Giuseppe Procida

Interviewed by Floriane Graignic

What motivated you to run for the Student Rep position?

First of all because I’ve had a personal experience during my high school years in representing students, having them involved in student life. So, for me, it’s something that I’m already used to, in the sense that I’m already aware of what this kind of role really implies as for duties, tasks and abilities. So my goal would be to have the students involved in this campus.

Do you have any previous experience, relevant to the Student Rep position…Or not, as you prefer, that you would like to share with us?

Actually, I wasn’t officially the representative of my high school, but I was a representative of my class, so I particularly know the system. I also used to run a collective group of people of political interests, and we used to organize a singular entity taking action on its own in our school. We were like a parallel political force in our school, and we were also aiming at working on political propaganda and the engagement of the students.

What challenges are you expecting to overcome as a Student Rep?

First of all, changing the entire system – which is what I propose with my platform – would be a challenge. I think that we’re a young and new campus, with a particular structure, still on the way of being refined on the ages. And since we are an international campus, we are interested in community; therefore, the Student Rep needs to approach the problems with the idea of the entire cohort moving towards the same goal, not just address specific issues one by one.

What do you think about the Student Rep campaigning process?

In general, a campaign is the key to understand the methods and the capabilities of each candidates, to get to know them and what they want. The seriousness of the campaign is something that I think is really important, in the sense that you may be a funny guy, but if you have a solid program in mind and if you want to present something really structured, you should also pay attention to the fact that political participation requires some kind of seriousness. You need to have a clear goal in mind.

What is unique about your platform?

It’s a general approach to our problems. It works as whole Constitution, which provides us with a legal basis for our action.  If we manage to carry out this, we will have better regulations, better norms and better boards to organize as a cohort. We will have a general assembly, which will encompass the entire cohort and be the lower house of this huge Students Parliament that I have in mind. Monthly assemblies will be convened in order to talk about different issues and set an entire agenda of what will have to be carried out by the entire cohort during the following month. Then, the student committee will comprise the seminar representatives, who will carry the messages of all the classes. They will be the upper house and will meet once a month. This committee will also have the goal of raising political awareness, by discussing themes concerning contemporary issues. And the Student Reps will carry the will of the entire cohort to the administration.

In three words, what is the role of a Student Rep?

Participation, Awareness, Solidity.

Miscellaneous question: what are you the proudest of in your hometown?

I come from Palermo, which is the main city in Sicily, the South of Italy. My city is really old: we were first colonized by the Phoenicians more than three thousand years ago, and then we were colonized by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabic, the French, the Spanish… We have a very eclectic culture. And when I came here, I really fell in love with this environment because it comprises students and diversity, which is of course the real focus of democracy. That’s why I love this place.

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