«Without going into the merits of the matter, it is stated that Salvatore Cuzzocrea is, to this day, a professor in service at the University and, as such, can present requests in accordance with the provisions of the rules and regulations. The application under discussion, presented in December 2025, is currently under investigation. The administration is required to provide feedback according to the established procedures and skills.”
Thus the rector of the University of Messina, Giovanna Spatari, intervenes on the controversy following the inclusion on the agenda of the department council of the request for affiliation presented by the former rector Cuzzocrea to the department of Biomedical, Dental and Morphological and Functional Images (Biomorf), and not to the Chibiofaram department, of which he was part and which approved a resolution of so-called “difference”.
The suspension ordered by the Review
The investigation involving the former rector led, among other things, to the decision of the Court of Review to suspend Cuzzocrea for one year “from the exercise of public teaching in any university in the national territory”.
Pietro Navarra’s speech
Cuzzocrea’s predecessor at the helm of the University, Pietro Navarra, also spoke on the matter, highlighting how the inclusion of the item on the agenda of the Department Council cannot be considered “an automatic fulfillment”.
According to Navarra, a more prudent assessment would suggest that the examination of the request, at this stage, could be in conflict with the needs of institutional neutrality, transparency and prudence that the university administration has already declared it wants to monitor in relation to the matter.