Fighting violence and fostering social integration, extolling the values of legality, sacrifice and merit. The eighth edition of the Legality and Merit project has come to an end, organised by Luiss University thanks to a memorandum of understanding with numerous institutions and originating from an idea of Professor Paola Severino, President of Luiss School of Law.
“Legality is feeling at peace with the world and at peace with oneself”, said Paola Severino, quoting the words of a young prisoner. Professor Severino, who spoke at the project's closing ceremony, which took place in Aula Magna at the University’s Viale Pola campus, added: "It seemed to us the best way to talk about these issues: to ask young people to explain to other young people that you do not win by pulling strings, violence or cunning, but through merit. Sacrifice and passion, over time, make it possible to achieve extraordinary results.”
More than 180 Luiss students took part in the project, selected to take on the role of “Ambassadors of Legality” and to work together with hundreds of girls and boys from high schools all over Italy, from young offenders schools (IPM), juvenile social services offices (USSM), ministerial communities and, for the first time, a juvenile detention centre (CPA) to build bridges of legality, inclusion and the future.
The final works stemming from the initiative were presented during the closing ceremony. Equal first place was awarded to the rap song “(This)Onore” by the “Silvio Paternostro” young offenders school in Catanzaro, which tackles stereotypes of organised crime in Calabria, and the short film “Oltre il silenzio ... Testimoni di coraggio!” by the “Giovanni Falcone” secondary school in Palazzolo sull'Oglio, which arose out of direct contact with witnesses and victims of gender-based violence.
Once again this year, thanks to the support of Enel Foundation, Luiss University has provided merit-based scholarships for young participants so as to enable them to enrol in the University's degree programmes, in order to continue building future frameworks of legality and merit. In addition, Luiss has provided scholarships for the Summer Schools.