With less than a week to go for Election Day, The Third Eye’s Maria Manicaro interviewed Gayle Lynn Callus, Kenneth Terribile and Steph Dalli, who will be contesting on the SDM ticket as President, Secretary General and International Officer respectively.
Gayle Lynn Callus: President
If you get elected, this would be your second time in KSU. As President how would you assure that this would be a better KSU than the previous one?
This year I occupied the role of Culture and Entertainment officer. From the very beginning I worked to structure the manner in which the office works. We built a structure that was divided in three, The Organisations Forum, the Culture Sub-Committee and the Events Team. My aim has always been to link people together, because in order to work properly one needs to hear every voice, every idea and every contribution. If I’m elected I will see that this structure is applied in all KSU offices. I will link people and organisations together and also the academic staff.
As a student who has been in an organisation that has suggested a change in KSJC administration, what is your stand to Pulse’s suggestion for change?
Despite that the aim is to always help the students, there’s a slight difference between Junior College and University elections. In Junior College the voting turnout shows that there is student activism. Through the past years SDM has always been elected in KSU. SDM is the only organisation that has always contested in the KSU elections and gone through renewal. There were times when particular organisations didn’t even contest KSU elections, or proposed a change in the system and a week earlier they didn’t want to participate. Although for some years students at Junior College always chose Pulse, SDM never stopped contesting for these elections.
One of the proposals which you had in your manifesto was that once every fortnight, an executive member would organise contact hours at Junior College, do you think that this wasn’t done as frequently as promised?
Well first of all it’s never enough, even once every fortnight is not enough. Various executive members of the KSU made contact hours. Personally I still go to Junior College from time to time. At the end of the day I love going to Junior College, I still have friends and lecturers there, so personally I always kept contact with Junior College students. Moreover we had events in which we collaborated with the KSJC for the first time.
How were you “Awturi t’Universita Ahjar” (Authors of a Better University)?
With most of the proposals in our manifestos having been fulfilled, we need to keep in mind that our electoral program was made by people themselves. It wasn’t made by four people who gathered round a table and started proposing things. There were consultation meetings with organisations and the administrations. There were some issues, which despite having never been written in the manifestos, we still strived to do; for example the canteen issue. Apart from my personal experience, we also heard a lot of complaints about the canteen. I cannot understand how organisations attempt to create charity events and the canteen administration tries to put obstacles instead of helping these events. Although we are going through a campaign, we still care and do our best to help those who need us.
Kenneth Terribile: Secretary General
Despite various attempts, it is evident that students are still not satisfied with the time of publications of results, if you’re elected in the KSU, how will you be working to improve this issue?
For publications of results there is a process. Primarily the exam papers get corrected, lecturers give them to their respective faculty, and the faculty meets up in a board of studies meeting, so this long process takes some time. KSU talks directly to the faculties to see why publications of results are taking so long. If I’m elected in KSU I will continue to work, even if we move the deadline by one week that would already be a step forward. We cannot expect results to be published after two weeks. I agree that students should know in which phase results are, whether they’re still being corrected or they have been handed to the secretaries.
What is the agenda of this team when it comes to Junior College students?First of all we need to wait until our manifesto is published. In the previous years KSU has given importance towards Junior College. When our manifesto is published I can explain more clearly about our proposals for Junior College students. Unlike what was said during the AGM, I can say that it is not true that KSU didn’t give notice to Junior College.
Do you agree that the work done by this year’s KSU wasn’t enough to solve the parking problem?
This year’s KSU still have two months left, so we have to wait until the end of the term. This year it created things such as the transport fund, the Park & Ride scheme in Pembroke. We cannot expect KSU to build a six-storey car park. Despite KSU’s improvement, there’s always room for more improvement.
Steph Dalli: International Coordinator
In which aspect do you think KSU have room for improvement?
Over the years, KSU worked a lot for the students. I have a lot of friends who are in KSU, I can see the time they invest to help the students, even the approach they take. However, some students feel intimidated by the people who are in KSU office, as they think that they aren’t approachable, which is misleading. Maybe KSU can improve this students’ feeling. There shouldn’t be a barrier between students and KSU executive members.
As an active member in an organisation that promotes the participation of youths (Terra di Mezzo), what is your opinion about the low turnout in KSU elections?
Considering the amount of university students, the turnout is very low. However, a lot of people have a mentality that they just attend lectures and go home. Having a coffee at quad is considered to be a waste of time by many students. Unfortunately, students who have this apathy are not enjoying their university life to the full. Very often, the people who vote are the same ones who participate in events, like the people who participated in Students’ Fest, as they feel closer to University students. University years are not just about earning a degree.
If SDM is elected in KSU, would you be working to decrease student apathy?
During this year we have already seen a good turnout, more people than previous years taking part. So I think that gradually, if one speaks to students and shows them the benefit of these experiences, it is not as difficult as it might seem.
