Q&A with the representative to the BoT

Photo courtesy of sg.aubg.bg

In your report you mentioned "democratic, equal and diverse community on campus." What do you mean by this?

The idea of Skaptopara residence halls is that people are not separated by national identities, by the majors they are studying or by their income. All clubs are opened to all kinds of participants. We have elections to elect the people who are in the Student Government [SG] [and] student representatives. In the new residence hall we have all sorts of students: we have freshmen students, we have senior students, we have students of all nationalities, we have exchange students as well [...]. Even though there is a slight distance in pricing ($150), many people have found out that Skaptopara 3 is much better than Skaptopara 1 and 2 and it was worth it. Even though we have this price differentiation, we still have a diverse community: we don't have the building of seniors or the building of the Russian community.

Do people of "all class standings and nationalities" live in Skaptopara 3?

The policy for allocating residents in Skaptopara 3 was seniority-based, but whoever goes to a room could choose a roommate. Therefore, there were seniors, who chose freshmen. Many people balanced pros and cons of moving to Skaptopara 3 and [...] we can see how it works out.

In your report, you suggested the renovation cycle of the residence halls. Could you elaborate on the idea?

One of the wings of Skaptopara 1 was built 11 years ago. Something which was built in 1998 and something which was built in 2009 or 2010 are different. A lot of people were living there so there is depreciation in the furniture, in the walls, in the layout of the building. It is more of technological distance between Skaptopara 3 and the rest of buildings. The oldest wing of Skaptopara 1 is very different from the newest wing of Skaptopara 2 as well. If we start differentiating all sorts of rooms, then we'll have a very complicated system. Therefore, we suggest that since we have the buildings and people are ready to live anywhere, because I don't think that AUBG community is much luxury-oriented, it would be nice if we start renovating the oldest parts of Skaptopara 1. [...] It is not only my suggestion - I've discussed it with many students and with Residence Assistants. Eleven years is not such a huge problem for us - we can make it as good as Skaptopara 3: we could paint walls with different colours, have new furniture.

Your report mentions a possibility of renaming residence halls. Who came up with the idea, and why rename?

The Student Government came up with the four things that students regard as priorities of a five-year strategic plan that we have. Those are teaching standards [...], student research fund [...], pride in university [...] and new majors and minors. Pride in the university is one of the priorities that students see as important. This is what pride in university consists of - like renaming new buildings. We have, for instance, a library, which is named after Dimitry Panitza. As now we have a renovation cycle, it would be nice to rename Skaptoparas [...] and maybe attract more funding. And it would be nice if there was some history behind the buildings. It is just a suggestion - it is just something for discussion.

Who raised the proposal about a philosophy and religion minor? Did students support this proposal?

In the strategic plan there is this idea that we should create interdisciplinary majors and minors - so that all students at AUBG get the best of the experience. Philosophy and religion minor is something that politics [...], journalism, business students would like to have. One of the best things about AUBG is its personal life education - the choice you have over minors, over majors and the way you combine them. It is not only the SG involved [in the proposal] - it is the faculty, the administration, the students. It is a very big initiative. [...] SG said they got a lot of feedback about this particular minor.

Among other things in the report you wrote, "considering that the number of enrolled students is much less than the number of students that were planned to be admitted, the student body is concerned that it will have to share the costs of this gap in admissions?" Can you elaborate?

I think that the gap in admissions is one of the most important issues right now because having Skaptopara work under the capacity is not a good thing for [...] for the university, if they have to subsidize this from the money we give for the professors[...], if we have to sacrifice one new professor for covering the cost of Skaptopara because you cannot control the heating in every room. There will be heating everywhere no matter whether the room is full or empty.

In the report you mentioned that the SG meetings are overcrowded? What is the attendance on these meetings? Do you believe that there is tension on campus because of the SG?

Last year they used to have one person in a meeting: one two three. If you ask SG people, on the SG meeting all chairs are taken. It is a good achievement. I am not saying that there is no tension because of the SG, I think there is tension because of the SG. But I think it is good that this SG is not anonymous. [...] I think the way it's working at the university is really good as long as we have interaction in this course. Apathy is much worse.

But there is tension on campus when it comes to the SG...

There is but how will the Board of Trustees solve it? There are three meetings a year [...] we have to discuss these things with Lydia Krise, with each other. We can go to the president, but not to the board. It is not worth mentioning, it will just ruin our legitimacy. We have to see a big picture.

Why do you think that Gossip Group is worth mentioning to the Board of Trustees?

If you see the whole paragraph, it says "political life on campus." I want to agree with the fact that we have some tension, but at the same time I mentioned it because we are really active this semester. I really liked it last semester because people, like art club, are concerned about the Gossip Group. Seriously, there is nothing wrong with that. The Gossip Group e-mails people read more than the SG e-mails. I just wanted to mention something very unconventional.