cial aid cuts will gather today at the
UCLA campus from 12 noon to 3
p.m. Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.
will be the guest speaker for the
event.
Local council members will also
be present at the rally to discuss
the pending cuts students will face
in the financial aid programs.
Everyone is invited to attend this
rally. Following the guest speak¬
ers, students may march to the
Federal Building in protest of the
cuts.
