James Debono
70.6% of university students favour the introduction of a condom machine on condoms, a scientific survey conducted among 400 university students reveals.
The findings of the survey will be presented and explained by a statistician this afternoon during the launching of a new “progressive” organisation called Move.
In March Education Minister Dolores Christina declared that the University of Malta’s policy on condom machines and the decision on whether to install them on campus “is in the hands of the students” represented by the Students Council. old Parliament in March.
With a clear majority of students wanting a condom machine the argument which has been raging for two decades takes a new twist.
The first clash between liberals and conservatives dates back to 1993 when environmentalist and journalist Julian Manduca teamed up with internet media sage Toni Sant to present a motion to the University Senate to introduce a condom machine on campus. The motion was turned down.
A similar motion during a KSU general meeting was turned down after a large number of theology students thronged the meeting.
In 2007 an online petition set up for the same aim managed to attract a trifling 200 signatures: one-fortieth of the university’s 8,000 plus population.
Although the petition’s goal remained elusive, an important result was reached when former Health Minister Louis Deguara declare his agreement with the university students’ petition to introduce a condom vending machine at the Tal-Qroqq campus.
The condom controversy erupted again at the start of the academic year, when Vodafone offered special packs to University students which included free condoms.
But distributing condoms as part of a marketing exercise was not considered “a responsible attitude towards proper sexual education”, according to the Theology Students Association, the University Students’ Catholic Movement and the University chaplaincy.
The Move survey also reveals that 49% of students favour gay marriages while 18% are opposed.
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