Anti-violence desk in Vicenza: from May it will be active to support the local university community

TheUniversity of Paduaand theMunicipality of Vicenzahave signed an agreement to open ananti-violence deskin the University’s Vicenza campus.

The help desk will beactive from Mayand will offer the university communityfree support in the event of discrimination, harassment, abuse, violence against women and towards gender and sexual minority groups, which may occur within the university facilities in the Vicenza area or in the contexts of reference of the people who attend it.

The Vicenza desk, financed by the Veneto Region and supported by the University’s contribution, is part of the regional law ‘Regional interventions to prevent and combat violence against women’. It will operate in close contact with the Listening Desk launched in Padua on 1 July 2024, which was set up as part of the Responsible University – UniRe project, thanks to which, to date, support has been offered to the university community, mostly female students who have reported dysfunctional relationships in which, for example, the partner does not accept the end of the relationship.

The new listening point will also be an articulation of theAnti-Violence Centre in via Vaccari 11, which will be responsible for ensuring the organisational and operational functionality of the new access point. This will make it possible to expand the CEAV’s territorial network– which already has counters in the municipality of Arzignano and in the municipality of Pojana Maggiore – and to increase both knowledge of the existence of the regional anti-violence network and awareness of how to act to prevent and combat this phenomenon.

‘The counter aims to facilitate contacts for people who are victims of violence, abuse and mistreatment,’ explains Prof. Gaya SpolveratoThe opening of a desk in Vicenza is particularly indicative of how a university with more than 70,000 students is located in an area that is not just Padua, and how important it is to offer equal opportunities to all. The opening of a desk in Vicenza is particularly indicative of how a university with over 70,000 students is located in an area that is not just Padua, and it is important that equal opportunities are offered to all enrolled students wherever they study, thus creating a strong sense of belonging and community’.

‘The Municipality of Vicenza,’ says Councillor for Social Policies of Vicenza Matteo Tosetto, ’has wholeheartedly endorsed the decision to open this new service as part of the initiatives promoted against violence and discrimination. The news, starting with the case of Giulia Cecchettin, has taught us that even in acculturated places like the university, the scourge of gender abuse can creep in. The help desk that Ceav, with its many years of experience in the area, will manage at the university will be a service for the increasingly numerous academic community in the city’.

The new counter opened at the university’s Vicenza campus is located atEx Gil, Contra’ della Piarda n.9, the current seat of the Department of Industrial Systems Technology and Management.