01/01/2018
Happy New Year to all AUH Tbilisi Campus Alumni, and the professors and lecturers that helped me to achieve such success. 25 years ago I spent this day in Tbilisi, first time away from my family. The purpose was to save the fledging Campus that had run out of funds within 3 months of the start of its operation. By injecting funds and talking to the lecturers, I was able to create perhaps the best foreign university in Georgia at the time. At that time in Tbilisi there was no electricity delivered to houses, roads were all destroyed, the large 5-star hotels that you see today were filled with refuges from Abkhazia, Ajara and Osetia, beggars all around the City, both sides of Rustaveli Boulevard burned down, and the only alcoholic drink that could be found was supposedly a Vodka made in East Germany, but in fact it was a mix of medical alcohol and water. Food was available, mostly from hundreds of kiosks that had sprang up all across the main streets. There were 3 “so-called” restaurants, with very limited menus. I trusted the conduct of the Campus to the late Professor Alex Rondeli, whom I had known before coming to Georgia. AUH was the first institution that brought convocation and graduation ceremony to Georgia, with robes, caps and gowns and regalia. We were first to bring computers from USA to Tbilisi. We were the first to teach in English using latest American textbooks, given free of charge to students. We provided a world-class education at the least cost in the world, and I am happy to say that the students made best use of it as we witness today by their presence in the highest echelon of politics, academics and commerce. I AM VERY PROUD OF THE ALUMNI and their present position in world. Unfortunately and as it always happens we got ONE bad apple in the barrel. That one bad apple was the main cause of misappropriation, mismanagement and embezzlement that finally followed the consequential closing down of the Campus after the untimely demise of Alex Rondeli. Today probably no one will remember me or the sacrifices I made to keep the Campus alive, not even those who were paid salaries far above what they were worth, those whose hospital expenses I paid out of my own pocket, those whose children were educated at the Campus free of charge. This will be my last posting on this site, with an easy mind and a happy heart for all the successes and the fond memories. I wish the Alumni all the best in their future lives and pray for those who betrayed them, our students and I, to be able to deal with their own guilty conscience.
