The Dramatic Situation in the Gaza Strip

Dear Members of the Bocconi Community,

The conflict in the Middle East and the dramatic situation in the Gaza Strip remind us every day of the fragility of human life and the vulnerability of the very essentials of existence: security, health and the future. Among the most silent victims of war are education — interrupted or denied to entire generations of young people — and research — the absence of which deprives societies of the ability to progress and build new solutions for a better future.

As a university we cannot ignore this suffering. Education and research are the foundation on which to build bridges between cultures, rebuild societies after the wreckage left by violence and restore dignity to those who have lost it. Knowledge is never neutral: it is a civic responsibility, it is a chance for redemption, it is the very condition that allows us to imagine and foster peace.

For this reason, Bocconi is renewing its commitment not only to observe, but to act. After welcoming students from Ukraine, today we are working to offer study opportunities to young Palestinians through the Bocconi Inclusion Programs. It is not only about opening the doors of our community, but about affirming a principle: no conflict should ever silence the voice of knowledge and no war should ever close the path to education.

Our role as an international university community is to nurture dialogue and cooperation, to reject oversimplifications and hatred, and to seek within the complexity of differences the possibility of a just coexistence. In a time of walls and divisions, knowledge is the only truly lasting bridge.

In this spirit, we reaffirm our solidarity with all innocent victims, on every side, and our commitment to ensuring that Bocconi is increasingly a place where study becomes an instrument of freedom, dignity and shared hope.

Francesco Billari             Riccardo Taranto
Rector                               Managing Director