Melkonian Closure Is Wrong Move

The Armenian General Benevolent Union finally ended months of speculation and  denial and set June 2005 as the date for the closure of the Melkonian  Educational Institute in Cyprus.

In order to announce the decision, the AGBU released a terse press release  signed by the members of the AGBU Central Board, and detailed its reasons for  this decision in three pages which they sent to many Armenian-American  publications.

Despite the great number of words in those three pages, the decision seems to  be ill-advised.

Melkonian is one of the most impressive Armenian schools in the diaspora.

Initially started in 1925 through the Melkonian brothers Garabed and Krikor, the  property that they donated to the AGBU for the purposes of a school in perpetuity, also came with $4 million in a bank account to run the school.

Again,  that money was also given to the AGBU for safekeeping. Keep in mind, that was $4  million in 1925. (The total figure for the fund at its inception, $4,647,020, established from Egypt as the Garabed and Krikor Melkonian Memorial fund, is from the December 2001 issue of the AGBU Magazine.)

The two Melkonian brothers, who never married, instead became fathers to  thousands of young refugees and orphans who had fled the Armenian Genocide. 

Through the years, Melkonian started accepting students who were not necessarily  orphans or refugees, just regular students, and eventually it became one of  the best-known Armenian schools in the world. It has created a home-away-from-home for its many students, resulting in a strong bond among the alumna and unwavering loyalty to their alma mater.

Even according to the AGBU "position paper" on the need for closing Melkonian, "MEI prepared editors, novelists, writers, poets and teachers who would return to their local communities to assume positions as staff of Armenian newspapers and literary publications, as well as in Armenian schools and other institutions in an attempt to further develop and maintain Armenian society within the Middle Eastern Communities."

Perhaps one reason that the Central Board is getting so much heat from so  many quarters is that they said one thing, yet did another. This past fall, the board announced that the rumormongers should stop their whispers, since Melkonian was indeed not closing. Four months later, they reversed themselves. What happened between November 2003 and March 2004 to have made such a difference?

According to the information released by the AGBU, Melkonian, or MEI for short, has been non-profitable for decades and had narrowly avoided its present fate in the previous three decades. If the school had been mismanaged by its local board and was running a deficit, should not the AGBU have stepped in earlier and put the school's finances in some sort of order? This is the AGBU we are  talking about, perhaps the best organized, most professional and most expansive Armenian organization anywhere in the world.

Another reason mentioned for the closing is that MEI is performing worse academically than in the past and that it is basically not doing a good job for  its students. In the same breath, the AGBU Central Board is praising the work  that the principal and the faculty are doing and saying that the students are  not shining despite their efforts. In any other instance, the head of the organization, namely the principal as well as the local board, would be sacked and  replaced with more capable leadership. Why did that not happen at Melkonian?

The AGBU suggests that fully 20 percent of Melkonian's students are from Armenia and that what the AGBU will do is that with the closing of Melkonian, they will increase their support of schools in Armenia, therefore canceling out the damage. They also cite fewer students from the Middle East, therefore a smaller student body.

What they perhaps do not realize is that Melkonian is more than just a school. It is a symbol of Armenians in the diaspora, and also of the generosity of a diasporan family who saved thousands from poverty and illiteracy. Their legacy should be honored.

The AGBU after all agreed to manage the property and the money for its use as a school " the Melkonian Educational Institute " and not for its educational  programs in general. In this case, the organization is letting down many,  many people.

The Armenian community of Cyprus, small but very well connected and  respected, deserves to keep Melkonian. In fact, the school is so well respected that the government of Cyprus subsidizes it annually.

What the AGBU has not mentioned is that it has constructed rental property on  the grounds of Melkonian. Is that income not enough? And what of the initial $4 million willed by the Melkonian brothers for the upkeep of the school?

The interest on that sum should put a major dent in the AGBU's expenditures toward the school.

The Melkonian Educational Institute deserves a better fate than being sold  for its property value, which is estimated at $80 million. If money is needed to  subsidize the needy students, perhaps the AGBU should consider selling a small lot on the property and using that money to run the school, until they can  get a handle on the deficit.

In all the negative comments that are being flung at the AGBU by mail or through the Internet, one thing is getting lost: the AGBU is a tremendously  successful non-profit organization that has helped hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the diaspora and Armenia over the years and it deserves the respect of  all. It is precisely because of the prestige that the AGBU deservedly enjoys that it should reconsider this decision. Melkonian is one of the shining stars that it is managing. By making the decision to make Melkonian history, it will damage people's perception of its management style.

The AGBU has a long and illustrious past in not only charitable activities, but in running wonderful schools. In the past it has closed, however, another popular school, the AGBU Armenian School in Watertown, Mass., which was hailed  as top notch. That move was a mistake as is this current decision.

While Armenia is our Motherland, our spiritual home, no matter where we are born, still the diaspora is where the majority of Armenians in the world reside. What Armenia needs is money for food, shelter, infrastructure, medicine, etc. They don't need "Armenian" schools, because there is no danger of Armenians  there in forgetting their heritage. The Diaspora Armenians, however, require Armenian schools to remain rooted to their culture.

* From: ArmenMirr@aol.com <mailto:ArmenMirr@aol.com>