An open reply to David Aliaga
A letter from Giovanni Latorre, Calabria
Dear Prof. Aliaga,
Re: An open letter to the rector of the University of Calabria from David Aliaga (Jan 20 2006)
I wish to succinctly answer your open letter addressed to me and published in Unimagazine.it on February 21, 2006 [in Italian translation; the original English version first appeared in JUST Response on Jan 20 2006 - Ed.], and I wish to tell you from the outset that my considerations, far from resolving any question relating to the honorability and prestige of the University of Calabria, whose protection will evidently be the object of appraisal by the appropriate department, are precluding me from any possible discussion of the issues raised in your letter.
It presses me, in particular, to reject decisively and with firmness the generic, serious and grave affirmations made by you about the "ethical" state in which the Italian University finds itself; and in particular with regard to the seriousness and the correctness of the Athenaeum that I have the honor of representing, which you have instrumentally and incorrectly put in discussion in relation to vicissitudes far removed in time, and of which I do not have the possibility to answering. You cannot, as you have done, liquidate with a generic and superficial judgment, the engagement, the passion, and the scientific value of hundreds of colleagues, be they Rectors, Deans of Faculty or Professors who, daily, and often in not ideal conditions, and without being recognized on their own merits, face a difficult job, in trying to maintain a high level and quality in didactics and research in their universities.
And you cannot – and I certainly will not permit you to do so – speak about the University of Calabria as a place in which the supply and demand of knowledge, experience and scientific ability are not met, or that our university is a sort of "agency" in which unthinkable "anti-democratic" operations would happen and come to be decided which are contrary to the respect of the rules and the ethical values which every initiative, every job, every activity must be conformed to. It is not allowed either to you or to others to put into discussion or doubt even for a brief moment thirty years of hard and laborious engagement, intelligent and effective work, of passionate and frank availability, from our researchers, professors, technical and administrative staff, which in spite of every perplexity and difficulty, which may be justified in a region where a plan of such dimensions, complexity and strategic importance such as the University of Calabria is not easy to carry out.
I must make a final point with regard to the presumed negative perception, which is almost scandalous, that in your opinion foreign countries have of the University the Calabria. Your defeatism is a thousand of miles away from the high academic consideration and scientific prestige that our university enjoys everywhere in the world. The impression I am forced to draw from your words, therefore, is that you have no idea about what you have purported to speak about. Here, I mean at the University of Calabria, we have the good habit of informing ourselves before speaking out and of studying the issues before taking any decision. We use this approach even when it touches the most simple and innocuous matter to be decided: it is a question of method, and not secondarily, of "academic" style.
It seems to me that, in this circumstance, you have not respected this elementary duty, falling into the realm of the generic and banalizations, which must be absolute strangers to whom has the pretension to belong to the University and research world. Naturally, not for being fierce of any kind of title, but with the knowledge and the will of a worthy and respected academic. Unfortunately, and it pains me to say it, your way of behaving on this occasion has provoked in me – and I believe in everyone who may have read your open letter – more than one perplexity in that regard.
Note: This letter was published by JUST Response on March 1 2006. We thank David Aliaga for sending us a literal English translation and publish it in order to allow readers to evaluate both sides. The original Italian version of Latorre's reply to Aliaga may be read in Unimagazine.
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