Dominique is twenty years old. She is from Messina but studies in Catania, she is a commuter, just like many other students. But her story is different. In fact a couple of days ago she reported a university professor for sexual blackmail, a serious accusation.

Dominique decided to tell her truth. According to the girl, the professor asked for sexual favours in exchange for help with her exams. And she could have also had the chance to continue with a university career. In order to obtain a 30/30 in the most difficult subject, the professor asked for complete and oral sex. So now we ask ourselves, what type of comprise would have been necessary for a simple 18/30? The hard accusations of the student from Messina are not new.

Stories of nepotism and evaluation criteria “completely out of order”. Students mysteriously fail just because they do not concede themselves. This is a very common story. Just to continue with Sicilian universities, discussions raised after three university students of the Navigation Law Master in Messina accused a 64-year old professor for sexual assault and bribery. In 2001 at the university of Camerino (centre of Italy) a series of hard videos with a professor and some of his students were stolen.

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute