University, Medicine derby for the rector’s chair: but it’s also Lagalla-Micari duel

The game is wide open. Officially, the nominations have not yet been presented and it is not yet known whether they will vote in July or September. But even if at a distance – as the anti-Covid rules require – the electoral campaign for the new rector has already begun. There are currently two candidates and the battle is all within the Faculty of Medicine. One is Massimo Midiri, full professor of Radiology, the other is that of Igiene Francesco Vitale. A first simplistic reading would see the first – who was a pupil of Elio Adelfio Cardinale who is keen to underline it – supported by the former rector and regional councilor for Education Roberto Lagalla and the second, considered to be from the center-left area, heir to the current rector Fabrizio Micari who would be ready to support him.

But in this challenge, which for the first time is being played in Medicine, things are not all exactly as they seem and so it turns out that Lagalla in the past also had excellent relations with Vitale and that the pro-rector in pectore chosen by Midiri, the Professor of Engineering Enrico Napoli, he was secretary of the Circolo Libertà of the Pd. The other, the pro-rector indicated by Vitale, the ordinary lawyer Enrico Camilleri, of Micari was a wedding witness.

Midiri, who first launched his candidacy placing himself in discontinuity with Micari, immediately clears the field: “Lagalla is a dear friend with whom I have shared the academic path for a long time but I believe that politics must remain out of these elections – he says – the experience of contamination they have experienced in recent years has not done the University any good. Among the points of my program is that of modifying the statute providing for the forfeiture for those who make other choices ».

University of Palermo, the academic year begins online. Micari: “Positive balance”

by Tullio Filippone

February 22, 2021-

The reference is to Micari’s race as a candidate of the center-left in the regional ones. But if Midiri criticizes his choice to remain at the helm after the rejection of the polls, the current rector who yesterday inaugurated the academic year and who will remain in office until October, says he is ready, having left Steri, to “put in field if the administrative experience gained in recent years with good results were to be used ». Regional and municipal are approaching even if Micari is keen to point out that “he can’t wait to go back to Engineering to do research.”

Both Midiri and Vitale say they have the right curriculum to aspire to lead the University and both assure that their goal is “collegial governance”. “I want to redesign the map of the profession in the light of what the pandemic is leaving us – says Vitale – but also aim to make Palermo the University of the Mediterranean”. “We must have a university worthy of the fifth city in Italy,” says Midiri.

Discussions with the departments have already begun with remote meetings, but both candidates hope that as the vote approaches, they can return to organizing face-to-face meetings.
The challenge should be two. Although for some time there has been the hypothesis of a descent into the field of the pro-rector Fabio Mazzola.

In the challenge that divides Medicine – which for years has been churning out the rectors alternating with Engineering – not only the teachers but also the votes of the Ata staff and students will count a lot. “This is what happens – says an ordinary – when the game is open as in this case”. The Udu has already presented the proposals to both: taxes, limited number and new digital tools. For the students’ association these are the issues on which the comparison will be played. «Both candidates – says Matteo Norcia, spokesperson for Udu – have interesting profiles. We have given both of us a document with our proposals ». The reservation on the date of the vote will be dissolved in the coming weeks. At Steri there is already talk of nothing else.

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