Aula Zappa, the time is 19:00 of April 10th, 2025. The room is crowded with people, clapping their hands and hitting the wooden pavement with their feet. The two sides of the political spectrum of our university duly enter through the door and sit down in opposite halves of the room, creating a spectacle that resembles San Siro on the derby night, when the two curves of the stadium scream at each other and never for a moment act as one. Hundreds, if not thousands, of students have been waiting for this debate, the final confrontation between Astra and Blab, between Camilla Raspino and Giulia Gambardella, the two lists’ candidates to the Board of Directors. This highly anticipated event was organised by the Bocconi Media Team united (Tra i Leoni, Radio Bocconi and Bocconi TV) and hosted by Professor Massimo Amato. Before I start this chronicle of what I witnessed, a premise is necessary: although maintaining a neutral point of view is an essential part of any kind of journalism, I cannot hide at times my own opinions on the topics of the debate and on how the event played out. I hope that, as I move to highlight both parts’ critical points, my approach is appreciated by our readers.
Once the dust has settled and the people are finally sat the debate can begin, with the two candidates’ initial statements. The first one to talk is Camilla, with her Astra program in full display, later on followed by the counterpart, Giulia with a similar speech on the Blab program. The two then proceeded to comment on their adversary points and a brief discussion on some points arose from this. I will not elaborate on all the specific topics that were mentioned and discussed in this initial part of the event, as both programs can be already found online and are there to be read before the elections. But I will go through the details discussed which mostly inflamed the room.
Among the topics covered during this phase we find several issues that the student community has felt to be important. Astra focused on the quality of the teaching, advocating for more concrete and practical seminars instead of more theoretical ones. This sparked a response on the other side of the aisle, which pointed out that many of the proposed “new” courses are actually already existing, in a way or the other. Blab proposal of making Bocconi and Jobs more specifically targeted to particular courses was criticised by Astra, which claimed that this idea is based on a wrong premise and that it completely disregards the recruitment dates. As you might notice, I have no idea of what these people are talking about, so I reduce myself to reporting the positions as they were expressed.
A major topic in the debate, which would also come back later on when data from the survey was shown, were the video recordings of classes. Blab made them central in their electoral program, both for those students who are also working and for those instances where class attendance is impossible due to circumstances outside of students’ control, such as strikes. According to the survey conducted by Radio Bocconi, Tra i Leoni and Bocconi TV, 83% of the respondents believed that this last measure in particular is necessary. Astra contested the extension of cases in which distance learning and lesson recording are provided, as they believe that campus life is an essential part of Bocconi experience. Along this line they proposed an academically recognised gap year, in order to allow students to better enjoy campus opportunities while they are here. To be frank, in their program this is mentioned in a slightly different way, emphasising this gap year as an opportunity to work before graduation. At the end of the day whether you believe that lesson recordings and distance learning are essential needs for students is highly correlated with the distance between your bed and Velodromo’s automatic doors.
The delivery of the two candidates in this initial part was far from perfect, on both sides. Camilla started out very shaky in her initial statement, basically reading the program from the computer, as if she was seeing it for the first time. The four minutes long shopping list attitude was much improved in her response, when Camilla felt much more confident: eye on the target and fist on the table. Giulia, on the other hand, took a less aggressive stance in her speech. Caring and smiling most of the time as she described fewer policies than Astra, but more in detail and with far better flow. The main problem, which has also been widely criticised in these days, was her English. In a recent interview, given to Radio Bocconi and Tra i Leoni, she herself recognised the language barrier to be one of her limits. Indeed, during her reply to the Astra program, Giulia appeared far less prepared than her counterpart, which might be ascribed to the fact the Blab posted their program some days before the debate day, when Astra’s had already been published.
After this first phase of the event was concluded, through the noisy applauses of the audience, Radio Bocconi presented to the participants part of the data collected through the survey they had conducted in collaboration with Tra i Leoni and Bocconi TV in the recent days. Apart from the already discussed opinion on lesson recordings, respondents have expressed their views on several topics, only a small fraction of which were displayed during the debate. The percentages under scrutiny were displayed and later on commented by the two candidates, who of course tried to make them play out in their favour.
Giulia, who went first this time around, commented the data by pointing out that many issues that the students felt important to be addressed were already part of Blab’s electoral program. The free provision of menstrual products, which is supported by 87% of respondents, or the emphasis on the accommodation search in Milan, something which, according to 80% of respondents, the university does not provide enough support in. Astra’s Camilla took a slightly different approach to this phase of the event, by discussing what her list has already been doing for the issues mentioned in the survey. She said that Astra is already working to provide free menstrual products and that, through their network, they have been doing their best to help students looking for accommodation or subletting opportunities. Camilla argued that this last problem in particular is felt in the whole city of Milan, and that only through the collaboration among students the Bocconi community could be partially spared from it. The standing ovation of one side of the room, the stellar one of course, served as a remark of the strong message she pushed here, in one of her best moments of the debate.
Another big issue that came under scrutiny from the data is inclusivity and discrimination on campus: 15% of respondents do not consider Bocconi to be an inclusive place, while 17% of them has experienced some form of discrimination. Although these two figures might not seem high, they are still far too much to be acceptable. Giulia’s comment on this data was that Blab experiences the problem of lack of inclusivity themselves, starting from the marginalised international community. The anti-discrimination tools provided by the university, namely the Anti-Discrimination Service Desk, are enough to counter these terrible instances, but they should be more widely publicised to be effective. Camilla’s take on the matter was certainly stronger, as she argued that all together it is possible to shape the mind of the students and to completely prevent discriminatory behaviour. Although this might seem to be a utopian idea, it is one of the core principles around which Astra was founded.
From this point onwards the debate entered its most heated stage, as the questions from the public began. This opportunity was immediately captured by both parties to present the two candidates with controversial topics, which created some moments of tension. The third, and final, question, which unfortunately did not cover the most important issue of our age (the unacceptable queues in Velodromo’s toilets, of course), asked the candidates to list their previous achievements. The answer to this question was basically non-existent for both Camilla and Giulia, who instead relayed much stronger answers to the first two questions from the public.
To begin with, the first question from the public was addressed to Blab by a man standing on Astra’s side of the room. He grabbed the microphone and started to argue that the increases in university tuitions of the recent years, which Blab has pledged to fight, are used to supply more scholarships and financial supports to those Bocconi students that need them. After some noise came from the Blab crowd, Giulia answered promptly. In an aggressive and direct style, she declared to be tired of this narrative, which she believes to be false and not grounded in reality. Her argument was that similar increases have not happened in other universities in Italy and that Astra’s comment was uninformed and only made to attack Blab’s program. Frankly, I wouldn’t even know where to start in order to prove either sides of the argument true or false. What is certain is that Giulia’s final remark, closing up the response, that the middle class is increasingly penalized from the situation, is certainly true.
The second question was the one that sparked the most intense moments of confrontation in the debate and in the whole electoral campaign, also in the days following this event. The point raised against Astra is that of political affiliation with right-wing Italian party Fratelli d’Italia, currently expressing the prime minister Giorgia Meloni. The accusations were not explained in detail during the event, and if you are really eager to hear more about this, I suggest you open any Instagram page affiliated with either one of the two lists, which have not been talking of anything else in the recent days. Camilla’s defense, as strong as it could have been, was that Astra is an independent force, which has sometimes had dialogue with all national parties, as their institutional role demands. She claimed with vigor that Astra’s only goal is social and meaningful impact on the student’s community and that it was actually Blab supporting the candidacy of two politically affiliated individuals. At this point someone from the counterpart’s ranks asked, “Which one?”, promptly followed by Camilla’s “Please do not interrupt me” giving Biden 2020 vibes. Others from the Blab side started to scream “You are embarrassing” and from this point onwards the calm environment which had held up until now collapsed.
I will cut short this part of the event, as the crowd started to chant “Giulia, Giulia, Giulia” and to clap disgracefully for minutes, even before the final statements by the two candidates were concluded. In the 2 minutes of her final statement, Giulia pledged to represent everyone in the university, and to work with the minority to achieve meaningful change, as their objective was to stand besides students at all times, focusing on real issues that they care about. Camilla, on the other hand, closed up summarising Astra’s values of representation and friendship, embodied by the competent candidates they put forward and in their continuous work to support students’ in any way possible, even when their merit is not rightfully recognised.
As the time ran out and the room rapidly grew empty, the debate continued indefinitely among individuals of the two teams who stayed. Insults, discussions, and arguments went on for hours, I am confident, but I did not remain to hear them. I had had enough of this Bocconian display, which at some point becomes too much even for the most lighthearted observer. The hatred, the viciousness, the unfruitful competition that I felt in those final moments of the debate, were something not to be proud of, especially when the aim of the whole electoral process should be to better represent the students of our university. But maybe it is exactly this that we are and exactly this that we deserve as a community, even though we hate to admit it.
My name is Pietro Ferrari and I was born and raised in the city of Milan. After three fantastic years in BIG I have decided to continue my Bocconi Journey in Politics and Policy Analysis. My interests span across multiple fields but the one I am most interested in are History, Politics and International Relations. But what still makes me hopeful about the world is traveling, the only thing I consider my real passion, especially when I manage to find the time to write down my thoughts and feelings on the road.
