With less than a week to go for Election Day, The Third Eye’s Claire Pace Monreal interviewed Clive Gerada, Paul Caruana Turner and Julia Farrugia, who will be contesting on the Pulse ticket as President, Secretary General and Culture and Entertainment Officer respectively.
Clive Gerada: President
In which aspect do you feel that KSU has failed to deliver?
First of all I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to be voiced on your social media website. One should start by praising the good work done by KSU. In my opinion, during social events, such as Students’ Fest, KSU was a professional entity. However, having focused greatly on social events, KSU lacked in other areas; such as student representation. If you had to ask a student what KSU means to them, probably the reply would be parking permits. This is the whole issue. We need to make sure that students involve themselves not only in events such as Students’ Fest, but participate more holistically.
Do you think that the Pulse campaign is similar to the campaign which SDM had last year in terms of the stand, colours etc.?
I personally never gave these things a lot of importance, even when I wasn’t involved in Pulse. I prefer to focus on holistic issues and on improving student life.
Pulse is proposing a positive change in the KSU leadership, how can this be achieved without any experience in KSU?
Although unlike Gayle Lynn I have never served in KSU, I formed part of the GHSL (Ghaqda Studenti tal-Ligi) executive board for three consecutive years. I occupied the posts of Publications Officer, Secretary General and President of the organisation. During my term in this organisation we organised events and took stands when necessary. In contact with relevant authorities, we worked on reforms including the justice reform and the entry requirements for the law course. These are issues that are relevant not only to current law students, but also prospective students. We were important in terms of student representation. Although I was never part of KSU, I still feel equipped to form part of this board because I always represented students. After all, the general feeling is that KSU lacks representation and is a social club. This could be improved.
Your opponent has already served in KSU, what should encourage students to vote for you?
This should be an opportunity for both those students who have never voted, and also those who have, to see a council that gives priority to student representation. We can be in constant contact with students and aid organisations when necessary. We also want to be in a position that enables us to criticise administration when, and as, necessary. Students feel that KSU isn’t very relevant due to its lack of administrative power. KSU appears to be merely a helping-friend and we wish to change this perception.
Paul Caruana Turner: Secretary General
What do you think the cause of student apathy is when it comes to KSU elections?
Primarily, I think it stems from KSU failing to reach the students. Students feel that KSU has little effect on their university life, so they do not feel the need to vote.
As a student who forms part of the organisation "We Are’, what is your opinion about KSU’s perspective towards LGBT rights?
KSU’s attitude does not suggest that they are against LGBT rights, in fact they also attended the Pride march last year. However, apart from having attended the march, there were very few attempts to collaborate with "We Are’. Way back in October, when the situation first emerged, KSU was supposed to issue a note about the situation in Russia. We had prepared this note and had sent it to KSU. It was meant to be amended and forwarded back to us to be released, but nothing ever came of it. Following that, we never attempted to collaborate with KSU again. However, they never showed any signs of LGBT phobia. Perhaps they may be described as not being proactive, they don’t do anything about it, but they don’t do anything to harm it.
Do you think that KSU failed to keep in touch with students throughout the year?
No I wouldn’t say that, KSU had quite an active social program this year, so I can’t say that. Having said that, one has to consider the crowds that are attending; whether they’re reaching and entertaining specific people only. The fact that it’s always the same crowd goes to show that KSU are not engaging students enough to be tempted to attend.
When asked for any additional comments, Paul gladly added, “There has been a lot of talk about a mixed council. I don’t like hearing ’mixed council’, whoever is elected needs to forget pulse or SDM and think only about the students.”
Julia Farrugia: Culture and Entertainment Officer
In your opinion what could the Culture and Entertainment Office have done better?
There was too much focus on entertainment and little on culture. Although events such as Graduation Ball, Campus Fest and Students Fest are organised, there aren’t events for people who are interested in culture, for example students reading for a degree in Theatre Studies and those who would like to exhibit their works of art. Moreover, this year an organisations’ forum was set up. Although this was a good initiative, I don’t think it functioned properly. In important events such as Students’ Fest, we didn’t see the participation of other organisations. This was a good idea in theory but did not work in practice.
Which events lack the attention they deserve by KSU?
It seems to me that Cultural events are not part of KSU’s plan. They focus much more on social events than on cultural activities. I am an Arts student myself and I know a lot of people who belong to the culture-sphere and never have the opportunity to be involved.
You are contesting on behalf of Pulse, an organisation that repeatedly claimed that Junior College students should vote for experience. Why do you feel that KSU should be any different?
The members of our team are all experienced in their respective fields, so they do have experience at the end of the day. For example, I was the Activity Coordinator in Youth For The Environment (Y4TE), so I’m used to organising events.
On behalf of The Third Eye we would like to wish all the candidates luck with elections and their studies at the University of Malta. Whilst hoping for productivity in the eventuality of having a new KSU board, we would also like to show our appreciation toward former KSU boards and all active students who strive to better university life.
