The Alma Mater awards an honorary degree to Liliana Segre

Liliana Segre, Senator for Live, Holocaust survivor, and a tenacious custodian of a personal and historical memory generously passed down to the younger generations, will be receiving an honorary degree from the University of Bologna. Rector Giovanni Molari will personally present her with the Alma Mater’s degree in Philosophy in Milan, at 4 p.m. on Friday, 3 March.

The award ceremony, which will take place at Liliana Segre's home, will be attended by Prof. Marina Lalatta Costerbosa, representing the Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies, and Anna Maria Bernini, the Minister of University and Research.

The event will be streamed live on the University of Bologna’s YouTube channel for the entire university community and the public at large.

"The proposal to award a University of Bologna honorary degree in Philosophy," state the motivations submitted by the Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies of the Alma Mater, "is to be understood as both a thank you and a promise: that of picking up one of the many batons that Senator Segre's life story and her civil, moral and cultural commitment offer our democratic society and, in turn, passing it on as best we can in the cultural activities that, through our work, we are called upon to make a sincere and serious contribution to.”

"Few people today," says Rector Giovanni Molari, "arouse as much admiration and gratitude as Senator Segre. I am a firm and enthusiastic supporter of this honorary degree, as a heartfelt and dutiful recognition of the Senator’s unceasing work, bearing witness, preserving and transmitting the memory of the Holocaust, promoting respect, and concretely implementing the values underpinning our Constitution."

"We are very grateful to Senator Segre," adds the Rector, "for joyfully accepting the award: we are very proud to count her among our honorary graduates. We would also like to thank her for agreeing to share the award ceremony with our entire community and with the public at large, which will undoubtedly want to be a part of this important moment. The Alma Mater will thus serve as a go-between in paying respectful homage to the Senator on behalf of the entire country.”