Academic Senate of the University of Turin
The Academic Senate is one of the governing bodies of the University of Turin (UniTo). It meets at the Rectorate, in via Verdi, and is chaired by the university's Rector. Its responsibilities include examining matters of academic policy and, in special sessions, engaging with student representatives on disputes and mobilizations under way at the university.
The special session of November 2026
On 9 November 2026 the Academic Senate met in a special session, called to address the demands raised by the student movement in the preceding weeks, which had culminated in the occupation of the Luigi Einaudi Campus, ending after fourteen days [1][2]. A direct meeting was scheduled for the afternoon between Rector Cristina Prandi and a delegation of five people named by the occupiers [1].
About fifty students, who had marched from the Luigi Einaudi Campus, reached the Rectorate and held a sit-in outside the building while the session was under way [1]. The planned hearing did not take place because, according to the University of Turin, the people invited showed up as a sit-in rather than through the agreed five-person delegation, not following the arrangements that had been set [1][2]. During the sit-in there were moments of tension between students and police, deployed in riot gear, with shoves and some contact as students tried to advance toward the cordon; a banner displayed by the students was seized by Turin's Digos [1].
Despite the hearing not taking place, discussion of the CPS Assembly's demands continued within the session, at the end of which the Academic Senate remained in session to draft a joint document responding to the requests submitted [2]. The topics addressed included the university's collaborations with defence-sector companies, in particular Leonardo and Thales Alenia Space, and the agreement between Confindustria and the University of Turin: the university confirmed its intention to introduce a system to assess and monitor risks linked to so-called dual use, without announcing the end of existing collaborations [2]. The request for the university to take a public stand against cuts to the Fondo di finanziamento ordinario (FFO, ordinary funding fund) was also discussed, with pressure to be directed at the Ministry of University and Research and at the CRUI [2].
Sources
- UniTo, studenti in presidio durante la seduta straordinaria del Senato Accademico. L’Ateneo: “Modalità non rispettate”, tensioni in via Verdi — TorinoToday, 9 November 2026
- Università di Torino, salta l’audizione con gli studenti in presidio: il Senato Accademico risponde alle richieste dell’occupazione — Quotidiano Piemontese, 9 November 2026