Newsgroup: it.istruzione.universita
Titolo: The Guardian - Verona University - criminal prosecutions?


English novelist wins case against Verona university
Rory Carroll in Rome
Monday February 28, 2000
The English writer Tim Parks has won an epic legal battle against the
Italian university whose discrimination inspired his controversial novel
Europa.
The University of Verona faces possible criminal prosecution for
financial irregularities after being ordered to pay up to £500,000 in
salary arrears to Mr Parks and five other foreign lecturers.
A Bologna court has ruled in favour of the lecturers after a 13-year
legal odyssey in Italian and European courts, sparked by a cut in wages,
employment rights and sackings.
Europa was short-listed for the 1997 Booker prize for its account of the
misadventures of a dysfunctional, sexually predatory group of
foreign-trained university lecturers travelling in a bus from Italy to
Strasbourg to petition the European parliament for the rights that their
Italian colleagues enjoyed.
Mr Parks, 45, hailed the ending of a "senseless" saga that pitted the
former employees against the university in a venomous, draining test of
will.
However, more than 1,000 other foreign lecturers, known as lettori ,
remain embroiled in similar legal actions against Italian universities.
The Bologna verdict upheld a decision by Italy's highest appeals court,
which found that foreign lecturers were entitled to the same pay as
colleagues with Italian degrees. From the late 1980s, 20 universities,
including Verona's, slowly downgraded the pay and conditions of the
foreign lecturers, culminating in mass sackings three years ago.
Mr Parks left before he was sacked, but is believed to be owed almost
£100,000 in entitlements. Verona has also been ordered to pay costs,
which lawyers will this week calculate.
Potentially even graver for Verona was the decision of the magistrate,
Cristina Astraldi de Zorzi, to recommend an inquiry into 10 areas of its
finances. A leaked copy of her report alleged that there were
inconsistencies in income and spending records, as well as the drawing
up of contracts Mario Marigo, Verona's dean at the time, has denied
this.
David Petrie, the Scottish president of Italy's association of lettori ,
said the ruling would help those lecturers with pending cases. "It will
have a big impact," he said.
Most of Mr Parks's former colleagues have been unable to find new jobs
in Italy. Paul Hyde, who taught English history and literature, said he
was relieved by the latest ruling, but doubted he would see his
estimated £100,000 soon.
"I hear that the university is nearly broke. It has spent so much on
legal fees I'd be surprised if there is all that much left," he said.
"It's been a torturous process; it's beyond credibility. Universities
here are not institutions for education, they are power bases for other
purposes. You couldn't make it up."
Overcrowding, underfunding, nepotistic appointments and corrupt exam
practices are blamed for Italy having one of the lowest proportion of
graduates in Europe, at 8.1%.
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(snip)

Ciao Paolo,
La lotta continua contro un sistema corroto, omertoso, sensa
etica e sensa processi interni d'appello...sto per presentare
il mio caso a la Corte dei Diritti Umani Europei... anche
l"UNESCO dovra in maggio di questo anno pronunciarsi
sulla mia vicenda...questo perche in Italia non ho trovato
giustizia.
Ti aggiungo l'appendice (passim) dal "Diario di un Traditore"
di  Raffaele Simone (Laterza, 1994)
In conclusione ho capito che:
"BISOGNA LASCIAR STARE I PROFESSORI!": QUELLI CHE
LAVORANO SERIAMENTE SI POSSONO OFFENDERE PERCHE
NON SI RICONOSCONO NELLE MIE DESCRIZIONI, QUELLI
CHE NON FANNO NULLA PERCHE SI VEDONO SMASCHERATI,
QUELLI CHE FANNO AFFARI ALL'OMBRA DELL'UNIVERSITA
PERCHE CHI PROVOCA IL RISCHIO DI PERDERE I PROPRI
PRIVILEGI E DI SICURO UN NEMICO, ANZI "UN TRADITORE".
Ecco in che modo...uno che voleva contribuire a denunciare
"tradimenti" e diventato un "traditore" per propio conto, anzi
il "vero traditore", uno che ha roto il patto di silenzio a cui
si aderisce entrando nella Celeste Corporazione.
Siccome una reputazione de questo genere non e propio il
massimo delle mie ambizioni, e non credo che risponda in
nessun modo ai fatti, mi permettero in queste pagine, che
aggiungo alla quinta edizione, di spiegarmi meglio. So che
non sara affato facile convincere i miei colleghi che non ce
l'ho con loro...Prima di entrare nel discorso, pero, una
precisazione e indispensabile. Il mio libro parla si, dei
professori, ma non sono affato loro l'attore principale...
il protagonista vero voleva essere l'organizzazione
invertebrata del universita, la mancanza di poteri e
controlli di qualita, l'indifferenza al mondo esterno e a
sui principale clienti, gli studenti. Un sistema de negligenze
che spinge anche i migliori, i piu seri e assidui, a comportarsi
male.
Come vedi le cose poi non stano cosi tanto bene...
Ci sarano come dici il prof. Raffaele Simone, "isole felici"
nell'universita italiana ma sono soltanto quello "isole felice"
Sinceramente,
David Aliaga
PS: Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Rev. Martin Luther King
