American University in Bulgaria Student Government Mail: American University in Bulgaria, Skaptopara Hall Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria Phone / Fax: 359 – 73 / 83186, 83187 E-mail: stud_gov@aubg.bg STUDENT SENATE MINUTES MEETING December 11, 2013 16:00 p.m Conference Room (BAC 103) Meeting called by: Atanas Mihnev Secretary: Mary Lomtadze Type and number of the meeting: Regular 12 (14) AGENDA TOPICS I Call to Order A Approval of the Agenda B Approval of the Minutes of the SG Meeting on Dec II Consent Agenda A Budgetary and Allocations Committee III Reports A B C D E SG President’s Report SG Chair’s Report SG Treasurer’s Report Student Representative to the AUBG Investment Fund ad-hoc committee’s Report Senators’ Reports: a Senator Eremin’s Report b Senator Lomiashvili’s Report IV Concerns of the Audience V Adjournment AGENDA TOPICS I Call to Order Chair Mihnev called the Senate to order at 4:00 p.m A Approval of the Agenda The following reports were added to point III of the agenda: E Senators’ Reports: i Senator Eremin’s Report ii Senator Lomiashvili’s Report The amended version of the agenda was unanimously approved B Approval of the Minutes of the SG Meeting on Dec Minutes of the SG Meeting on Dec were unanimously approved II Consent Agenda A Budgetary and Allocations Committee Treasurer Dimitrov started with the funding applications The first one was from the AUBG Christmas Ball Club They asked for $393 for lights, stereo lights and statues Motion to grant $393 to the AUBG Christmas Ball Club Second Voting The motion was unanimously approved The following funding application was form the Better Community Club They asked for $39 for the present prices and refreshments for the AUBG community event Second Voting The motion unanimously passed III Reports A SG President’s Report President Huseynov started his report with summarizing what Student Government did throughout the semester Huseynov thanked every Senator, Treasurer Dimitrov, Vice President Sitdikova and Chair Mihnev for their contributions President Huseynov said, that Student Government did everything, they had to and concluded with expressing a hope for a better upcoming semester Senator Bandutova also thanked President Huseynov for being a “balanced president.” B SG Chair’s Report Chair Mihnev talked about the national meeting of all the student governments in Bulgaria on Dec 2022 Mihnev mentioned, that the decisions made by the students would be proposed to the Bulgarian government Chair Mihnev encouraged the Senators to attend the meeting, which would take place in Varna Senator Eremin expressed his interest to join the delegation Chair Mihnev concluded with thanking everyone for their hard work, former SG Secetary Tsitovich and current Secretary Lomtadze for their dedication C SG Treasurer’s Report Treasurer Dimitrov started his report with talking about the last event of Entrepreneurship Challenge He expressed his hopes for the better job and cooperation next semester in organizing a larger event Treasurer Dimitrov concluded with thanking Senator Pavlenko, Senator Lukin and Senator Zaharieva for their help D Student Representative to the AUBG Investment Fund ad-hoc committee’s Report Treasurer Dimitrov started the report with talking about the interview with Babson College on Nov 25, concerning the idea of creating an AUBG Investment Fund Dimitrov talked pointed out the future obstacles and possible partnership with MIT Treasurer Dimitrov listed President Easton, VP Borachev, and Panayot Hristov – founder of Start it Smart, among the people who would receive the report Treasurer Dimitrov stated getting more feedback from January’s meeting as a next step towards creating the AUBG Investment Fund Dimitrov said managing and creating the report to the people was the most challenging part Senator Luchin asked if they were planning to send the report to all students Treasurer Dimitrov clarified, that only SG members would get the report, as the actual decision would be made in May and only then the all student e-mail would be sent E Senators’ Reports: i Senator Eremin’s Report Senator Eremin talked about the report from the student representative to the Information Resources Committee Eremin mentioned two major events happening: moving the official university website to www.aubg.edu and the launch of a new online platform Elearn as a substitute to the former Dotlrn system ii Senator Lomiashvili’s Report Senator Lomiashvili started his report with talking about the meeting with Dean Miree, together with Senator Lukin Lomiashvili pointed out the launch of a new Elearn system starting from the upcoming semester Senator Lomiashvili pointed out the operational cost of $23,000 for Elearn, that the students would have to pay after one and a half year for the support Senator Mustafayev addressed the question from the audience by Aghakarim Orujov, about the need of moving from Dotlrn to Elearn system Mustafayev pointed out, that Dotlrn had not been updated for several years, was open source and had no support, therefore, AUBG decided to use the grant from EU to move to the Elearn Orujov expressed his concern about the novelty by reminding the Senators of the past failure of moving from reg.aubg.bg to portals.aubg.bg Senator Eremin clarified, that the EU grant was specifically donated for promoting electronic learning, so it could not be used for something else Senator Eremin encouraged students to try the new system IV Concerns of the Audience Aghakarim Orujov asked President Huseynov about the empty rooms in ABF, that were nonfunctional President Huseynov said that there was no reason to open the rooms, as they would only cause additional costs for the university Huseynov pointed out, that in case of a strong will, the students could address Lydia Krise with the idea of what to to the rooms Audience member Lejla Dizdarevic expressed her appreciation towards the Student Government and mentioned it was her first time on the SG meeting Dizdarevic also admitted that she would definitely run for the SG in the future, if she was not graduating next semester V Adjournment Senate meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m ATTENDANCE TABLE FOR 11 December 2013 Senators Absences to date Present/Absent/ Excused/Late Absences Update Andrei Pavlenko - P Konstantina Bandutova 0.25 E Borislava Kaneva - P Tsvetiana Zaharieva 0.5 P Omari Lomiashvili - P Borys Khodan 0.25 P Artem Eremin - E Nikola Mladenovic 1.75 P Dmitri Luchin - P Kristi Pango 0.5 P Shamil Mustafayev P