2008 Woodie Awards
The Bagramian Era Begins
New ASU president hopes to get past controversy and to the important work ahead.
Michael Ordoña
Issue date: 5/26/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
When asked about the recent ASU election controversy that included accusations of racially-biased voting and responses that the accusations themselves were racist, President-elect Levon Bagramian hesitated to answer.
"I don't think they should be complaining about how one ethnicity voted," he finally said. "They should be complaining about why the other ethnicities did not [vote. Besides,] the complaints were factually wrong; the majority of Armenians did not vote for me."
The Valley College 2002-2003 Fact Book and Effectiveness Manual lists students whose primary language is Armenian as only 10 percent of the campus population. By comparison, Spanish speakers comprise 18 percent and English speakers make up 58.8 percent of the student body. By ethnicity, Asians (14 percent) and Hispanics (40 percent) have larger representation on campus than do Armenians.
"Igor and I are close friends, and we laugh about this. I understand that people are disappointed their candidate lost, but this is not the way to go about [dealing with] it."
Bagramian, a 23-year-old political science major, reiterated that his primary concern is to improve Valley College's counseling system.
"Students must have an adequate infrastructure of counseling and caring to enable them to move on to the next stage, whether in a four-year college or in life," he said. "I've spoken with 4.0 to 1.8 [GPA] students and everything in between. ... This is their number one issue."
The president-elect described what he sees as a need for greater accessibility, firmer direction (more comprehensive counseling and more concrete advice) and stronger personal relationships between students and counselors.
"I spoke with a 35-40-year-old student whose English [is not very good]," he said. "She was almost in tears over not knowing the system."
Without offering specific solutions yet, he cited one suggestion that has come from his conversations with counselors: to refine the appointment system.
"[After talking with them,] it's clear that counselors are doing their best to address these issues. This is not a witch hunt, ... it's an ongoing process and dialogue. ... I'm not expecting radical changes, but specific things must be addressed," he said.
Toward that end, he said a commission of ASU members and concerned students to study the problem and make suggestions would be "a good idea." He also wants to conduct a school-wide survey to determine what issues are most pressing to Valley students. But his concerns don't end there.
"If that could be considered my 'domestic policy,' there is also 'foreign policy': I strongly believe in representing students outside Valley College's borders," Bagramian said. He pledged to continue the current administration's work in lobbying against fee raises.
A big believer in collaboration with other community colleges for political action, he said that unity with other schools "shows strength and power. It lets [Sacramento] know you represent a real threat. [Even if you could only get] 100 students at Valley interested, together with the other eight schools, that's 900 very active students."
"We complain about student apathy but we have to give voters incentive to care," Bagramian said. "Students can do something about [the issues that concern them]."
 Media Credit: Jorge Gallegos MR. PRESIDENT - Bagramian |
"I don't think they should be complaining about how one ethnicity voted," he finally said. "They should be complaining about why the other ethnicities did not [vote. Besides,] the complaints were factually wrong; the majority of Armenians did not vote for me."
The Valley College 2002-2003 Fact Book and Effectiveness Manual lists students whose primary language is Armenian as only 10 percent of the campus population. By comparison, Spanish speakers comprise 18 percent and English speakers make up 58.8 percent of the student body. By ethnicity, Asians (14 percent) and Hispanics (40 percent) have larger representation on campus than do Armenians.
"Igor and I are close friends, and we laugh about this. I understand that people are disappointed their candidate lost, but this is not the way to go about [dealing with] it."
Bagramian, a 23-year-old political science major, reiterated that his primary concern is to improve Valley College's counseling system.
"Students must have an adequate infrastructure of counseling and caring to enable them to move on to the next stage, whether in a four-year college or in life," he said. "I've spoken with 4.0 to 1.8 [GPA] students and everything in between. ... This is their number one issue."
The president-elect described what he sees as a need for greater accessibility, firmer direction (more comprehensive counseling and more concrete advice) and stronger personal relationships between students and counselors.
"I spoke with a 35-40-year-old student whose English [is not very good]," he said. "She was almost in tears over not knowing the system."
Without offering specific solutions yet, he cited one suggestion that has come from his conversations with counselors: to refine the appointment system.
"[After talking with them,] it's clear that counselors are doing their best to address these issues. This is not a witch hunt, ... it's an ongoing process and dialogue. ... I'm not expecting radical changes, but specific things must be addressed," he said.
Toward that end, he said a commission of ASU members and concerned students to study the problem and make suggestions would be "a good idea." He also wants to conduct a school-wide survey to determine what issues are most pressing to Valley students. But his concerns don't end there.
"If that could be considered my 'domestic policy,' there is also 'foreign policy': I strongly believe in representing students outside Valley College's borders," Bagramian said. He pledged to continue the current administration's work in lobbying against fee raises.
A big believer in collaboration with other community colleges for political action, he said that unity with other schools "shows strength and power. It lets [Sacramento] know you represent a real threat. [Even if you could only get] 100 students at Valley interested, together with the other eight schools, that's 900 very active students."
"We complain about student apathy but we have to give voters incentive to care," Bagramian said. "Students can do something about [the issues that concern them]."
