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Glendale News Press, CA
Dec 5 2007
Nonviolence seminar is off
Hoover High event gets canceled after Armenian groups express
concern over its sponsor.
By Ryan Vaillancourt
GLENDALE - Citing pressure from Armenian-American community groups
and parents, Glendale Unified School District officials on Monday
postponed a nonviolence seminar at Hoover High School because the
program's sponsor, the Anti-Defamation League, did not support a
pending U.S. House resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
The three-day seminar, which was paid for by a state grant intended
to promote nonviolence and diversity training, was supposed to start
Tuesday.
But district Supt. Michael Escalante opted to postpone the event
after the Glendale chapter of the Armenian National Committee, as
well as other unnamed community groups, on Monday urged him to cancel
the seminar in protest, Escalante said.
`It's not critical that the training be done tomorrow, next week or
next month,' Escalante said. `So what I need to do is stop, evaluate
the situation, get with my staff and make a good decision about where
we go from here.'
The Anti-Defamation League has been at political loggerheads with the
national Armenian-American community since the town council in
Watertown, Mass., a heavily Armenian community, voted in August to
cancel its partnership with the league in an anti-racism program
called No Place For Hate. The fallout prompted a flurry of other No
Place for Hate participants on the East Coast to pressure the
Anti-Defamation League to come out in support of House Resolution
106. advertisement
The controversy prompted Anti-Defamation League Executive Director
Abraham Foxman to issue a statement recognizing the genocide, but in
the same statement he called the pending resolution
`counterproductive.'
The resolution itself has since lost steam. After passing the House
Foreign Affairs Committee in October, support for the bill withered
amid concerns that its passage would disrupt diplomatic relations
with Turkey, which is billed as a key Middle East ally for the U.S.
Major backers of the measure, including Rep. Adam Schiff, whose
district includes Glendale, later urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to
postpone a vote on the bill.
Armenian political organizations called the Anti-Defamation League,
an internationally reputed nonprofit whose motto is `To stop the
defamation of the Jewish people . . . to secure justice
and fair treatment to all,' hypocritical for its stance on the bill.
Foxman's comments, however, do not amount to an official position
taken by the group, said Amanda Susskind, Anti-Defamation League
regional director, South Pacific.
The Anti-Defamation League board was slated to discuss the pending
legislation at its November meeting, but the item was taken off the
agenda when the bill itself was postponed, Susskind said.
Though Susskind was under the impression Tuesday that this week's
planned seminar at Hoover was delayed for logistical reasons, she
acknowledged that the organization's educational programs sometimes
fall victim to political tension.
`We've had people sometimes complain that we take a pro gay-rights
agenda, and they're concerned that our diversity training
. . . is promoting the gay agenda, and we always say
don't hold the kids hostage to whatever political views and concerns
you might have with the ADL,' Susskind said.
`These programs stand alone as having enormous
value. . .  . They're considered the Rolls Royce of
these kinds of programs.'
The district has not made any decisions about whether to greenlight
the Anti-Defamation League training at Hoover at a future date, said
Greg Krikorian, president of the board of education.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/artic les/2007/12/05/politics/gnp-hoover05.txt
Dec 5 2007
Nonviolence seminar is off
Hoover High event gets canceled after Armenian groups express
concern over its sponsor.
By Ryan Vaillancourt
GLENDALE - Citing pressure from Armenian-American community groups
and parents, Glendale Unified School District officials on Monday
postponed a nonviolence seminar at Hoover High School because the
program's sponsor, the Anti-Defamation League, did not support a
pending U.S. House resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
The three-day seminar, which was paid for by a state grant intended
to promote nonviolence and diversity training, was supposed to start
Tuesday.
But district Supt. Michael Escalante opted to postpone the event
after the Glendale chapter of the Armenian National Committee, as
well as other unnamed community groups, on Monday urged him to cancel
the seminar in protest, Escalante said.
`It's not critical that the training be done tomorrow, next week or
next month,' Escalante said. `So what I need to do is stop, evaluate
the situation, get with my staff and make a good decision about where
we go from here.'
The Anti-Defamation League has been at political loggerheads with the
national Armenian-American community since the town council in
Watertown, Mass., a heavily Armenian community, voted in August to
cancel its partnership with the league in an anti-racism program
called No Place For Hate. The fallout prompted a flurry of other No
Place for Hate participants on the East Coast to pressure the
Anti-Defamation League to come out in support of House Resolution
106. advertisement
The controversy prompted Anti-Defamation League Executive Director
Abraham Foxman to issue a statement recognizing the genocide, but in
the same statement he called the pending resolution
`counterproductive.'
The resolution itself has since lost steam. After passing the House
Foreign Affairs Committee in October, support for the bill withered
amid concerns that its passage would disrupt diplomatic relations
with Turkey, which is billed as a key Middle East ally for the U.S.
Major backers of the measure, including Rep. Adam Schiff, whose
district includes Glendale, later urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to
postpone a vote on the bill.
Armenian political organizations called the Anti-Defamation League,
an internationally reputed nonprofit whose motto is `To stop the
defamation of the Jewish people . . . to secure justice
and fair treatment to all,' hypocritical for its stance on the bill.
Foxman's comments, however, do not amount to an official position
taken by the group, said Amanda Susskind, Anti-Defamation League
regional director, South Pacific.
The Anti-Defamation League board was slated to discuss the pending
legislation at its November meeting, but the item was taken off the
agenda when the bill itself was postponed, Susskind said.
Though Susskind was under the impression Tuesday that this week's
planned seminar at Hoover was delayed for logistical reasons, she
acknowledged that the organization's educational programs sometimes
fall victim to political tension.
`We've had people sometimes complain that we take a pro gay-rights
agenda, and they're concerned that our diversity training
. . . is promoting the gay agenda, and we always say
don't hold the kids hostage to whatever political views and concerns
you might have with the ADL,' Susskind said.
`These programs stand alone as having enormous
value. . .  . They're considered the Rolls Royce of
these kinds of programs.'
The district has not made any decisions about whether to greenlight
the Anti-Defamation League training at Hoover at a future date, said
Greg Krikorian, president of the board of education.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/artic les/2007/12/05/politics/gnp-hoover05.txt