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Matthew Vella
A news report on the dismal levels of hygiene at the University of Malta’s canteen has attracted controversy at Students’ House after the students’ gazette editorial board claimed canteen employees had removed practically all of its issues from the stands shortly after publication.
The front-page article on the Insiter, ‘Never mind the toilet seats, here’s the canteen-table bacteria!’, featured the conclusions of a biological test carried out on toilet seats on campus and the tables at the University canteen, claiming that the toilets had been found to be cleaner than the canteen tables.
The test was carried out by a group of biology students who used sterile cotton swabs across different surfaces at the University of Malta for a microbiology practical.
According to the test, “the results gave a clear indication of the state of cleanliness of different areas.”
Whilst claiming that “inaccuracies and contamination could have contributed to sources of error”, it resulted that the number of colonies of bacteria obtained from the swab used for the table surface at the University canteen was greater than that obtained from the swab from the toilet seat, “possibly indicating a poor state of cleanliness of tables in the canteen.”
However the news report about the results of the test were enough, according to the editorial board of the Insiter, to have sparked canteen employees to get rid of all issues of the free newspaper soon after publication, early in the morning and late in the evening when students were not around.
In a press statement, Insite condemned the theft of the newspapers: “Insite is aware that its front page article irritated some individuals, especially members of the university catering establishment. A number of persons witnessed canteen employees removing a large number of copies from the newspaper distribution stands on campus.”
Public relations officer Anthony Gatt said this was a “serious attack” on the organisation’s constitutional right to freedom of expression. “Such infantile behaviour only serves to reinforce our resolve to uphold the democratic principles on which our society is built on. We are seriously disappointed that such anti-democratic practices have been committed at a crucial time for the catering establishment’s possible contract renewal.”
Gatt said Insite hoped this incident would remain a one-off, “as it is in the interest of all students to be able to voice their views. We are determined to pursue matters further should such attack on our democratic right remain unaddressed.”
The president of Insite, Justin Farrugia, wrote to the University rector Prof. Roger Ellul Micallef defending the editorial board’s mandate. “We firmly believe that it is in the interests of students, the Administration and everyone involved, to learn about such deficiencies on campus which could not always be controlled. We could not have kept this lore to ourselves because after all this is what media is all about to inform.”
Farrugia also asked Ellul Micallef that the matter be investigated and that the canteen management repay the financial damage done to the organisation.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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