Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
By Dickran Kouymjian
Director, Armenian Studies Program
Twenty years ago I decided that the new Armenian Studies Program I had just formed needed a newspaper. Why a newspaper? It is rare that an academic program in a university publish a paper, but in that very academic year, Armenian Studies, was transferred from the School of Art and Humanities to the Ethnic Studies Program in the School of Social Sciences. I noticed that two ethnic newspapers were published from time to time as supplements to the Daily Collegian: Uhuru, the newspaper of African American students and La Voz de Azatlan by Hispanic and Latino students. It was important that Armenian students have a vehicle of express, a paper of information and commentary not just for the four or five hundred Armenians on campus but for the entire student body and for the Armenian community at large.
There was little precedence for such an Armenian university newspaper, since other than Fresno, there was no U.S. campus at the time that had such a large Armenian student body. The only other example I could recall at the time, was the Armenian student newspaper at the American University of Beirut in the 1930s. Since I had profited greatly as a writer for my college newspaper, the Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, I knew the experience would complement a college education and give those involved an extra asset.
The next step was to convince the Media Council of the University that such a paper was justified and to get a budget from the same body to produce it. The idea was well received. The paper would be a supplement of the Daily Collegian and inserted in it. The next step was finding a staff. As advisor of the Armenian Students Organization, I knew that I could count on some of the more active members of the organization. I was also blessed in a sense with two young and brilliant students who were journalism majors, Mark Malkasian and Mark Najarian, soon to be joined by Bill Erysian, the latter was already working for the Fresno Bee and the former would soon be working for it also.
Another step in the process was finding an appropriate name. I finally opted for Hye Sharzhoom and the students involved seemed to accept it after I explained why I chose it. The paper was in my mind to be more than just informational. I wanted it to serve as a form of activism. At the time Armenians in the diaspora were deeply concerned by the political violence associated with such organizations as the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG). Armenians around the world were speaking out openly about their forgotten genocide. In France a liberal Armenian journal entitled Hye Baykar (The Armenian Struggle) was capturing the imagination of Armenian youth in Europe. It too was a newspaper run by young college age intellectuals, though not affiliated with any school or organization. So I thought Hye Sharzhoom, the Armenian Movement, would be an appropriate and committed title. After the first few issues, when the editors and some of the staff writers were being kidded by their schoolmates asking what kind of a ìmovementî was that, we switched to another sense of the word Sharzhoom, Action.
There were two major purposes to having such a journal: 1) to give students hands-on experience in the production of a newspaper, 2) to afford the Armenian Studies Program and the Armenian Students Association a convenient and regular instrument of communication between the campus and the community at large. Both goals have been amply met. Hundreds of students have served as editors or staff writers over the past twenty years. Many of them have gone on to become professionals infields where writing is fundamental. From the beginning I decided that paper would be distributed free to anyone who wished anywhere in the United States or abroad. As its success grew and postage and printings costs skyrocketed, the paper made appeals for support.
The paper also provided continuity to the Armenian Studies Program. Reading through its 63 issues is rediscovering the history of Armenian studies at Fresno State. The role of the advisor has always been important to the success of the paper. The great difficulty facing any university club and more so a university newspaper is the transient nature of it officers and staff. Students come and go. After working closely with a staff developing their inner resources, they suddenly graduate, and the search for replacements starts again. Both the current advisor, Barlow Der Mugrdechian and myself in the first decades served as the stable element from one group of students to the next.
We are especially fortunate this twentieth anniversary year to have an outstanding editor, Arakel Arisian, and staff, both competent and full of enthusiasm. The paper as the oldest (the only?) continuously published Armenian university newspaper in the world has gained wide recognition throughout the world; its article are regularly reprinted in other papers. Itís readers are loyal and supportive. Their comments both written and verbal serve as an encouragement to our students. There is now a Hye Sharzhoom tradition, and after twenty years, even the students take pride in its continuing and accept the burden of getting it out four times a year.
The students and the advisor Barlow Der Mugrdechian would very much like to hear from the readers of Hye Sharzhoom, comments and suggestions. Please write to us in this special year and tell us how you have reacted to what the students have had to report to you during the past forty semesters.