HACKENSACK, N.J.—A diverse mix of students and community leaders celebrated the establishment of GenEd-HigherEd on Jan. 7 at Sayat Nova Restaurant in Hackensack. GenEd-HigherEd is a new division of the Genocide Education Project that endeavors to facilitate lectures, exhibits, and courses on the subject of genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, on college campuses.
“It is a pleasure to see such an outpouring of support from so many committed people for the GenEd-HigherEd ‘launch’ event,” said GenEd-HigherEd Director James Sahagian.
The first course to be sponsored by GenEd-HigherEd is planned for fall 2012 at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. The Center for Genocide Studies, Human Rights, and Conflict Resolution (CGHR) at Rutgers is led by the current president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), Alex Hinton, who attended the kick-off celebration, along with two associate directors of the center, Nela Navarro and Tom LaPointe.
Armenian Weekly Editor Khatchig Mouradian was recently named project coordinator of the center’s Armenian Genocide Program. “I am happy to be part of the CGHR family and I look forward to leading the Armenian Genocide Program here at Rutgers,” said Mouradian. “Our goal is to help develop further Armenian Genocide studies in the U.S. through research, courses, conferences, and public lectures.”
More than 100 supporters attended the Christmas party, dancing to the live entertainment by Jaq Hagopian and Garo Gomidas, and enjoying traditional Armenian food. Sahagian gave the audience a background of Armenian studies at Rutgers. He discussed the goal of having the Armenian Genocide taught every semester on Rutgers’s Newark and New Brunswick campuses as an “essential chapter of human history which cannot be forgotten. If one is to study human rights and genocide in modern times, one must study the Armenian Genocide.”
“The Armenian Genocide Program at Rutgers’s Center for Genocide Studies, Human Rights, and Conflict Resolution has already educated hundreds on the Armenian Genocide,” he continued. “With a successful capital campaign and development of the GenEd-HigherEd division, thousands more will be educated in the future at Rutgers and elsewhere.”
Rutgers is among the oldest colleges in the United States. Originally founded in 1766 as Queens College, Rutgers currently maintains three campuses in New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden. It has more than 40,000 undergraduate and approximately 15,000 graduate students, making it the largest university in the New York Metropolitan area.
The Genocide Education Project is a non-profit organization assisting educators in teaching about human rights and genocide. GenEd develops and distributes instructional materials, provides access to teaching resources, and conducts educational workshops. For more information, visit www.GenocideEducation.org or e-mail highered@genocideeducation.org.
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