Why I care about condom machines (among other things)

“Parking and condom machine dominate University debate” said a timesofmalta.com headline yesterday. The last paragraph of the story read: “The debate was chaired by Peppi Azzopardi, who urged the students to look at the wider picture and not just issues which solely concerned students.”

The reporter was clearly not out to flatter students. But I am a student, and I feel I have some explaining to do:

Why the students’ union only cares about parking, stipends and exams

The students’ union can only speak as a united body about straightforward issues like parking, because University students are not one breed of identical thinkers.

Why does the union of midwives never speak about abortion? Or the union of lawyers about divorce? Because they would lose half their members if they did, and that would not be a good thing at all because all lawyers should feel that they belong to the union of lawyers and all midwives should feel at home in the union of midwives.

The students’ union should only support issues that concern students as a whole – transport, stipends, education and exams.

The condom machine

Who cares about having a condom machine on Campus? This writer puts her hand up.

Does she really, really, need a condom machine at University? No.

The condom machine is a symbol. It is a symbol of secularism, of self-determination, and of healthy living. All three are principles I hold dear, and every time the proposal for a condom machine on Campus is rejected, it is my dear principles that are rejected.

I am not worried by the fact that there is no condom machine at the University, but by the fact that the possibility of getting a condom machine is considered a bad idea. How can condoms ever be a bad idea?

So as long as I remain a student at the University of Malta, I will keep talking about condoms and the machines that dispense them. And no number of newspaper articles will convince me that I should be ashamed of myself for doing so.

For busy readers: At least read this paragraph

Who said that students only talk about condoms and parking? Has no one heard about Graffitti’s valuable work with immigrants and their rackety protests against warships? Does no one know about the students who publish a monthly newspaper, The Insiter, and maintain a news website? Has no one heard SDM, the Studenti Demokristjani Maltin, call for an educational campaign on immigration to address the prevalent fear? Does no one know about the medical students who teach sex education in secondary schools and who take teddy bears to children’s wards? Does no one know about the students who teach English at the detention centres?

There may be a lot more to the University of Malta than condom machines, parking, and students who don’t know who the Rector is. You just have to scratch beneath the surface.

Lara Vassallo is a IIIrd year medical student at the University of Malta. She is the Editor of insiteronline.com.