A group of voters, who claim Armenian Americans have become so “politically sophisticated and well-financed” that they’ve monopolized the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees, has filed a lawsuit seeking a change in how elections are carried out, Glendale News-Press reports.
The college’s existing at-large system “has produced a situation in which one highly-motivated, politically sophisticated and well-financed ethnic minority group” — identified by the plaintiffs as Armenian Americans — “effectively monopolizes membership on the board,” according to the lawsuit.
The five-member board of trustees currently includes two Armenian Americans, two Anglos and one Latina.
The lawsuit was filed by attorney Michael Miller, a volunteer speech and debate coach at the college who is representing five plaintiffs in the case who claim Armenian, mixed-race, Latino, Asian and African-American descent.
“We treat all the students the same,” College Board President Armine Hacopian said. “Giving one group of people more attention and the other groups not — it’s unethical,” she said.
Last November, a redistricting consultant warned Glendale Community College officials that there were enough examples of racially polarized voting to make the district vulnerable to litigation.
“It’s the job of the trustees to interpret the analysis we provided and work with their own counsel to determine their own election system,” said Paul Mitchell, a consultant with Redistricting Partners. “There’s nothing in this lawsuit that sheds new light on that need to transition.”
