- In Archive
- 2013-09-17 14:03:39
- 243 Views
The Student Government pre-election debate between the senator candidates took place yesterday evening, Sep. 16, in Andrey Delchev Auditorium. This is the next election in line after Timur Huseynov was voted to be the new SG president in the spring semester of 2013. As always, the event attracted the attention of enough AUBG-ers to fill the Andrey Delchev Auditorium and listen to what the candidates from every academic standing had to say and promise. If you missed it, here is an overview of the senators-to-be
[caption id="attachment_14767" align="alignright" width="285" caption="Right to Left- Mihnev and Luchin"]
[/caption]
The fourth-year students running for office: Atanas Mihnev, Dmitri Luchin, Kristi Pango and Shamil Mustafayev put the emphasis on the words “experience” and “communication,” based on their extensive experience of campus life and dealing with different university departments. Mihnev shared his plans on cutting some of the paperwork required for club formation and on putting all unofficial SG meetings between its different committees on the record, so that the development of every discussion within the institution is publicly available. Luchin put the stress on student rights and their representation in front of administration members, since he said he was convinced students should have a say in deciding on important issues with the scale of 
the meal plan case. Mustafayev emphasized on the fact that he has been in the SG since his first year and knows how it operates well enough. Mustafayev served as the SG Treasurer last fall before he left mid-term for an exchange program. Pango also talked about his experience with an American SG, which he gained while on exchange in the U.S., and proposed changes such as more open discussions and even office hours for senators, which any student can attend. Some mistakes of the previous SG were pointed out in the discussion with the audience, and the inevitable practice of finger-pointing took place again. However, as one of the candidates, Mihnev, said the debate was going quite “peacefully”, and the discussion was kept on a friendly manner.
[caption id="attachment_14788" align="alignleft" width="346" caption="Left to right- Bandutova and Mladenovic"]
[/caption]
From the junior class we had Andrei Pavlenko, Konstantina Bandutova and Nikola Mladenovic after former senator Tijana Stojanovic removed herself from the election. They presented three completely different viewpoints of reasons to run for SG. Pavlenko focused on career experience and organizing professionally oriented event, related to our majors, through the SG. Bandutova talked about making the government’s function and mission clearer to students, and thus, making SG itself more useful. “I have been on the other side,” she said, referring to her two years in the university. Mladenovich emphasized on his previous experience with the SG and with the position of vice-chair of the senate. He focused on the fact that he wants to continue his long-term commitment to serving the AUBG student body. “Throughout the last year we really pushed for transparency with the administration,” he said. Bandutova put a stress on getting more people to care about things like SG, in the meantime Pavlenko discussed higher student involvement in on-campus activities.
The sophomores filled the space in the front of the hall with five candidates: Alexandru Rusu, Alungo Byambasuren, Artem Eremin, Borislava Kaneva, Kateryna Kostiuchenko. Former SG senator Rusu pointed out that “administration offices should not be fought against, but we should work together with them.” He clarified that this does not mean he will not combat any problematic “ideas” the administration might have, which he believes he has done successfully with the last SG. Byambasuren presented plans of improving communication with SG via social networks and constant updates about what is happening on campus. Candidate Kostiuchenko also discussed communication, saying that “SG members should be regarded as regular students, who you can talk to about any concerns,” and that she is willing to hear what anyone has to say. Eremin relied on his positivism and enthusiasm to participate in AUBG life. He talked about applying sciences like math to his everyday decisions as a senator and shared his experience about how enthusiasm can be contagious, even if you are “faking it to get others excited about something.” Kaneva touched upon the topic of defending the views of any student “regardless of what they look like,” explaining that AUBG’s vote is very often divided by nationality and not by really agreeing with what the candidate has to offer, which encourages her on working for unifying the campus. In the sophomore discussion again recurring topics were taking measures against student apathy, interaction with more outside institutions and bigger participation in extracurricular activities.
The debate traditionally ended with a “fresh” point of view by the first-year senate candidates Borys Khodan, Nikita Vassilenko, Omari Lomiashvili, Tamerlan Hadgizade, Tsvetiana Zaharieva. In their third week at AUBG the enthusiasts talked about their hopes about university life and how they want to contribute to their new community. Khodan planned on innovation and lobbying towards optimizing campus technologies. Originally from Kazakhstan, Vassilenko offered his experience gained at a Canadian high school. Zaharieva emphasized on her leadership and communication skills originating from her work with NGO youth programs. Lomiashvili ensured the audience he has a fresh view and an open mind to listen and learn from people around him, “I will never do anything I am not sure about, but I will always look for a solution.” Former ELI student Hadgizade pointed out that even though he is a freshman, he has already had a taste of AUBG life and said that he will deal with any problem at SG, when such occurs. As always, first-year senator candidates received questions from the audience about the SG constitution or the latest Board of Trustees report, which caught most of them off guard. However, SG president Huseynov made sure to mention these questions were quite tough: “I wish all the other candidates knew the answers to those.”
Election for SG senators started today, Sep. 17, at 10 a.m. and will continue until 8 p.m. All students should get their voting credentials on their AUBG e-mail accounts.
We encourage you to have a say in who is in and who is out, as the SG is a representation of us, the AUBG student body. Vote at http://www.aubg.bg/sgelections
[/caption]
The fourth-year students running for office: Atanas Mihnev, Dmitri Luchin, Kristi Pango and Shamil Mustafayev put the emphasis on the words “experience” and “communication,” based on their extensive experience of campus life and dealing with different university departments. Mihnev shared his plans on cutting some of the paperwork required for club formation and on putting all unofficial SG meetings between its different committees on the record, so that the development of every discussion within the institution is publicly available. Luchin put the stress on student rights and their representation in front of administration members, since he said he was convinced students should have a say in deciding on important issues with the scale of the meal plan case. Mustafayev emphasized on the fact that he has been in the SG since his first year and knows how it operates well enough. Mustafayev served as the SG Treasurer last fall before he left mid-term for an exchange program. Pango also talked about his experience with an American SG, which he gained while on exchange in the U.S., and proposed changes such as more open discussions and even office hours for senators, which any student can attend. Some mistakes of the previous SG were pointed out in the discussion with the audience, and the inevitable practice of finger-pointing took place again. However, as one of the candidates, Mihnev, said the debate was going quite “peacefully”, and the discussion was kept on a friendly manner.
[caption id="attachment_14788" align="alignleft" width="346" caption="Left to right- Bandutova and Mladenovic"][/caption]
From the junior class we had Andrei Pavlenko, Konstantina Bandutova and Nikola Mladenovic after former senator Tijana Stojanovic removed herself from the election. They presented three completely different viewpoints of reasons to run for SG. Pavlenko focused on career experience and organizing professionally oriented event, related to our majors, through the SG. Bandutova talked about making the government’s function and mission clearer to students, and thus, making SG itself more useful. “I have been on the other side,” she said, referring to her two years in the university. Mladenovich emphasized on his previous experience with the SG and with the position of vice-chair of the senate. He focused on the fact that he wants to continue his long-term commitment to serving the AUBG student body. “Throughout the last year we really pushed for transparency with the administration,” he said. Bandutova put a stress on getting more people to care about things like SG, in the meantime Pavlenko discussed higher student involvement in on-campus activities.
The sophomores filled the space in the front of the hall with five candidates: Alexandru Rusu, Alungo Byambasuren, Artem Eremin, Borislava Kaneva, Kateryna Kostiuchenko. Former SG senator Rusu pointed out that “administration offices should not be fought against, but we should work together with them.” He clarified that this does not mean he will not combat any problematic “ideas” the administration might have, which he believes he has done successfully with the last SG. Byambasuren presented plans of improving communication with SG via social networks and constant updates about what is happening on campus. Candidate Kostiuchenko also discussed communication, saying that “SG members should be regarded as regular students, who you can talk to about any concerns,” and that she is willing to hear what anyone has to say. Eremin relied on his positivism and enthusiasm to participate in AUBG life. He talked about applying sciences like math to his everyday decisions as a senator and shared his experience about how enthusiasm can be contagious, even if you are “faking it to get others excited about something.” Kaneva touched upon the topic of defending the views of any student “regardless of what they look like,” explaining that AUBG’s vote is very often divided by nationality and not by really agreeing with what the candidate has to offer, which encourages her on working for unifying the campus. In the sophomore discussion again recurring topics were taking measures against student apathy, interaction with more outside institutions and bigger participation in extracurricular activities.
The debate traditionally ended with a “fresh” point of view by the first-year senate candidates Borys Khodan, Nikita Vassilenko, Omari Lomiashvili, Tamerlan Hadgizade, Tsvetiana Zaharieva. In their third week at AUBG the enthusiasts talked about their hopes about university life and how they want to contribute to their new community. Khodan planned on innovation and lobbying towards optimizing campus technologies. Originally from Kazakhstan, Vassilenko offered his experience gained at a Canadian high school. Zaharieva emphasized on her leadership and communication skills originating from her work with NGO youth programs. Lomiashvili ensured the audience he has a fresh view and an open mind to listen and learn from people around him, “I will never do anything I am not sure about, but I will always look for a solution.” Former ELI student Hadgizade pointed out that even though he is a freshman, he has already had a taste of AUBG life and said that he will deal with any problem at SG, when such occurs. As always, first-year senator candidates received questions from the audience about the SG constitution or the latest Board of Trustees report, which caught most of them off guard. However, SG president Huseynov made sure to mention these questions were quite tough: “I wish all the other candidates knew the answers to those.”
Election for SG senators started today, Sep. 17, at 10 a.m. and will continue until 8 p.m. All students should get their voting credentials on their AUBG e-mail accounts.
We encourage you to have a say in who is in and who is out, as the SG is a representation of us, the AUBG student body. Vote at http://www.aubg.bg/sgelections