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".
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