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On the "Ghastly"

By Andrey Anastassov and Marina Jeliaskova

December 8, 2008

Open Letter

Dear defacto readers,

We are pleased we are given the opportunity to share our opinion of the “Ghastly” with you. It is inspired by the article “Devoted republican talks about US elections” in defacto’s issue 27. The article thoroughly covers one of the biggest recent events at AUBG, for which we are grateful to the whole defacto team. However, it also includes a comment by the founder of “The Ghastly Bunch” Aernout van Lynden, which we found one-sided.

The former AUBG professor and chair of the JMC department said none of the organizers of the current event contacted him before taking charge. Aernout also disapproves of the usage of the current name the “Ghastly.”

We did contact professor van Lynden through his former “Bunch.” He did not believe we would succeed to continue the event and he asked us to change the name. We could change just one letter if we wanted, he said. Therefore, we kept only the “Ghastly,” since the “Bunch” is already gone. We just wanted to keep the tradition. And we succeeded.

Obviously, professor van Lynden regards the event more like his personal trademark than a benefit to the students. This contradicts fully his well-known devotion to AUBG students and their personal development.

Therefore, WE ARE going to change the name altogether. We will also change some other conceptual things. For example, we will try to answer some of his positive criticism by choosing a regular day for the event (Wednesday). Nevertheless, we will keep on inviting influential guests to meet AUBGers because we believe that students need it and want it. And we will not object to anyone continuing the event after we graduate. On the contrary, we will encourage and help them and we would appreciate if they kept the name.

We would like to use the opportunity to thank President Huwiler, professor Phillips, and professor Spirovska for their understanding and support.

Best regards,
Andrey Anastassov,
Marina Jeliaskova
The “Ghastly” coordinators

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