Brutally Honest

One of the biggest realizations of my year in the Management Team (Kårledningen) at THS is that almost every issue here is connected to or caused by communication - too intransparent, too incestuous, too much going on behind closed doors, too much gossiping. When we are not being open and honest to each other, we slowly drift apart - but when we are, it definitely hurts sometimes.

This edition of Osqledaren will hopefully at least sting a little bit. We will talk about how it feels to be alone and ostracized in a group we always considered friends. How society often pits us against each other in videogame-like fashion. We will talk about the disbelief some students feel when KTH talks about being green - and ask the university president what he thinks he’s going to do with the next 6 years in his Teknikringen tower. We will show you what it feels like to be in a chapter that is physically distant from THS - and what it looks like to lead one that doesn’t get enough out of being right in the middle of campus. Finally, we ask the Management Team: what is the biggest divide you see in student life, right now?

This is not the first time these things are talked about. At THS we often run around in circles - as students engaged in THS we are only really in the organization for 1 or 2, maybe 3 years. Until new people come in with new ideas, but also many of the same questions. Why is THS not transparent enough? Why does the communication with the THS staff & restaurant not work? Why do some chapters like THS and some don’t? Why do most students have no idea what THS is or does? Why do we always see the same faces in the Board, the Management Team, the Election Committee or the Speaker’s Presidium? Why does no one else apply? Some of these questions are creeping towards a solution, while others are swept under the carpet, skeletons in our closets to be uncovered during the next spring cleaning.

This is what I am asking us to do: spring-clean a little bit. If not with fire, then with open and honest words. Osqledaren’s purpose has always been to uncover what people don't want to talk about - and after over almost 9 months in my position I am slowly starting to see the big lazy frog stretch its legs & the bubbles coming up to the surface. Who will be quicker? Will the water boil before the frog escapes? Will we decide to make the leap, make THS a more honest and open, transparent and accessible, progressive and sustainable organization? Or will we just stay where we are and continue the bickering and complaining until our time here is over?

"Det vi vill att omslaget ska uppmana er till, är att tänka om och se potential i det som finns, samt hitta nya sätt att få sånt ni inte tycker om, att förändras och förbättras. [..] Allt går att förändra. Inget är för evigt, allt går att “bränna ner” och ur askan kan alltid något nytt att skapas."

"What we want the cover to encourage you to do is to rethink and see potential in what exists, and to find new ways to make the things you don't like change and improve. [..] Everything can be changed. Nothing is forever, everything can be "burned down" and from the ashes something new can always be created.", wrote Editor-in-chief Simon Sundin in 2018 when OL completely changed it's layout, design & logo and had a burning Nymble on the cover.

How do you as a THS member and student at KTH contribute to this? Do you want to help us make the necessary changes in student life at KTH? Then join your chapter boards and committees and associations. Go to both chapter & THS meetings and ask the tough questions. Apply for positions you are interested in, even if you think you won’t get them.

Don’t care about THS? Then we encourage you to take stock and maybe spring-clean in your own life! Think about the friend you haven’t checked up on, call your mom, try a new hobby, make some sourdough bread, go to the gym. Burn something down, then create something new.