Italian university saga stereotypes surnames abroad

A letter from Joseph Pivato, Athabasca

Congratulations to Domenico Pacitti for his courage in writing about the corrupt practices in Italian universities. For years I have been hearing complaints from Italian students about the ways they have been mistreated in Italian universities. Occasionally Italian university instructors complain as well, but it is always with resignation. From North America it is difficult to understand how such a corrupt system can go on year after year. We have followed the case of David Aliaga and are surprised that it has yet to be resolved from 1993.

One of the disturbing aspects of the dysfunctional university system in Italy is that it affects people outside Italy. The 1,500 foreign language lecturers have been cheated for many years. I hope their court actions continue. It also affects professors in North America who have Italian names. When I tell my Italian relatives that I am a professor in Canada they ask me, "How did you get your position?" "Who did you know to get your position?" They cannot believe that I got my position through an open competition and was judged on the merit of my work. To many of them, I am as corrupt as the Italian professors they read about in their papers.

People of Italian origins in North America have been fighting this negative stereotype of the Mafia which is projected in movies and television. We have argued that the vast majority of Italians in North America are honest, hardworking people who have no connections to organized crime. The point can be made clear: the negative stereotype is not the reality.

It is much more difficult to separate ourselves from the mix of high culture and corruption in Italian institutions. Corruption in Italy has been continually glamorized. We cannot avoid its evil influences; even emigration, it seems, is not an escape. We can continue to protest or we can change our Italian names.

Note: This letter was published by JUST Response on August 29 2002.

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