University+dissent+La+Pantera

In Italy, the second half of the 20th century was characterised by relevant movements of dissent, above all in the Universities. One of the most important movements spread all over Europe at the end of the 60’s. In those years manifestations were organized against Government’s policy, which concerned not only the university system, but also the social situation. The most recent movement, which took place at the end of the 80’s, was called ‘La Pantera’; its aim was a pacific and democratic transformation of the University organization.

‘La Pantera’ (The Panther) was a movement of protest organized by University students, against the draft bill of Ruberti, the minister of Education and Scientific research. The aim of this reform was a radical transformation of the Italian University, leaving the research in the hands of private companies, so that enterprises could choose which research projects to fund. Moreover, companies could enter in the university board of directors. This draft bill would have lead up to a diminishing prestige of humanistic faculties, in opposition to the scientific and technological ones. Furthermore, the smallest universities, which couldn’t find aid for research, would have been doomed to disappear.



The first action that showed student’s disagreement was the occupation of the University of Palermo on the 6th December 1989. Soon after, a lot of Italian students joint the protest, occupying many others faculties, for example in Rome, Florence, Pisa and Padua, too. Almost everywhere, the occupation was characterized by self-managed seminars, lectures in collaboration with professors, and the creation of specific libraries, in order to show the right educational system. Students wanted to give an example of a good university system, in order to make the institutions understand that the research and experimentation were essential for highest level of teaching, instead of insisting on the mere repetition of notions, as in the normal lectures.



Mass-media depicted this movement as a terrorist one, involved with the armed fight of communism. This image created a misunderstanding between the public opinion and the students, which till that moment had tried to be ideological but non-violent. The occupation lasted 127 days, at the end of which, students were defeated by the passage of the law and by their incapacity to find another way to protest different from the occupation of the faculties to the bitter end.


 * CURIOSITY: The name ‘La Pantera’**

This movement, at the beginning, hadn’t a name. During the period of the manisfestation, a panther escaped from the Zoo of Rome and nobody was able to catch it. The animal left on its way tracks that were always in different place from the expected one. Some journalist saw a relation between students protest and the animal behaviour.



The symbol of the movement is still visible today in the walls of some university building.

The B-Team Monica, Elena, Annalisa, Barbara