The College Voice

Media Credit: Dmitry Gurvits During a lecture on Nov. 19, a Princeton students asks Romano Prodi about his ouja board past.

On November 19, Romano Prodi, two-time Italian Prime Minister and former Goldman Sachs economist, gave a well attended public lecture at Princeton University.

Most of Dr. Prodi's lecture was focused on the development of the European Union and its importance to European cohesion, saying the EU is "a union of minorities".

Dr. Prodi's experience as the head of two Italian governments and President of the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, lends credibility to his view of the role of Europe in a multilateral world, the lecture's topic.

"Twentieth century Europe has been the most important political laboratory in the whole world," he said, adding later that unless the African Union becomes more like the EU, "the continent is lost."

The audience members, roughly 100 people, was an amalgamation of Princeton University Italian Department faculty and students, local Italian-Americans and other individuals, including Mercer student Shawn Scott, a 19-year old Political Science major who, when asked to comment on Dr. Prodi's lecture said, "as far as the quality of information, it was something that could be expected from a political figure in terms of ambiguity and addressing legitimate issues."

When asked if the EU would take the lead in curbing global climate change, Dr. Prodi said "well, there need to be global standards. Without global standards, there is nothing."

Janis Ikeda, a 23-yearold Lehigh University graduate, said she was interested in both the topic and Dr. Prodi, citing his stature as a draw. This was her first Public Lecture Series lecture and she said she would consider attending another, depending on the lecturer. Ms. Ikeda, a Plainsboro resident who attended the lecture with a friend, said in a phone interview, "as international relations majors [the lecture] was really broad, and didn't go into the depth we'd hoped."

However, Dr. Prodi was unequivocal when an unidentified Princeton University student asked him about an incident involving a kidnapping and a Ouija board in 1978. At the time, Dr. Prodi was a Professor of Industrial Organization and Industrial Policy at the University of Bologna. When Aldo Moro, himself a two-time Italian Prime Minister, was kidnapped on March 18, 1978 by the Red Brigade, a militant Marxist group linked to the KGB, Dr. Prodi and some colleagues held a seance which revealed Moro's location, as he and his colleagues testified to the Moro Commission in 1980. The Ouija lacked the requisite specificity, and despite the efforts of law enforcement, Aldo Moro was shot and killed by his captors 54 days after his kidnapping.

The student, whom Dr. Prodi misheard and he subsequently invited on stage, asked if Dr. Prodi still stood by his sworn testimony that he had gleaned information about Mr. Moro's whereabouts from the spirit of Giorgio La Pira, a prominent Italian politician who died in November 1977, to which Dr. Prodi said only "Yes." The audience laughed and applauded at the brief interaction.

The auditorium, Mc- Cosh 50, had a problem with the podium's microphones, forcing Dr. Prodi to use a hand held one throughout the lecture. Attendees could be overheard saying that Princeton is wealthy enough that everything should work properly.

Article Tools