www.aravot.am has informed that YSU hasn’t renewed the contract with Ararat Mirzoyan who criticized Gevorg Melkonyan, an assistant to the YSU rector, for an incident with striking students he had been involved in. Although the Mother University has its justification, but the number of professors and research fellows supporting Ararat Mirzoyan is growing. Anna Khechoyan and Lilit Ter-Minasyan, professors of the YSU Department of History and Theory of Armenian Art and junior research fellows of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, have also joined Ararat Mirzoyan’s statement condemning the behavior of some YSU officials who exceeded their powers and the demand to punish them. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, a PhD in history and a YSU professor who expressed concern about the incident on his Facebook page, is also among the demanders. www.aravot.am inquired of Hovhannes Hovhannisyan whether he was sure that the atmosphere at the university would change due to the step taken by him and some other professors. Whether it wouldn’t be like Sevak had said: “А wall will still be a wall, only one good forehead will be gone.” “The atmosphere has already changed. And the more professors speak out about any case that has received publicity, the more the situation will change,” our interlocutor said. And what should change at the university in particular and whom should one start with? “First of all, the old mentality at Yerevan State University, which many youths adhere to, should change, the atmosphere of timeserving, holding onto one’s job should change, and the idea of freedom should be dominant. The university should differ from all the other institutions in its quality, which was there even in the Soviet period when the first secretaries of the Communist Party would demonstrate caution at the meetings in the university, since they knew that there were many free and independent people among the university folk. The whole personnel of the university should be interested in increasing the number of such people today too, and they should not see us as opponents, but rather as people concerned about the future of the university,” Hovhannes Hovhannisyan thinks. Avetik Mejlumyan, a professor at the
Department of Social Work and Social Technologies, YSU Faculty of Sociology, stated during a conversation with us: “I think that this statement of professors will not lead to revision of the decision made by the university administration. One of the reasons is that the statement released by YSU has already denied the connection between Ararat Mirzoyan and the decision not to renew the contract with him. Therefore, if they make a “concession” in the issue of Ararat Mirzoyan after the statement, it will mean a contradiction with their own official position. I think this statement is significant in a few senses: 1. to oppose the non-transparent and unpredictable activities of the university; 2. to prevent similar situations that can arise in the case of other professors by this. And the 3rd sense that is caused by merely personal reasons, to take a step in accordance with one’s beliefs and conscience, regardless of how efficient it can be.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
