Following the “case” of the Pioltello school, which decided to close the institute for the end of RamadanAlso the University for Foreigners of Siena suspends teaching on the 10th April, “as a sign of sharing” for the Islamic holiday.
In the act signed by rector Tommaso Montanari, it is underlined that the decision was taken “as a sign of sharing” for the celebration of the end of Ramadan, and also constitutes a “visible sign of solidarity with the Palestinian population of Gaza, largely Muslim, subjected to an incessant massacre and unprecedented”, but there is the intention to suspend teaching also on Friday October 11, on Yom Kippur, one year after the October 7 massacre”, because “our statutory mission is to build multiculturalism and contribute to peaceful coexistence between peoples which seems a particularly urgent mission today. »
The rector's decree refers to the statute of the University, where “it is indicated” among other things that the University promotes and encourages “the processes of meeting, dialogue, mediation between people of different languages and cultures, in the aim of promoting civil life”. and peaceful coexistence which arises from mutual recognition and mutual respect” and that therefore the University is committed “to the dissemination of multilingualism and multiculturalism in harmony with the lines dictated by European institutions and the UN “.
He then explains that “one of the objectives of the rectoral mandate is the construction of relationships and relationships beyond diplomatic channels, beyond the logic of belonging and beyond colonialist or promotional strategies to build global citizenship , by practicing a multiculturalism in which identity is not a reality.” closure, but meeting” and we talk about “the need to give a visible sign of solidarity with the Palestinian population of Gaza”.
For these reasons, after having also heard the favorable opinion of the director of the department of humanist studies and the general director, also in her capacity as responsible for educational management and the Urp, the rector decrees “the suspension of educational activities for April 10, 2024, as a sign of sharing for the day of 'Id al-fitr', the great Islamic holiday of breaking the fast of Ramad”.
Montanari then declared today that the decision “would have been (and will in any case) be the subject of a press release” from the University “immediately after Easter”.
