An International Office event was canceled this month after its subject matter offended a group of students who spoke out about the topic.

On Nov. 7, the office released a campuswide email to confirm its Nov. 8 International Coffee Hour (ICH) event, part of a weekly series intended to provide students with opportunities for cross-cultural engagement, to celebrate Azerbaijan culture. 

However, on the following day, students received another email that the Azerbaijani student who organized the event had decided not to move forward with it. The Nov. 8 event was canceled, and organizers invited anyone interested to the following week’s Nov. 15 event for a discussion on Korean street food. 

“Our first and foremost priority is to foster a culture of inclusivity and create a safe space for meaningful dialogue for our international community. While today’s planned student speaker chose not to move forward with the event today, we look forward to continuing to build upon the work we have done… highlighting our diversity,” the email said.

Due to the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Armenian Student Organization (ASO) protested against the coffee event because it offended Armenian students, and the club is concerned that the event is spreading “Azerbaijani propaganda,” according to ASO President Sara Beberian.

Beberian said their issue wasn’t with the student who organized it, but with the event itself. It was a concern that ICH was unaware of the current conflict and that the event was approved in the first place, she added. 

“Us, as Armenian students, when we were getting that email saying ‘We’re inviting you to an event that celebrates Azerbaijan,’ it felt really insensitive, and just kind of like one of those ‘read the room’ situations,” Beberian said. 

ASO wrote a letter to the International Office, the student organizer and Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval. Neither the president nor the International Office could stop the coffee event from happening due to the student’s First Amendment rights. 

Jiménez-Sandoval wrote a letter back to ASO, ensuring the club that the Azerbaijani student would not go into “political debate,” but explaining that he couldn’t cancel the event. 

“I cannot legally prohibit the presentation. I must uphold the freedom of speech that is so integral to the democracy of our country, and the discourse in which we engage as an academic institution,” he wrote. 

However, since it was the student’s own decision to not move forward, the event was canceled. As of reporting, the Azerbaijani student has yet to comment on the situation. 

It is unclear why the student decided not to move forward. When asked whether or not ASO regretted its initial letter to the student, Beberian did not comment. 

“Fresno State ASO and the Armenian community are completely against the harassment of any individual. Armenians were upset at this event because it was a Fresno State-sponsored event celebrating Azerbaijan, a country guilty of numerous war crimes and guilty of attacking the sovereign borders of Armenia,” Beberian said.

Although Jiménez-Sandoval ensured no politics would be involved in the now-canceled ICH event, Beberian said ASO still had the problem with the promotion of Azerbaijan land and culture, feeling like it’s a culture stolen from Armenia. 

“I know they said [the ICH event is] not about the politics at all. But the problem is that when you’re saying, ‘We’re here to celebrate these Azerbaijani mountains and these vineyards,’ that is historical Armenian land that Armenians have had for centuries, so [the email was] kind of like a slap in the face,” she said. 

The ASO club is partnering with the International Office to organize an ICH event of its own to honor Armenian culture.