Newsgroup: it.diritto
Titolo: LETTERA ALL'ONOREVOLE BERLINGUER MINISTRO DELL'UNIVERSITA

May 1, 1998
Prof. Luigi Berlinguer
Minister of Italian Universities
M.U.R.S.T
Piazza J.F.Kennedy, 20
Rome, 00144
Italy
Dear Professor Berlinguer:
On behalf of the graduate and professional students
of the United States and Canada, we write to you to
support the implementation of an appeal and review
procedure for the process of granting degrees of
higher education in Italy. In particular, we write
to register our support for David E. Aliaga as he
fights for an open inquiry and appeal of the Ministry
of Italian Universities' rejection of Mr. Aliaga's
candidacy for the title Dottore di Ricerca.
Mr. Aliaga is a citizen of Canada who graduated from
the University of Calgary in June of 1986. Soon after,
he became the first Canadian ever to be enrolled in a
Dottorato di Ricerca program in Ethnoanthropology in
Italy, attending the University of Calabria and
completing all of the listed requirements for the
Dottorato di Ricerca.
Following the completion of his studies, Mr. Aliaga
and his family had to leave Italy due to severe
financial difficulties, returning to Canada. Before
leaving, Mr. Aliaga requested an extension of the
deadline for submitting his Relazione Finale, the
final report required prior to the Oral Examination,
citing his financial difficulties as a reason.
Mr. Aliaga returned to Rome for an oral examination
at the time and date designated by the Ministry of
Italian Universities, yet his entire examination
committee failed to appear on the scheduled date
of July 25, 1991. The oral examination was
subsequentely rescheduled due for August 7, 1991,
however, immediately prior to Mr. Aliaga's return
to Italy he was
Ramji/Hannegan:Berlinguer
May 1, 1998 Page 2 of 3
notified via telegram that the original members
of his examination committee had been replaced with
new committee members . As a result, the new committee
did not receive Mr.Aliaga's final report before the
deadline, this, due to the fact that the Ministry
had not notified Mr. Aliaga of the new committee
members' addresses. In addition, the new committee
members were not acquainted with Mr. Aliaga's academic
work and therefore unable to participate in an exam
so soon after their appointment to Mr. Aliaga's committee.
Mr. Aliaga took the oral examination in August, 1991,
and was informed that he had been rejected as a candidate
for the title Dottore di Ricerca on the basis of the oral
examination. This occurred despite frequent excellent
evaluations of his work throughout his study at the
University of Calabria, as well as praise of his final
report by the Chairman of his first examination
committee, Professor Tullio Tentori, a well-known
international anthropologist who was serving as the
President of the Ethnoanthropological Association of
Italy at the time.
Mr. Aliaga has since made repeated attempts to correspond
with the Italian Ministry of Universities, without result,
and he has not been able to secure his "transcripts" with
a list of courses and grades obtained during his three
years of work at the University of Calabria. Without such
"transcripts", Mr. Aliaga's previous academic work will be
for naught, and he will have to start his Ph.D. all over
again. Quite simply, Mr. Aliaga's academic career is in
serious jeopardy without the right to an appeal of the
examination committee's decision. We find that the inaction
of the Italian Ministry and the University of Calabria is
simply intolerable, and the denial of an appeals process
is something unheard of in either the Canadian or American
systems of graduate and postgraduate education.
A number of academic leaders in Canada, USA, Italy, and
Wales have written letters of support on Mr. Aliaga's
behalf, as we do today. Both Canadian and American
anthropology societies, the Canadian Archaeological
Association, numerous academics and the Canadian embassy
have tried to intervene on Aliaga's behalf. Calgary North
Reform MP Diane Ablonckzy has asked the United Nations
Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) to take up his case, as has Alberta Education
Minister Gary Mar.
Ramji/Hannegan:Berlinguer
May 1, 1998 Page 3 of 3
A change in the Italian Ministry's policy to deny appeals
to those who are rejected as Dottorato di Ricerca candidates
is needed if Italian universities wish their degrees to be
recognized with the same stature as those given by other
institutions of education around the world. To let the
Ministry's policies go unchallenged is to turn away any
and all students who wish to study in Italy, and if an
appeals process is not put in place, we will be the first
to inform prospective students that their rights may be in
jeopardy if they go to Italy to pursue their advanced degree.
This, we can guarantee.
We firmly believe that Mr. David Aliaga's basic human and
civil rights are being violated by the Italian ministerial
bureaucracy and academia. We also support Mr. David Aliaga
in his appeals and submissions to UNESCO, the European Court
of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice.
On behalf of the graduate and postgraduate students of Canada
and the United States, we strongly ask you to work in all due
haste to set up an appeal process such that the academic rights
of students can be protected in a way which is commonplace and
standard elsewhere throughout the world.
Failure to fully investigate and resolve the Aliaga case
leave grave doubts in the international community of graduate
students, researchers and scholars about the Dottorato di
Ricerca programme, doubts we trust you will want to put to
rest at your earliest possible convenience.
Sincerely,
Rubina Ramji
Chair, Canadian Graduate Council
Bryan Hannegan
President, National Association of
Graduate-Professional Students (U.S.A)
*Ulteriore documentazione sul mio caso e' disponibile nei
 siti Web:
 
http://www.unica.it/libroaperto/Estero.htm
 
http://soliton.phys.unt.edu/~cnc/Aliaga.html
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