Newsgroup: it.politica.polo
Titolo: THE CALGARY HERALD (CANADA) DENOUNCES ITALIAN UNIVERSITY UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

*Commentario in Italiano al finale del articolo*
THE CALGARY HERALD, ALBERTA, CANADA
ITALIAN UNIVERSITY:
CALGARIAN GAINS SUPPORT IN BATTLE OVER DOCTORATE
By Andy Marshall
Academic leaders and learned organizations from Canada and the U.S. are
rallying to the cause of a Calgary man who claims he's been cheated out
of his doctorate by an Italian university.
Despite the widespread support, though, David Aliaga, 43, despairs he will
ever have the financial means or the power to tackle the italian academic 
community he is convinced has cruely closed the door on him.
"It's like you keep hitting a rubber wall," said Aliaga, counting personal 
bankrupcy and nine years of anguish as just part of the costs of his failed 
attempt to win his PhD in anthropology from the university of Calabria in 
southwest Italy.
"I want to expose the problems in Italy for what they are. I don't want any 
other person to go through what I have," he said. " I also want to point my 
life in other directions. I don't want to be obsessed with this."
Two years in jail as a young man in his native Chile for political activities 
didn't even prepare him for the rigors of dealing with the Italian university 
system.
But, when he set out from Calgary for Calabria in 1986 with his Italian-born 
wife and their two little girls to study emigration, development and socio-
cultural change in the small village of Torano Castello, happier visions of 
an illustrious career danced before him.
With a Bachelor of anthropology from the University of Calgary, $12,000 in 
the bank, and verbal assurances from Calabria officials he would be elegible 
for extensive grants while studying there, there was little reason to be less 
than optimistic.
Three years later, after receiving no money, no guidance from elusive academic 
supervisors and after learning Italian rules prevented him from earning while 
studying, the desperate Aliaga left Italy for Chile and then for Calgary to 
complete his doctoral report.
A thick file is testimony to the constant communication with university 
officials, and the Italian ministry of education which does the actual 
granting of doctoral degrees.
Inadequate notice for a rescheduled examination was one further incident in
a continuing saga of frustration. Then, when Aliaga did return to Rome at 
the appointed time during 1991, his examination commiteee simply failed to
show up without explanation.
The committee subsequentely failed him, despite positive recommendations 
from earlier academic panels.
Then he learned that no appeal procedure was available to pursue his case.
"I was naive. I thought I could rely on my bureaucracy," said Aliaga. But, 
"they can do anything they want. There are no clear-cut standards."
Letters from professors in Italy and Wales, and later from the U of Calgary 
where Aliaga returned to work as a research associate, have attested to his 
academic abilities.
Since widening publicity over the case, the Canadian and American Anthropology
Societies,the Canadian Archaeological Association,several individual academics
from Calgary and other universities, and even the Canadian embassy have gone
to bat for Aliaga.
One curt letter from the Italian ministry denying requests for a re-opening 
of the issue and stating it is not possible for Aliaga to repeat the exam 
has been virtually the only official response to the issue.
To earn a living, he has recently completed a course in computer maintenance.
"Basically, my academic career is wrecked. I've lost hundreds of thousands of
dollars I have no chance of recouping," he said.
*****************************************************************************
CALGARY HERALD
LETTERS SECTION
Editor: Bill Musselwhite
403-235-7518
 Fax 235-7379
DENIED PhD REPRESENTS A CULTURAL LOSS
Re: "Calgarian gains support in battle over doctorate", Andy Marshall,
Herald.
As a former student of David Aliaga, I am compelled to register my
dismay upon learning that he has been denied his PhD by the University
of Calabria in Italy.
It is extremely unfortunate that the Italian ministry has denied Aliaga
any right to appeal.
Aliaga's lectures, films and discussions on cultural anthropology have
enabled me to gain a renewed sense of appreciation for the many
differences and similarities among groups of people both globally and
locally. His personal loss is our collective loss.
More than ever, we need Aliaga's educated insights into the massive
socio-cultural changes which are rapidly increasing on all fronts of
contemporary Canadian life. Instead, we are reduced to hiring him to
fix and maintain our computers.
Fight on, Aliaga. You can add the voice of this university student
to the list of the many people who support your quest to see justice
served.
Karen Clark
Calgary.
*********************************************************************
PROF'S PLIGHT GENUINE AND UNFAIR
I have known David Aliaga for over ten years, in both a professional
and personal capacity, and I know his plight to be genuine and 
extremely unfair.
By bringing media attention to the unethical and unaccountable nature
of the Italian university system, the Herald is to be lauded for helping
Aliaga achieve the justice he has sought for so many years.
Such an article may also disuade other universities in Italy and 
elsewhere from treating Canadian and other foreign students in
this reprehensible maner.
Michael Gardiner
Calgary.
Dear Colleagues, PhD Students and Friends,
Please write in support to the e-mail addresses
below and send me a copy if possible.
 
David Aliaga
Cari Colleghi, Studenti Universitari e Amici:
 
 
Per favore scrivete due righe sulla mia vicenda chiedendo
alle persone o redazioni di giornali indicate al finale di
questo messagio di fare qualcosa nei miei confronti e
cosi trovare una soluzione a questa vergognosa situazione
che e' diventata di dominio pubblico internazionale.
Questa lettera cosi come tante altre non hanno avuto
mai una risposta dal ministro italiano per la Universita!!!     
 
U....@dsc.unibo.it
 (Umberto) famoso scrittore italiano
Col...@inrete.it
  (Furio)   giornalista italiano
Mar...@mbox.murst.it
     (Umberto), Consigliere del Ministro  
C.Morg...@Repubblica.it (Claudia) giornalista italiana
 
 
ringrazio per la vostra considerazione e aiuto,
Dott. David E. Aliaga
 
PS:
La mia Lettera Aperta al Ministro Berlinguer si
trova in vari dei gruppi "it", soc.culture.italian,
alt.politics.italy, e in the World Wide Web sites:
 
www.unica.it/libroaperto/crono.htm
www.netlab.it/telediritto/lettere
 dai lettori
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7465/articoli.html
--
Posted via Mailgate Server - 
http://www.mailgate.org

 
Premesso che non esiste alcuna "Universita' di Calabria e che in Italia
non esiste il titolo di PhD, i testi del giornaletto di Calgary non
dicono un bel nulla se non vaghe ed incomprensibili chiacchere che non
giustificano l'accusa di violazione dell'etica rivolta genericamente
all'universita' italiana.
In questo paese, chiunque segue le regole e studia (neppure
moltissimo...) riceve la sua laurea senza tante balle. E' evidente che
se non la hai avuta non hai studiato o non hai osservato le regole alle
quale siamo stati sottoposti tutti.
Non e' la prima volta che leggo delle tue imprese rivoluzionarie cilene
che non costituiscono titolo per lauree facili nelle universita'
calabresi ne' altrove.
Quello sfigato di Allende, in virtu' della forma di repubblica
presidenziale, voleva governare a modo suo con la maggioranza del
parlamento che era contro di lui. Avrebbe dovuto realisticamente e
doverosamente dimettersi e si sarebbe evitata la dittatura di Pinochet
che e' stata causata dai disastri combinati dal governo di Allende che
ha letteralmente disintegrato l'economia cilena. Ci sara' anche stato
l'appoggio della Cia (non piu' criticabile di simili appoggi del KGB e
di Castro) ma Allende e' stato rigettato dalla fame alla quale aveva
portato il popolo cileno e dagli scioperi dei trasportatori che non
erano grandi industriali ma tutti padroncini di camion sgangherati che
facevano la fame per colpa di Allende.
Ti consiglio una universita' cubana ove potresti far valere i tuoi
meriti rivoluzionari....
GAG
