US Fed News
October 17, 2009 Saturday 11:23 AM EST

SCHOLAR PETER BALAKIAN VISITS BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO DISCUSS
ARMENIAN PLIGHT

PARAMUS, N.J., Oct. 16 — Bergen Community College issued the
following news release:

Bergen County native, Armenian scholar and author Peter Balakian
conducted two discussions at Bergen Community College on October 8,
outlining the history of genocide and the plight of the Armenian
people.

Approximately 200 students, faculty and members of the community
attended the morning and evening lectures organized by the College’s
Peace, Justice and Reconciliation Center and the Center for the Study
of Intercultural Understanding arms of the institution that promote
cultural diversity, awareness and recognition.

During his visit, Balakian discussed the Armenian genocide and
participated in a dialogue with students.

"What human crime plagues the planet more than the crime of genocide,"
he asked, calling the systematic murder of Armenians in 1915 through
1917 as the "template for genocide in the modern era."

Balakian serves as the current Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar
Professor of the Humanities and director of creative writing in
Colgate University’s English department. Balakian won the PEN/Albrand
Prize for his memoir, "Black Dog of Fate," which earned New York Times
Notable Book honors. He was the recipient of a 1999 Guggenheim
Fellowship, a 2004 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the
2005 Raphael Lemkin Prize for his book, "The Burning Tigris: The
Armenian Genocide and America’s Response."

Bergen Community College is a public two-year coeducational college,
enrolling nearly 17,000 students in Associate in Arts, Associate in
Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and
certificate programs. More than 15,000 students are enrolled in
non-credit, professional courses through the Division of Continuing
Education, the Institute for Learning in Retirement, the Philip J.
Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, located at 355 Main Street, Hackensack,
and Bergen at the Meadowlands, located at 1280 Wall Street West,
Lyndhurst. Information about the College is available at
or by phoning the Welcome Center at (201) 447-7200.