PADUA – Last Friday on the stage in Piazza dei Frutti, identical to the one where 40 years earlier Enrico Berlinguer gave his last speech, Emma Ruzzon was cited more than anyone else by Elly Schlein. And it is an open secret that if she had been president of the Bo Student Council at least 25 years old, she would also have been a candidate in Europe. Less than a week after that crowd, Emma Ruzzon found herself at the center of a strong clash within the university. It all revolves around one of her (long) comments on a post on the Instagram page of the Udu, the Union of University Students, in which she gives some “Zionist barons” to his colleagues. Words that elicited a hard-nosed response from the rector of the Bo, Daniela Mapelli.
Emma Ruzzon’s attack
The theme is the pro-Palestine protest staged under the windows of Via VIII February, a demonstration which, after damaging exams and lessons, wanted to prevent the Academic Senate itself, guilty of not voting to interrupt collaborations with Israel’s universities. «I will not dwell for the umpteenth time – writes Ruzzon – to those who accused part of Udu of not having done enough to explain how the Academic Senate, yes, is full of Zionist barons with whom we (three people) find ourselves arguing not since October, but for years, every single time we voted against the agreements with Israel.”
Daniela Mapelli: «Increasingly violent media campaign»
«The words of the academic senator Emma Ruzzon, on the official profile of Udu, are vulgar and serious offensive for all the people who make up the Academic Senate of the University of Padua and detrimental to the dignity of the university – stated Daniela Mapelli, rector of the University of Padua, interviewed by Il Gazzettino – The fact is even more serious because it was carried out by who has an institutional role. Furthermore, we are talking about the Senate itself which took a position, with a motion voted unanimously, against the unacceptable violence that Gaza is suffering. We have also allocated scholarships for students from the Palestinian territories, as we have always done for anyone in a risk area. I also remember that, in agreement with the student component but by will of the governance, we are one of the three universities with the highest “no tax area” in Italy, as well as having made an impressive economic effort to guarantee and improve the right to study of students”. What bothered the rector the most was that this time the frontal attack came from inside the Bo. «I accepted that the UDU media campaign, increasingly violent in recent months, has become unpleasant and direct towards me – concluded Mapelli – but I will not accept that such tones reverberate on academic senators and, in general, on our university”.
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PADUA – Last Friday on the stage in Piazza dei Frutti, identical to the one where 40 years earlier Enrico Berlinguer gave his last speech, Emma Ruzzon was cited more than anyone by…
