USC Trojans show the way

Published: Saturday March 03, 2007

This week the University of Southern California Institute of Armenian Studies will honor Ambassador John Marshall Evans for his service, and above all for a choice he made: the choice to be undiplomatic, the choice to cut through the muck and double-talk that substitutes for honest discussion of the Armenian Genocide in the White House and the State Department.

Putting his career on the line, Mr. Evans gave the administration the opportunity to make a breakthrough, to take a step forward. Alas, the administration chose to take two steps back. It could not tolerate Mr. Evans' act of truth telling.

We join the USC Institute of Armenian Studies in its salute to a man of principle.

The institute deserves kudos for showing leadership in the matter, consistent with its stated mission to be engaged in the life of the Armenian-American community.

The institute, only two years old, is an excellent next step in institutional Armenian studies. USC obviously is not the first university in which a program in Armenian studies has been endowed. From Harvard to UCLA, from Fresno State to Clark University in Worcester, Mass., there are such chairs at prominent instutions across the country. Nor is the USC institute the first institute engaged in modern Armenian studies - the Zoryan Institute, the Gomidas Institute, and the Armenian National Institute are among its predecessors.

The USC Institute of Armenian Studies is different in at least two important ways, however.

Endowing a university chair is meant to ensure that the university always has a professor specializing in the subject at hand, training a new generation of students at the university. Independent institutes, on the other hand, can work with scholars and others from a wide range of institutions, and they can pursue an agenda without the potential constraints of the traditional academic environment. Donors can set the agenda and expect accountability.

What Professor Richard Hrair Dekmejian has achieved at USC is to set up a hybrid, bringing together the best of both worlds.

Just as significantly, in setting its agenda, the institute has chosen a broad, encompassing definition of Armenian studies. It has chosen to be engaged in present-day issues facing Armenians in the United States, in Turkey, and in Armenia. Without compromising in its commitment to academic rigor and truth-finding, the institution refuses to isolate itself through purely academic pursuits.

The USC Institute of Armenian Studies is an invaluable meeting place for scholars and the community at large. Let us stand by this young initiative and help it grow and succeed.

Connect:
armenian@college.usc.edu
http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/tradition_innovation/leadership/armenian.html