In honor of Armenian Genocide Awareness Week, the Armenian organizations at CSUN put together a public tribute display to honor the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred during the beginning of the 20th century.
The display consists of white crosses with red carnations, a large sign with the words ’94 years’ and ‘1915,’ a pile of skulls, a noose and a glass box.
It was constructed Monday and will be out on display by the Arbor Court until Friday, which will mark the official commemoration day of the genocide.
In the past, the CSUN chapters of the Armenian fraternity Alpha Epsilon Omega (AEO) and the sorority Alpha Gamma Alpha (AGA) were the main organizers of the public tribute for the genocide. This was the first year the Armenian Student Association (ASA) joined them in creating more awareness of the genocide.
‘This year we’re all doing it together,’ Lusine Harutyunyan, president of the CSUN ASA, said.
‘Now that all three organizations are working together, it has a bigger impact,’ Marina Galadjian, president of AGA, said.
Galadjian said that the goal of all three organizations is to ultimately educate the people at CSUN about the genocide. In addition, having all three Armenian organizations working together for one main goal, helps to unify the Armenian community at CSUN.
Armen Palyan, a philosophy major at Glendale Community College, was on campus yesterday waiting for a friend when he stopped to admire the tribute. While waiting for his friend, he saw two men walk by and ask if the human bone replicas were 94-years-old. Hearing this made infuriated him.
‘Most people don’t know,’ Palyan said. ‘After 100 years, the genocide is not accepted and I think we need to take drastic measures to get people to know.’
Both Harutyunyan and Galadjian said the goal of this year’s efforts to commemorate the genocide was to reach the non-Armenians who have never heard of the genocide or know very little about it.
‘Knowing that there’s students who don’t know is a motivation in itself to keep going and doing this,’ Harutyunyan said.
Events commemorating the genocide will conclude tonight with the annual Armenian Genocide Candlelight Vigil at 7 p.m. at the Matador Bookstore Lawn. The event will include speakers, a video presentation and Armenian musical performances.
