Friends of Normale 'dismayed' by decision on scientific call

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 30 - The Association of Friends of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa said Saturday it is "dismayed" at the academic senate's request for the call for proposals issued by the foreign ministry for scientific cooperation with Israel in 2024 to be reconsidered.
    "The Association of Friends of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa has discussed internally the motion approved by a majority vote of the School's Academic Senate on March 26, 2024, in particular the point asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to reconsider the 2024 Scientific Announcement issued on November 21, 2023 in implementation of the Italy-Israel Industrial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement," the association said in a statement.
    "The numerous members of the Association who took part in the meeting all expressed their dismay and many their opposition to the request for reconsideration of the Call for Proposals, believing that university institutions such as the Normale should rather, while respecting the opinions of individuals, concern themselves with always enhancing science, culture and art as elements of dialogue and universal connection," it added.
    "The Association asked the Director of the School to make these considerations known to the Academic Senate," the statement concluded.
    The academic senate at the prestigious Pisa university reportedly approved the motion on the request of students on Tuesday amid mounting protests in Italian universities over the impact on the civilian population of Gaza of Israel's war against Hamas sparked by the terrorist attacks of October 7.
    In the motion the university also renewed calls, "also in the light of the UN resolution of March 25, 2024, for the release of the hostages and an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in order to prevent the further deterioration of a now desperate humanitarian situation that is increasingly taking the form of an unacceptable form of collective punishment of the Palestinian population".
    Last week Turin university's academic senate announced the decision not to take part in the same call for proposals after pro-Palestinian left-wing collectives occupied its premises.
    However, university dean Stefano Geuna said it "was an action on a very specific call" and that "all the agreements currently in force with Israeli universities, and there are many, remain valid".
    Following the decision and the de-platforming of La Repubblica editor Maurizio Molinari at a Naples university a few days earlier, Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, said "every red line has now been crossed and concern about the university situation is overflowing".
    (ANSA).