CSUN director cites unhealthy work environment as cause for resignation 

The CSUN Student Government offices in 2012. FILE PHOTO

Henry Nikogosyan joined UNLV’s undergraduate student government with high hopes of making a difference.

But after about a year of working with CSUN, the Nevada Student Affairs director became one of four students who handed in their resignation letters this summer.

Along with Judicial Council members Desiree Tupas and Marclem Hernandez and Paul Sterling of the Nevada Student Affairs, Nikogosyan stepped down just a few months after the current administration was seated in May.

Nikogosyan wrote in his July 25 resignation statement that he could no longer be a part of CSUN because of the “unhealthy work environment.”

“Tolerance, I cannot deny, is a virtue, but it has a relinquishing point,” he wrote. “I have had guests ridiculed for their ethnicity, friends insulted, and coworkers threatened.”

He called the environment in CSUN “the bottom of the barrel.”

Tupas and Sterling could not be reached for comment as of press time. Hernandez declined to comment.

According to Velto, Sterling was forced to resign because he was appointed to his position even though he was not a matriculated student at UNLV.

Nikogosyan said the executive and judicial branches were the root causes of the problems.

“I have not seen leadership; I have seen general disregard, petty attempts at revenge, and laughable abuses of power,” he wrote.

“It’s some form of chaos that is trying to be professional,” he said.

Nikogosyan said that he felt CSUN did not foster the kind of work environment that he wanted to be a part of, but declined to expand more on the issues that he had seen while in office.

“I think it would put certain people in the limelight that don’t want to be there,” he said.

But Nikogsyan did describe one instance in his resignation letter where he was told to clean the floors in the CSUN office. He stated in the letter that his supervisor, whom he did not name, did not mediate the situation.

Prior to his resignation, Nikogosyan released a statement addressing the issues in his department.

He said in his resignation that he was reprimanded for the statement, which called for changes on the work ethics in CSUN.

“In response, the Executive Board attempted to reprimand me for violating a rule that does not exist,” he wrote.

CSUN President Elias Benjelloun said that Nikogosyan was reprimanded for using the student government logo for an unofficial document that was unrelated to his department.

Currently, CSUN has no specific rules governing the use of its logo within student government.

Nikogosyan saidthat he was initially optimistic about the election of Benjelloun, Vice President Kanani Espinoza and Senate President Vladislav Zhitny.

“But I was also naive,” he said. “I definitely did not expect an unhealthy work environment.”

Nikogosyan, however, said he did not believe the harm caused by the executive board was intentional.

“I think they’re good-hearted people just making honest mistakes,” he said. “Everyone makes mistakes. It’s only natural. But that doesn’t mean people will stay around for those mistakes.”

Nikogosyan said he believes having a faculty advisor oversee CSUN would help prevent any kind of disfunction.

All registered student organizations at UNLV are required to have a faculty advisor, but CSUN, as an independent student government, does not.

“There isn’t an advisor at student government that says ‘This is how you can be a leader and this is how to be professional,’” he said. “If that was there, I think you can change everything.”

Nikogosyan said that for now, he believes CSUN’s best hope lies in the senate.

“I see a genuine attempt among senators to do well from all sides, he said. “The environment the senate has is better than any other branch.”

Despite the loss of four members this summer, Benjelloun is optimistic about the upcoming year. Over the summer, the CSUN senate appointed new directors, assistant directors and senators. Benjelloun also created several new positions, which were also filled over the summer.

“Even though we faced four resignations this summer, we about doubled our numbers in student government,” he said.

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