Forbidding the entry of beloved actor Vardan Petrosyan into the French University of Armenia has evoked strong reaction in the press. Since the students of the French University wanted a meeting, and the meeting should have been organized by the student council, www.aravot.am inquired of Paruyr Abrahamyan, the chairman of the French University, what had really happened. “Our students applied to the student council with a proposal to invite actor Vardan Petrosyan to the French University. Naturally, I contacted the administration and got an oral consent, given the fact that there had been cases in the past, when the consent of the administration was unofficial, although according to the procedure, it should be official and committed to paper – by saying ‘to inform the administration,’ I mean one of them, not each of them. Doing this, we just try to avoid the bureaucracy, and frankly speaking, this is the first case, when we met with an obstacle. What’s right is right; the administration has always been open with regard to such issues before this. I could only assume what could be the reason for refusal, and in order that those assumptions of mine proved to be wrong, I insisted that this meeting eventually take place, and it will. This time the invitation will be in accordance with all rules of procedure. I cannot tell you about the date yet,” Paruyr Abrahamyan replied. When asked whether he was aware that some of the students of their university had attended the meeting with Vardan Petrosyan in the Slavonic University and had even apologized for the failed meeting in the French University. “Three of our students attended the meeting. I know one of them who didn’t say anything like that; as regards the others, I don’t know, but in any case, one can understand those students,” our
interlocutor stated. And was the subject of the meeting with Vardan Petrosyan agreed on? “We informed Mr. Petrosyan that meetings with political overtones were not allowed at the university. It is so according to the rules of procedure, we didn’t write it, and fortunately or unfortunately, we don’t have a right to engage in such activities within the walls of the university, and Mr. Petrosyan knew quite well about that. As a result, he offered us to choose a subject for the meeting, and we decided on ‘Students and Their Future.’ Our sole purpose is to make the best of the stories about the famous actor’s life and experience, to learn certain things, and according to his formulation, ‘to evoke and strengthen civic sentiments.’ I repeat not political, but civic. Let us be realists. All parties shared the guilt, and if a problem arises, everyone is to blame. As a result, we, students who just wanted to learn something, suffered the most. I criticize the circles that politicized and exploited this issue too much, in order to gain certain points. This doesn’t apply to people and groups who treated all this with pain in their hearts. I want to also talk about another issue and give an answer to it once and for all. I cannot say for sure what the situation in other universities is, but the French University in Armenia (UFAR) is a non-politicized body and doesn’t carry out the instructions of some political forces, which is encouraged and enforced by both the administration and, more importantly, the students. There currently are many problems at the university, the solution of which is a priority for us and for the solution of which the student council actively works. Anyway, the students’ voice has become heard more in the course of time, and we are taken note of. I assure you that the new generation will change many things at the university and beyond it and will make it better, and the university will be proud of us and vice versa.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
