Los Angeles is the biggest hub of Iranian Americans in the entire United States. The Persian community at Pierce College believed it was time for their ethnic group to have a place to be together, discuss and celebrate their culture — so the Persian Club was born.
Persian Club President Laily Gholikhani created the student organization after previous ones of a similar nature had been disbanded.
“This program was started in order to unite everyone who is Persian,” Gholikhani said. “There is a large population of Persians throughout the community, and our goal was to bring everyone closer together, especially through these rough times.”
Iran has long been under the control of a theocratic and authoritarian dictatorship, which is an issue that rings true to immigrants and children of immigrants from that country, like Persian Club Vice President Ryan Kossarian.
“Taking into mind recent events within Iran, the importance of a connected diaspora cannot be stressed enough,” Kossarian said. “With worldwide trends of globalization, I believe the diaspora of any people can make a major impact on their country, no matter the distance.”
In 2022, Iran saw some of its largest protests to date when the Iranian Guidance Patrol beat and killed a young woman for violating a mandatory hijab law. As those protests rang out through the latter half of the year, more than 500 citizens were killed fighting for women’s rights in the country, according to the New York Times.
Amid these events, Persian students like Kossarian strengthened their ties to their ethnic community at home.
“I took the initiative of starting the Iranian Student Association through the understanding that the Iranian diaspora at Pierce was large, but disconnected,” Kossarian said. “The ultimate goal of this project was to provide a safe, open space for Iranian students, and those interested in Iranian history and culture, to meet and celebrate.”
According to a UCLA study in 2023, more than 138,000 people of Iranian heritage reside in Los Angeles, making it the largest Iranian hub in the U.S. Furthermore, California has the largest percentage of Iranians in the US at 0.54%, which is twice as big as the second largest state in this category, Maryland.
Pierce has a handful of other ethnic clubs under the Associated Student Organization (ASO) umbrella. According to ASO Club Council President Alexa Romero, new cultural clubs do wonders for the campus and are always welcomed.
“It’s always great when new cultural clubs are formed on campus, they bring students together and help create a more inclusive and diverse community,” Romero said. “The new club will benefit students by not only providing a space for Persian students to connect with one another, but it’s also a way for all Pierce College students to learn about and appreciate Persian culture.”
Persian Club meets on Mondays from 3 to 4 p.m. at a location that is pending.