HE BECAME BRAVER AFTER MARCH 1
A1+
[08:25 pm] 11 December, 2008
When former professor of the Armenian affiliate of the University
of State Service of Russia Karine Davoyan was participating in the
national movement rallies, she was sure that she was fighting not only
for her rights, but for the rights of her students and the rector of
the university.
In the wake of the events of March 1, the rector of the university
Mushegh Asoyan fired Davoyan, who had been working at the university
for 8 years and was considered one of the best professors. She
was always a member of the admission exams for her honesty and
professionalism.
During the pre-election period, the rector suddenly began to suspect
the professionalism of one of his best professors.
It all started when Mrs. Davoyan answered one of her students’
questions and said that the people gathered in "Freedom Square"
on February 20 were not "homeless" people, but freedom fighters.
"Students are also citizens of this country. They also have the right
to raise questions and I am obliged to answer them. Our rector found
out about this and warned me not to talk about democracy, human rights
or else I would be fired. When I asked him how he would fire me when
my students loved me, he said that he could find a couple of students
and make them write a complaint against me," said Mrs. Davoyan.
At first, Davoyan didn’t pay attention to this and didn’t think that
he was capable of such a thing. Before finding the two students,
two National Security Service officials attended the university and
called Davoyan to the rector’s office. Davoyan didn’t understand what
her lectures had to do with the NSS officials.
"I told them that I had no party affiliation. I told them that I was
going to elect Levon Ter-Petrosyan and that I would answer the same
if my students ask me. The NSS officials told me that I had the right
to do that and left."
After that, the rector warned Davoyan that she wasn’t doing the
right thing and prohibited her from participating in the rallies. He
didn’t like this administration either, but he was ready to fire some
professors for them. So, he was afraid to show his professors at the
rallies. After Davoyan disobeyed the rector, her issue was discussed
in the presence of 60 other professors.
"They claimed to have taken surveys from students on a scale of one
to ten. The highest score was "1" and the rector put my issue up
for discussion."
Later, the rector offered Davoyan to return, accept her guilt with
a final warning. Mrs. Davoyan refused, didn’t show up to class and
taking advantage of this, the rector marked the absences to prepare
ground for firing her for absences.
Although Mrs. Davoyan is currently unemployed, she doesn’t regret it.
"I was teaching students how to express themselves. If I were to
continue lecturing for a salary, how I was going to talk to those
students about dignity and individuality? I would lose my students
with whom I am in contact," said Davoyan.
Why did they fire you after the events of March 1? After all, you
were participating in the rallies before March 1. In response to that,
Mrs. Davoyan said:
"On March 1, I was near the Myasnikyan statue, but that was not the
reason for firing me. They fired me after March 1 because until then,
the rector thought that Levon Ter-Petrosyan might win and he might
turn out to be the bad guy. He became braver after March 1."