KSU apologises but claims anti-choice Life Network should be present at Freshers Week
KSU says it will propose student assembly to hammer official position on abortion after it unilaterally seized information leaflets and censored Moviment Graffitti for its pro-choice campaign
The students’ union KSU has eked out an apology after it unilaterally censured a registered student organisation’s stand over its pro-choice information leaflets.
Moviment Graffitti was only allowed back to its stand at the KSU Freshers Week on University of Malta campus yesterday, but it was not allowed to show materials related to abortion and reproductive rights.
The controversial move to seize the Graffitti stand by the SDM-controlled KSU led to an outcry from other organisations.
“KSU would like to apologise for yesterday’s action taken related to Moviment Graffitti’s stand,” the student’s union said, but suggested that the anti-choice organisation Life Network Foundation should have also been allowed at Freshers’ Week. The latter is not a student organisation.
“Censorship was never our intention. Stigmatisation was never our intention. We regret that our actions came across this way. In our pursuit of a genuine and well-meaning effort to ensure this debate takes place in a more serene environment where mature and civilised conversation could be fostered, an important discussion was stifled.”
The KSU said it will propose a student assembly for the KSU to adopt an official position on reproductive rights that will be formally adopted by the Council’s Commission. “We intend to conclude this process by the end of this scholastic year.”
Graffitti yesterday said that student organisations had been relegated to a crowded tent away from the main quad, where corporate sponsors pay for space to promote their servies to students.
“KSU is also policing the material provided at our stands, undermining the entire concept of the University as a safe space for debate and critical thinking,” the activist group said.
Moviment Graffitti’s Freshers Week stand at the University of Malta was removed overnight, with the activist group claiming KSU went behind their backs and confiscated the material on display.
Graffitti uploaded a photo of their empty cubicle and said that KSU took down the stand overnight and confiscated all the material inside.
In an earlier statement, KSU said it took a decision not to allow any “abortion related entities” to participate in Freshers’ Week, regardless of whether their stance is pro-life or pro-choice. “We believe this event does not provide an adequate platform for this discussion to take place with the gravitas it deserves,” KSU said.
The KSU has been historically controlled by candidates hailing from Christian-democratic organisation SDM (Studenti Demokristjani Maltin), aided through a first-past-the-post system that ensures a bloc victory at the KSU elections.
The centre-left student organisation Pulse, and Labour youth wing Żgħażagħ Laburisti condemned the KSU decision, describing it as “an infringement on the principles of free speech”. Labour youth wing
The Malta Women’s Lobby condemned KSU’s actions, describing their behaviour as “reminiscent of authoritarian censorship”.
PEN Malta said it was troubling that KSU forcibly removed materials displayed on Moviment Graffitt’s stand, and moreover that the council justified their behaviour by saying they banned abortion-related entities from participating in the event.
“The students’ council is not justified in assuming the authority to determine when and how discussions on contentious issues should take place on a university campus, a space intended to promote the free exchange of ideas which is at the heart of the university experience,” PEN Malta said.
Green Party ADPD blasted KSU for stifling free expression and open debate, criticising the KSU for acting as “morality police or inquisitors”.
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