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An
appeal for David Aliaga
Twelve
years ago David Aliaga was denied his doctorate degree in Italy on
the basis of criteria that appear to have had more to do with
vendetta than merit. His battle for justice has now also become a
symbolic one for radical reform of a university system that
punishes truth, merit and honesty and rewards conformity to a
system based on a mafia mentality. Domenico Pacitti launches
an appeal for international support.
For
the attention of:-
Mr. Thomas Yeh
Academic Freedom Program Associate
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Ave, 34th Floor
New York 10118 -- USA
The Human Rights Watch Academic
Freedom Committee Co-Chairs:-
Mrs. Yolanda Moses
Mrs. Hanna Holborn Gray
Mr. Vartan Gregorian
Mr. Jonathan Fanton
Mr. Charles Young
Mr David Aliaga
University of Calgary -- Canada
RE: Request for support concerning 1)
David Aliaga's denied Italian doctorate; and 2) pressure on
Italian universities to combat endemic corruption
I
am writing to you from Italy on behalf of David Aliaga, a Calgary
Canadian who was punished by Italian academia for daring to stand
up for his rights. David enrolled on a doctoral course in
ethnoanthropology at the University of Calabria in 1987, duly
completed his work and obtained the approval of international
experts. In 1991 an Italian examining commission failed him. David
has always argued convincingly that the commission's criteria were
based not upon merit but upon vindictiveness as a result of his
having reported serious irregularities relating to the commission
and its mode of operation. The examining commission had in fact
failed to turn up on 25 July 1991, the day of David's
examination. David has also complained that there was no appeals
process to respond to grievances and that a recent
review of his case by the Italian national universities' council
(CUN) was conducted unfairly. Full details of David's case are
available for you to read in Doctoral
torture.
Since 1991, David has been engaged in a courageous and determined
battle to obtain justice. Those who have written letters of
support to the Italian education ministry and failed to receive
replies include: human rights activist Noam Chomsky, Chilean
playwright and activist Ariel Dorfman, former Clean Hands
magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, president of the Canadian
Anthropology Society Margaret Rodman, president of the American
Anthropology Society James Peacock, president of the Canadian
Archaeology Society Jane Kelly, the Canadian Association of
University Teachers, the Canadian Graduate Council, the American
Association of University Professors, the Italian Doctorate
Association (ADI), Canadian MP Diane Ablonczy, etc. Professor J.
Scott Raymond (University of Calgary), Professor Doyle Hatt
(University of Calgary) and Professor Russell King (University of
Dublin) also wrote to Italian anthropology professor Tullio
Tentori and again failed to receive a reply. A host of letters of
solidarity from Italian academics are available at Libro
Aperto.
David's battle has now also become a symbolic one for pressures to
brought on the Italian university system more generally in order
to encourage a radical move away from an anachronistic feudal
system that continues to betray all of the fundamental values
normally associated with bona fide universities. As I
write, Europe's largest university, La Sapienza in Rome, is once
again in the news over police investigations into the buying and
selling of examinations. This should be seen as only the tip of an
enormous iceberg of endemic corruption and rot that continue to
strangle Italian academia. It has long been impossible to obtain a
tenured post at an Italian university without
"recommendations" on the basis of criteria other than
merit. Truth telling and non-conformity to this appalling system
are, as in David's case, severely punished. Such punishment is
generally psychological rather than physical. This makes it more
difficult to identify and expose but no less insidious.
As an education correspondent for the Times Higher Education
Supplement and Guardian newspapers, an academic who has taught at
the University of Pisa for 18 years and the editor of the online
journal JUST Response, I have spared no effort in attempting
to bring both David's case and the deeply unjust manner in
which Italian universities operate to the attention of a world
audience. I think it is now high time that international pressure
be brought to bear on the general Italian university climate of
intimidation, moral degeneracy, unaccountability and grotesque
bureaucracy. Until this happens the term 'Italian
university' will remain an oxymoron and the Italian
university system a floating black hole.
I therefore urge the Academic Freedom Committee to mobilise
appropriate concerted action not only in order to help obtain full
justice for David Aliaga but also in order to help change a
university system that Italians have for centuries shown
themselves to be unable or unwilling to reform.
I look forward to hearing from you
and hope we can work together in order to help give this
issue the attention it undoubtedly deserves.
Note:
This appeal was first published by JUST
Response on July 25 2003.
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