KSU: past, present and future

Last week University and Junior College students elected their representatives to the University Students Council in what proved to be a major victory for the SDM, the Christian Democrats, in other terms the right wing.

SDM carried about half the votes cast with the other half divided between the Social Democrats (Pulse) and the independents going by the name of Reach.

Although SDM and Pulse are not officially affiliated to either the Nationalist Party or the Malta Labour Party, it is well known that there are strong links and both groups accept this. Reach claims to be totally independent of all political parties.

There was a time when the predecessor of the KSU, the SRC (Students' Representative Council) was barred from taking part in party politics because of the unhealthy divisions engendered in the student body by taking sides in the hot political issue of the time, the language question between the anglophiles and the italophiles.

This did not stop the SRC from being active when problems of a political nature came to the fore. The protest against the rundown of the British services and the investigation into the problems of housing for needy people come to mind.

The SRC was also active in the international scene, organising on separate occasions the collection of donations from the Maltese people for the refugees of Hungary and what was then Czechoslovakia when those countries were invaded by Soviet troops.

In the former case, the University students were joined by those of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (yes there was one then) and by those of St Michael's and Mater Admirabilis training colleges.

Another activity was the symbolic laying of a wreath (in defiance of police orders) by, among others, Louis Grech and Michael Falzon (both in opposing political factions) to commemorate Jan Palach, a student who had immolated himself in Prague in 1969 in protest against the invasion of his country.

At home the SRC for a number of years also organised the various pennies stunts, collecting donations from the Maltese people for charity, as well as co-operated with the Ladies' committee in collecting and distributing goods to residents in old peoples' homes.

Mark Sciriha, editor of the student newspaper, argues that there is no place for partisan politics at the University. He fears that if the KSU members support a political party, they would have to toe that party's line.

However, there is no reason why SDM, being close to the party in government, should not act as an effective pressure group pointing out clearly from first hand information the needs of the University. It is indeed a pity that the SDM team does not seem to include students with a scientific background.

However, one hopes that SDM could come closer to the science-based areas and impress on their friends in politics the immediate and urgent needs of the University in this area. In this day of declared importance of the sciences it is a pity that a number of science laboratories are left without any capital funding whatsoever. And KSU seem to remain silent, whether it is socialist, nationalist or independent.

The KSU as always should have a much wider vision. It must show leadership in the development of the country. It is no exaggeration to state that the responsibility of the KSU leadership is indeed great because it can influence the type of government and opposition that we may have next year and for the next five crucial years.

Notwithstanding which government is in power, the University has shown that it can ride the worst of all storms, not least because of its students, independently of the colour of their individual political allegiance; but the University can do much better for the country if it is not subjected unnecessarily to such storms.

The KSU, and the student body it represents, together with the trade unions, are the breeding grounds of leaders of the community in all walks of life. Anyone can confirm this by looking at the background of the leaders of the Maltese people in the political, executive, judicial, professional and commercial areas.

The KSU should be at the forefront of the development of a mature leadership cohort for the citizens of Malta in the future, fomenting the generation of an advanced society with a high quality of life, in the present and future political scenarios, and doing this in a spirit of loyal and friendly political rivalry.