Kuwait University’s English Department

Kuwait University’s English Department has always been an intellectually prosperous department with its ongoing student-led initiatives. Recently, a new project has emerged, the Utalk, which literally means ‘You Talk’ from a student’s perspective. The organizing committee of Utalk encourages students to present six-minute seminars on a current affairs topic. I had an opportunity to interview Dr. Mohammad Ali, the supervisor of this initiative. I asked him several questions to try to determine what the Utalk was about and why the Utalk has suddenly become so popular among the student body. He stated that the Utalk organizers decided to have five talks per term on issues that are of concern to students both at a national and global level. The aim of the talks is to initiate deep-seated inquiries and possible solutions for progressive agendas. Each presentation aims to plant a seed of thought in the audience members’ heads, allocating the remainder of the hour to a lively debate where students are afforded the time to hash out their ideological views.

The talks themselves are structured towards an objective. It is true that everyone is afforded an opportunity to present, but without an objective, the platform would be mistaken as an opportunity to either relay personal experiences or have idle rants. The most recent talk was presented on freedom of speech and freedom of expression. The talk addressed the discrepancy between a loss of freedom vs. maintaining our freedom. Some members of the student body opted for losing some freedoms to maintain traditions while others argued for freedom in its entirety and embracing variability to sustain tolerance, diversity and a multicultural environment over a homogeneous one. As noticed, a clear objective was made and the audience was enthusiastic towards it. Based on anonymous feedback (via online surveys) following the talks, the student body is positively receiving these efforts. In fact, the majority finds the talks stimulating and inspiring based on the feedback.

Dr. Mohammad would not take the merits of this project during the interview. Instead, Dr. Mohammad who believes in the achievements of his students, stated that “If you want to encourage students to keep pushing in this direction, they need to be seen and heard. We cannot always fall for the Arab mindset of one man taking credit for the collective work of an entire organization. Without the students, this Utalk would not even exist nor would it have had the success rate it currently holds.”

If you are interested, join the Utalk audience in Kaifan campus, room 300, during the free hour of faculty and students from 12:30 – 2:00 pm on the 15th of April. The next, and final Utalk of this term, is about education at Kuwait University and how passive students are not challenging the authority of faculty. It’s an open invitation, don’t miss it.

Noura W. Al-Shabak