Back to Think Tech, this is American Issues Take One. I'm standing in. I'm Jay Fiedel, and I'm standing in for Tim Epichella. Title of our discussion today is, what is going on with Mike Johnson's new speaker of the House? It's unfolding, but where is it going to lead? And our guests are Carl Campania and Manfred Hennigson. Carl's a member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, long, long time member. And Manfred Hennigson is an Emeritus Political Science Professor for UH Manoa. So Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, apparently supported by Donald Trump and the right wing, supported and controlled by Donald Trump, and the right wing arch conservatives, OK? And Johnson is in the process of revealing himself.  And those things alone tell you a lot about him. We are seeing lots of news about him. Some of this is very troubling. So we need to connect the dots, and we're going to find out what he's going to do on important issues coming before the House and thus the Congress. And the moves that he may make in this very influential position as speaker as we get closer to the November elections. It's all pretty scary to have him in that job. He's a man to watch. And we're going to take a closer look at him today. So Manfred, tell us, who is this guy? Where did he come from? Why is he speaker? Whose interests is he serving? Well, you are asking a very detailed question that I cannot answer in the way you raised them. I mean, he is part of the conservative fog in the House. And whether he will survive the next few months is a very interesting question. He may be gone very soon because he seems to be confronted with the same issues that McCarthy was confronted with. His reactionary convictions will not save him from possibly facing the same fate. But I mean, he is, as you pointed out in your introduction, he is an evangelist, a evangelist, Protestant Christian.  They want to restore male supremacy in American family life. They want to somehow reduce the influence of women, not only feminists, but women in general, in public life. So what you have there is a reactionary agenda that is absolutely stunning. Oh, it gets worse, Manfred. He's part of a group that believes that theocracy should control government and everything in society. That's really quite it. And I remember, do you remember the First Amendment that says there shall be no state religion? That's not what this theocracy approach involves. The other thing is he believes, or he's part of a group that believes that gays should be killed, prosecuted and killed. I guess what made him famous is the funding bill where you got it through just like McCarthy. But what's making him famous now is he opposes any aid for Ukraine. And as for Israel, he's OK with that as long as you defund the Internal Revenue Service, which is a very strange linkage. And I guess a question I would ask you before we move to other issues is, that's kind of strange to link funding bills, funding for the government, funding for Ukraine, funding for Israel, that the administration has proposed and needs to conduct its policy, geopolitical policy, and national policy to link them to conservative issues. Seems to me that's something we really haven't heard before. And he stands in the way of these policies of the administration. He might agree with them. The arch conservatives might agree with them, but they tag on this linkage. What does that mean to you as a political scientist? Well, look, it reflects isolationist tendencies in the country as a whole. I mean, the funding issues for Israel and Ukraine is certainly not supported in the way they were initially, especially with Ukraine. So you have an isolationist tendency reemerging in American politics, something that you had in the 20s and 30s. Rachel Meadows' new book describes that in detail how close to fascism America was in the 30s. Now, there are a lot of proto-fascist tendencies in contemporary United States. And Johnson, I think, comes very close to that, apart from good old Donald Trump himself. So I mean, you should not simply talk about these figures. You should talk about these figures representing tendencies in American society that have been there and are now becoming even more prominent. Well, it affects us, too. I mean, it's not just that these conservative things get tagged onto important bills, but it concerns us. Because to me, the next step is the fascism you talked about. Let me move to Carl for a minute. Carl, you know, there's been plenty of press about George Santos. And I do not mean to imply that he is your friend, my friend, or Manfred's friend. George Santos got expelled from Congress. But Mike Johnson voted against that. And all the Republican leadership, if you will, voted against that. It managed to get through with the strength of the Democratic leadership, Democratic votes. What does this tell us? So George Santos really doesn't belong in Congress at all. He's from another world. What does it tell us about Mike Johnson? It tells us that Mike Johnson is a puppet of Donald Trump. It tells us that the leadership understood that they needed to allow the expulsion for small lies as a sort of cover to say, look, we do kick out even our own when there's a lie that we agree with that that was a lie. If we don't agree as a lie, then, you know, especially if it's a big lie. And this is Ari Melbert, where he says, small lie, bad, big lie, good is how he refers to that. The big lie is what they all are still backing and supporting and taking need for. And that's really all that is. They're trying to point out, look, we were able to oust our own and even hurt our own numbers. And they're willing to say that. And he went through an ethics investigation. And we saw, well, they were allowed to vote their conscience instead of being directed. And that is the only aspect of it that I would say there was a bright light for. Well, it's funny because you say that. And when I think about Mike Johnson, I think about a guy who voted against the electoral ballots on January 6th, even after all the trouble in Congress and the insurrection, he voted against confirming the election of Biden. And he voted against the impeachment proceedings that were started shortly thereafter. So it seems like- He also voted for, he voted in favor of stopping the elections. He voted in favor of, I should say the vote counts. He voted in favor of the judicial actions in Texas in an effort to throw the election back to the states. So he voted in favor of all of that. He is a Republican from Louisiana, first of all. He is an evangelical. He does believe in theocracy. The problem that exists, and you referenced the First Amendment, the First Amendment does not actually say freedom of religion. It says the government shall not establish a religion, a national religion, a state religion. And these guys, these guys are saying they wanna have a theocracy for the government, for the people, for the country that will govern our country and beyond the constitution. Right, that's what, let's see, what they want is, they want the religion that they agree with. They want the words and the religion and the faith and the belief system that they can get behind, that supports everything that was just dated with regards to women need to do this and they need to abide by our rules. All people need to abide by our rules. And if they can agree with what we say, then they can be allowed to vote, but only if they agree with what we say. If not, then they're gonna be minimalized, trivialized. If not, Trump is going to utilize his retribution tour to put everybody who disagrees with him in jail. One more thing, Carl, and this has been in the news in the last couple of days, is that Johnson is going to blur the faces of the insurrectionists on the video that he had, 40 hours of video. McCarthy had the same video. So that's a problem. 44,000 hours, 44,000 hours of video. Oh, thank you. It's the US code 18, section two, aiding and abetting is what that is. And it's very clear and blatant. Not just everything that Trump has said about it, that he will get back in office and he will pardon everyone who's already been, all of the patriots that have been forcibly and correctly put in jail. Yeah, he calls hostages. He calls hostages. I love that, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, Mike Johnson is in line with that, saying that he wants to protect people. He wants to blur their faces to protect them from DOJ prosecution. That's aiding and abetting a crime. And the thing is, what isn't really talked about too much or enough necessarily, is how all of them, it's not just Trump who's trying to protect himself from going to jail, they're all implicated. And there can be a number of superseding actions brought as a result of what has been discovered. And just because they haven't been indicted yet, they can still be indicted. And every one of these MAGA members from Matt Gaetz to Mike Johnson can be implicated in the same conspiracy, in which case they can all be put in jail. So they are all, and this is what Trump's plan was. How many of you can I get roped into this so that you have to protect yourselves and therefore protect me? You know, the argument's been made that the Department of Justice already has that video. So what's the difference if you blur the faces? And the answer has been, wait a minute, this is like the FBI's most wanted list. If it's exposed to the public, they may recognize those faces and associate those faces with a name. You've heard that, haven't you? Yes. And that's the idea of what public or private people will retaliate against them individually. Well, the only people who seem to try to retaliate or go after individuals are people that Trump identifies as hostile to him. Not hostile to the country, hostile to him. You know, Manfred, one of the most troubling things about the news recently is Trump's comment at the end of some interview on, by one of the conservative interviewers, where he was asked whether he would, you know, follow the rules or destroy the government. And he said, no, no, no, I'll follow the rules of democratic society and all that, except on day one. And it's a very quizzical kind of statement he made. What did he accept on day one? Why is day one different than all the other days? Why would you make that statement and say you'll follow the rules, but not on day one? And, you know, I don't know how you take that. I'm interested in how you take that. I take it to mean that he would change the rules on day one. Well, look, I'm not into Trump hermeneutics. I find this discussion between you and Karl interesting, but you somehow overemphasize the figures and not the fact that there are no mass protests in this country. What is the matter with Americans that they do not go into the streets and protest what is going on, that they're accepting it? So what you have here is the sickness of the country being reflected by figures like Trump and Mike Johnson. And as long as we do not recognize that and personalize the problems in the way we have done, I think people will not really recognize what is going on and how dangerous the situation is. It's not because there is Trump and Johnson. It is dangerous because people do not go in the street and protest as they do and have been doing in France, you know, for quite some time. And even before the war in Israel, you know, in the Gaza war in Jerusalem against Netanyahu, it doesn't happen here, why not? What's the matter with Americans that they accept this madness, you know, in the way they do? I am much more scared of this mass silence than of the idiocy of people like Trump and Mike Johnson. Yeah, okay, and that takes us back to Mike Johnson because the comment has been made that Mike Johnson will assist Trump as other right wing organizations will in the November elections. And as the Speaker of the House, assuming he lasts that long, and I take your point that he might not, but assuming he does last that long, Trump wants him to last that long, that he as the influential Speaker of the House will help Trump overcome any problems in that election. And remember that Trump has a history, a strong history of denying elections. And if Mike Johnson helps him do that, that's a big assist in November, don't you think? Yeah, no, that's true, absolutely true. And for that reason, you know, as much as I despise the silence of the American public, I still believe that there is a rational majority in this country that will not go the way that we are afraid of the country will go, namely making Trump the president again. I still at this point, and I discuss that with friends who disagree with me, I am not as pessimistic as I was, you know, last year, that I think the outcome of many of these investigations and trials will lead to the recognition that America cannot bring Trump back into the White House. Well, let me ask you, let me ask you about that. Are you optimistic, pessimistic? Because you know, it's like every day there is, if you're pessimistic, there's plenty of material out there, and every day it seems to be increasing. No, no, yes, you're right, you're right. So, how do you feel about this? I'm cautiously optimistic. I think that the actual support, the MAGA support, Trump support, I think is a static number. Yes. It has not been growing, but it also has not been shrinking. Part of the problem, and to go to Manfred's question as well, why are Americans not standing up in opposition? Well, I have a couple of thoughts that are one. 1988, 1989 is when it was finalized, the abolishment of the Fairness and Reporting Act and how we now have silos on steroids, thanks to social media. And therefore, we have echo chambers. So, all of the Trump supporters exist the way that they do with the strength that they do, because that's all they hear. That's all social media provides for them. Social media doesn't nor does any media outlet actually say, give a fair and balanced understanding of all of the issues and concerns. It's opinions, and its opinions presented as facts, and that's one big reason why the support is what it is. And then from there, the rest of us are all bogged down trying to make sure that we're actually recovering from COVID. We're actually trying to get ourselves back on track. We see how the economy has actually improved and how we did not fall into the tailspin of a recession that we thought could happen, thanks to bidenomics, thanks to everything that has happened, thanks to the CHIPS Act, thanks to the Investment Act, thanks to everything that has been done. We're all working very hard trying to keep ourselves above and trying to catch up again and get back on top of our financial situations, of our professional situations. So we're busy, we're occupied. But Kyle, what you say about the media situation in the United States that applies to France as well, but you have these major constant, spontaneous protests, demonstrations in Paris and other French cities. And you have it in other cities as well. So in that sense, this American silence is ominous. And for that reason, I would much more focus on this isolationist mentality isolationist mentality that you had already in the 20s and 30s in support of fascist tendencies.  But there are other books about the, of Hitler's American friends in the 30s that describe that up to the most, one of the most prominent right-wing figures in the 30s who was buried in Hanna on Maui, namely Charles Lindbergh. So it has not become a place where people go to celebrate this figure. I'm always asking friends in Hanna, tell me please, when it begins to become a place of reverence. But I'm puzzled about nevertheless, despite of what you said, I'm puzzled about this American silence. I agree and I think it is frightening as well. I think that, I think there's apathy. I think there's fatigue. I think there's a belief by too many, far too many that it can't happen to us. So it's a conceit that will cost us if we are not. But St. Louis' famous novel, it can happen here in 1937. And at that time he meant fascism. Well, it can. Let me also mention the, perhaps the queen, the OG queen of the MAGA movement, Anne Rand. Right, yes. And her first book, Anthem, which was a fictitious story born out of her monarchical loss of monarchy in Russia and how she was opposed to socialism and created this idea, this fantastical idea, that never existed, that we need to fight against the ideas of socialism from her perspective. And the root cause of much of what came out of Anthem and then some of her following books, Fountainhead and so forth, provide the basis of thought for current GOP methodology. Well, let me ask you both a question that bears on all of this. You know, just suppose Trump is able to win and winning doesn't necessarily win the vote, you know, because he denies the other guys win and he claims to win even when he lost.  And, you know, per this discussion, we have a speaker of the house who's, you know, into this evangelistic theocracy thing who doesn't like gays, doesn't like abortion, doesn't like any liberal issue. And these guys, especially Trump, doesn't like democracy, doesn't like the rule of law, doesn't like the constitution. I mean, all the fundamentals of our lives over 200 plus years and certainly our lives now, together with the geopolitical issues that Manfred speaks of, isolationism, you know, has a kind of redounding effect. It isn't just that you shrink, it's that when you shrink things happen in the vacuum outside and they come back and bite you. And so my question to you is, paint me a picture of the ghost of Christmas future, you know, out of Dickens. Just suppose that Trump gets back in power with the help of his friends, especially Mike Johnson. What does life look like? I know we don't have the time to go into every detail, but Manfred, what will life look like in the ghost of Christmas future? Look, if he should get into office without having a majority, I think you will have demonstrations and civil war-like situation in United States. Now, what I am not sure about is how the military will respond. I mean, when you're looking at the opposition of many of the very prominent military leaders during the Trump administration, how they responded to him, how they really despised him and how he wants to kill them, you know, execute them, you have there, I think, in the military leadership, a constitutional affirmation that is quite remarkable. So in that sense, but we have to wonder whether we can rely on that to last. That's true. And let me throw one thing at you. And that's the Tommy Tuba Bill phenomenon where he's been holding up hundreds of promotions. Well, he seems to have relented on that, but only in part because a lot of senior positions he's still holding up. But the theory has been advanced that he's working for Trump. We know he's working for Trump and that he is trying to hold up the process of confirming senior military personnel so that Trump can have a role in appointing them as in when he takes power again. And if that's the case, then he is much more, he, Trump, is much more likely to control the military as he tried to do during his first term. Don't you agree that that's one of the big issues here in the ghost of the Christmas future? But people will remember that. The military leaders will remember what happened to them, what Trumpists tried to do them with their, with the unwillingness to go through with the appointment process. So for that reason, it may be counterproductive what they are doing. They are creating a memory that will not be forgotten. So in that sense, I must admit, I am impressed by the way American military leaders have behaved during the Trump years and how, you know, this has become public knowledge. So much that Trump, I mean, he wanted, he said, really, the last chairman of the, should be killed, should be executed. I mean, it's absolutely stunning. Well, he can control the military. Then he can implement the insurrection act against those protests you were speaking about, right? And he can squash those protests. I don't think, you know, he has not reached that point. I'm sorry. I'm in that sense, you know, I'm optimistic. Strangely enough, I'm optimistic about the military leadership. Okay. Well, let's move to Carl. We're running out of time. Carl, you know, your thoughts about the ghost of Christmas future, if he gets back in power. And let me add one thing we haven't talked about. That is Article 5, which allows for a national constitutional convention, which the arch conservatives are trying hard to do in many states. In fact, in most states. And if we had a constitutional convention, run by the conservatives, we would see the end of the Constitution as we know it. So your thoughts about the future, assuming Trump gets back in power. Okay, that's all really big thoughts and ideas there. So, Trump learned from his first four years in office there that he learned where the weaknesses are and what he had tried to do. He learned that by putting in someone like Kelly, who actually thwarted his efforts, he learned that he needed to make sure he had absolute loyalists in place everywhere. He learned where exactly we have weaknesses. And he is now systematically working behind the scenes, regardless of what he says, and specific to what he says.  So that in the background, what he's doing is formulating the plans to put into position everyone necessary in all places at all levels of government that give him the absolute authority to do what he wants, how he wants. He has said so, and everyone of the MAGA faithful are in lockstep behind. Let's just tear up the Constitution and start again. Let's just have Trump be our dictator going forward. Have him be our strongman because we think he's funny and we think he's, for whatever reason, they think there's strength in his language that he is going to fix everything. Well, fix what? Fix what, exactly. And that's where the debate ends up being, again, there's no point in having the question that he's going to fix everything. Again, there's no point in having the question about that. Fix what? Well, if we're arguing about what we're trying to fix, if we're talking about and worrying about what he might do, well, if that's not going to change the fact that he's going to do everything in his power through state-by-state voting rights changes, through every aspect of the levers and mechanisms that exist in all of their weaknesses to bend them until they break so that he can engage in self-preservation and keep himself out of jail, and he doesn't really care about anybody else after that.  He has said so. He wants to put it aside. Manfred, you know, this is, I mean, Carl makes some very good points about the ghost of Christmas future. And remember that right now, the polls show that Trump is way ahead of anybody else and that he's likely to get the nomination, and he has a huge support in his base around the country. How much of this kind of move to the right, move to autocracy, to fascism, to denying the rule of law in the Constitution reminds you of Germany and Europe in the 30s. Look, as you know, Hitler was not elected. He was appointed. He never got a majority in free elections, but that's not the issue. I still, I mean, I agreed with everything that Carl said. It's this bleak picture that he is painting is not unrealistic, but I think the bleaker, it seems to become the more optimistic I also become because I think people will not accept that. And when you think of the abortion vote in Kansas and in other states, you, when you think of the opposition of American young women, you see their constituencies that I think have not shown up on Trump's and Johnson's radar screen. They underestimated, they think polls are actually results, election results, but there's a difference between polls and votes. And I think for that reason, now you think I may be absolutely crazy to think that there is enough rationality left in the American, that they will not let all of this happen. But remember, one other thing, you talked about the constitution. I mean, the constitution is really an obsolete document in all kinds of regards, not only because of amendment number two, but the Electoral College, the lifetime appointments of Supreme Court judges, all of that is crazy. I mean, the originalists among the law theorists are absolutely bizarre in the insistence on having to protect the original meaning of the constitution. All of these features have to be removed. They are absurd. I mean, they should take an example from the constitution that they have to create in Germany in 1948, where you do not have any of these idiotic measures that the founders put in the constitution for reasons that made sense when they did that in 1789, but they have lost meaning. I mean, think of, well, we talked about it, article. Amendment number two, the right to bearing arms. Well, it made sense, but they didn't have a standing army. And they didn't want to have a standing army because they had the bad experience of the British colonial power. But America has a standing army since the Civil War. And so the federal government has this feature there and it's hands to take care of problems that may occur. Well, Manfred, we're out of time and this deserves another discussion looking into the future and looking, you make a good point about the constitution. Unfortunately, I think the experience that countries have is two things. One is when you start pulling it apart, everything comes apart. And then you have to sort of start from scratch and starting from scratch is very hard and involves a lot of disruption at least. The other thing is that I recognize the value of the German constitution in 1948. It makes me think of the way to peace, the way to true prosperity, the way to a better framework legally for a given country may be through war. And 1948 was the product of the war that had just ended. So I think we have a long way to go here and I think the journey will be dangerous and possibly very destructive. And you guys are both right. We cannot tolerate complacency and apathy. This is a time for every citizen to do whatever he can. And thank you, Manfred Heddingson. Thank you, Carl Campania. It's been a great discussion. Aloha. Thank you. Thank you.


Hello, everybody. Welcome to this meeting and we, congratulations to the assignees of the RASMUS for studies mobility, 22, 23. My name is Simone Acciani, as you probably already know. And I deal with the RASMUS for studies outgoing mobility. Now we are going to read to go through again, to go through the, all the procedures that you will be requested to meet before, during and after your mobility. And after my, my talk, I will leave the floor to my colleague, Angela, who represents the students office, and she will show you the learning agreement, which is a mandatory document for your mobility. Ruling all the, the aspect, the didactic aspect of your mobility and after, after their, after her talk, we leave, we will leave the floor to the RASMUS group.  And so after that, you will be, we will be available to answer all your questions that you can write on, on the chat on, on the YouTube. So now I'm going to share my, my screen seems to be a little slow. Nothing is happening, unfortunately. I don't know if you can hear me. Okay. Maybe here we go. I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but the technology today is against me. At present, I'm looking at a blank screen. This is why I'm silent. Okay. Maybe now we can. So this is, okay, fine. Sorry for keep you waiting. So this is the web page, a RASMUS for studies, which you should know very well. And so we go to the notice of selection. We go to, we go to. Okay. As in these responsibilities. So we have done nearly the 90% of the nomination. This means that we have sent your names to the host universities. The nomination that had not been sent yet is because the host universities has not opened their nomination procedure yet. So we will send the remaining names in the following months in April or in May. So some of you maybe has already received, have already been contacted by the host university and the host university will tell you or is going to tell you what you have to do to meet their application procedure. Because you applied for the mobility at the University of Siena, but you have to apply also to the host university. Okay, because you have to meet their requirements. So if, let's say, if you have not heard from your host university by the second half of April, you can write to us just to just check if everything is okay. And we will give you the contact of the host university and you so you can speak with them and find out if everything is okay. So after you have been accepted by the host university, before the mobility, or this is to say, before you start your mobility, you have to do all these steps. The learning agreement and Angela, my colleague will talk to you later on about this very, very important document. The grant agreement, which is a document requested by the National Agency, the Erasmus National Agency, where you will have to declare the Erasmus period and how much and the grant that you will receive. You will have to, you will have to declare only the European grant agreement. So if you are a recipient of the ministerial integration, you don't have to declare this amount and you will not need to send other documents in order to have these additional grants. So once you have sent to us with the procedure that you will read before the mobility web page, and we will see in a while this web page, you will receive the online language support keys. And because before starting your mobility, you will have to take an online language test. And this is mandatory. So you have to take this test at the beginning of your mobility and at the end of your mobility. So once you have sent the grant agreement, you have to upload your bank details on this video online. Okay, and these are the steps to upload your details. The bank account should be an E-Bahn or you can also use a prepaid card or a card, but the card has to have this IBAN code. And it would be better if this IBAN, this code belongs to a country in Europe because if this code belongs to another country outside Europe, your grant will be charged by the bank commissions, by the bank fees, okay, and so you will get less money. Also, if you are not resident in Italy, okay, in the Scateria online, you have to write your address in your country and the domicile. It means the address in Siena. If you live in the residence of the University of Siena, you have to communicate in a form, and we will see it in a form, the period of your mobility. This is mandatory as well. In case you decide to withdraw your mobility and you can do it at any time, you will have to notify the host university and the University of Siena by sending a waiver form. Of course, the Assignation with no European citizenship, you have to get in contact with the embassies of the embassy of the host country. And please do it as soon as possible in order to know what documents they request and to do all the steps on time. So, we can have a look through the Before the Mobility webpage. So, I was going to study the English version, okay, and here you see there is a menu before the mobility. So, here you can see, you can find all the documents and all the procedures explained again, okay, all the steps that you have to take before start your mobility. You will find the grant agreement, you will find the instructions, the disclaimer international mobility students and all these steps, okay, the language support and so on. And also the form in case you decide not to leave for the mobility. So, this is what you have to do before leaving. During the mobility, once you have started your mobility, you are requested to send the Erasmus certificate and the travel ticket or boarding pass to our email address so that you will be able to pay the grant that is due to you. In case you have to change the courses declared beforehand in your learning agreement, well, you have to make major changes to the original learning agreement and my colleague will tell you about it. You may decide also to extend your mobility. So, if you have, of course, if you have months, Erasmus months available, you can do that. It means that, as you know, you have 12 Erasmus months in your course if your course is Bachelor or Master course.  Okay, so if you have Erasmus months still available, you may decide to extend your period. Not later than, of course, all the mobility must stop, must end before, no later than the 30th of September of this year, of 2023. Okay, but you may ask for this extension. The extension may be covered by the grant or it may be not. It depends on the funds available. At the end of your mobility, in the 10 days after the end of your mobility, you are requested to send the Erasmus certificate with the date. The date of the start, the start of your mobility and the end of your mobility. The learning agreement and as we need to also this document at the end of your mobility and the travel ticket or boarding pass of your way back to Italy or anyway, when you leave your host country. And after that, you will in the next following days, you will receive a message from maybe this domain, but anyway, from a European domain, because you have to fill the survey. And you have here it is written 15 days, but 15 days, but I was told that you have one month at a time to fill this survey. Once you have filled this and this is the last step for the grant, once you have filled this, this questionary, the rest, the remaining part, the balance of your grant will be paid. If you don't send all these documents requested, of course, you may also be requested to refund all the money received. So please pay attention to all these procedures. Okay. I want to stress something just to let you know because sometimes there may be confusion. The international international relations division deal with the administration of the mobility. Okay. So, as you see, the notice of selection, the grant all these administrative documents and procedures, while the students office deal with the academic part of the mobility. That means the learning agreement, the courses and the recognition of the credit that you will get during the mobility. Okay. So, after this, so I can like to show you again. So, during the mobility, as you see, so here you find that you have to give to your host university and then send to us with the dates of your mobility and the extension form in case you decided to extend your period. And in case you change the date of your period, the dates of your period, you have to, that are my colleagues, known by this document. And last, after the mobility. So here, of course, is written again, what you have to do at the end of your mobility. And these are the main phases and steps of the Erasmus post studies mobility. In addition, I would like to add some other information. So, for example, the hosting. Okay, so usually, during the accept the procedure, the application procedure sent to you by your host, the host university, there are, there should be also some information concerning the hosting. Okay, concerning the university residences and and other offers, but in case, in case the host university doesn't give you all these facilities, you can, you may use, you may use, for example, accommodation opportunities abroad. So we have these two, the two agreements with these, sorry, it is not here. Okay. Just hold on. I don't know why. I don't know why it is. Students. So here, as you see, there are two, there are two open portals. Okay. And here you can, you can find some, some help to find an accommodation abroad. Okay, so, or maybe you can, you can ask the Erasmus group for the, for the contacts of the Erasmus group that should be present also in your host university. And maybe they can help you for this very, very important item. The information is insurance. So the university of Siena, the rest of Siena covers only some, some aspects. It means that recover the injuries occurred in, in, in the, at the study place. Okay. And, and, and liability. Okay. It means responsibility that say towards the third parties always. So if you, it means if you, if you cause damages to other people or, or things in, in the plane, the study place. Okay. Just in the study at the study place, not outside. So travel. So whatsoever are not covered. If you're not. Okay. So this is while, while as far as the earth insurance is concerned, please address all the ASL in Siena. Okay. And to know what is what is powered by the, by our national insurance. Okay, because I actually, I do not know what what is the, your, your power, your coverage with the, with the, the, the earth insurance here in Siena. So please address or the ASL in, in Piano Villa or, or to, to maybe also your host university, maybe they will, they will give you some other information about the, the, the earth issues on their countries. So please get this information before, before you leave, because these are very, very important. As I told you before, it is very important to get a visa if you're not a European citizen. So you have to contact as soon as possible, the, the, the embassy. In Italy of your host country in order to get to take all the steps necessary to get the visa. So what I would like also to, to speak, to talk again just a few minutes about the grants. Okay, because sometimes because this situation, and this is an item which is not maybe is not clear to everyone. So, sometimes I still have some, some, still receive some questions about. So, as you see, of course, I think you have already seen all these, all these documents, all these files, but so the.  But you may be, or you may be not an assignee of the grant. And this is, this is, you can find your status, your situation. As soon as I get it. Again. Okay. Anyway, what I wanted to see and know was that you are in the table, you will see to start with one is recipient and the other one is eligible. Okay, so it means that if you are, if you are a recipient means that you will surely you will leave with you will start your mobility with the grant. If you are eligible, it means that at present, if you left, if you left now, okay, you will not, you would not have the grant. So you are eligible to have the grant, but at present you have no grant. But this situation may change, may change later on. And if, if we, if we receive withdrawals or people will shorten their period. Okay, so if grant recipient before you will resign or will shorten their mobility, these will free some money, okay, which will be reallocated. So the people who will pass from eligible to recipient will get, will receive an email, which is official, okay, so these, these, these files will not be updated. Okay. These will remain as they are, but the people will receive the, the people involved in these staff exchange will receive an official email informing them that they have now, they are now recipient of the grant. Okay, so I think that I can, I can leave the floor to, to my colleague Angela, if I find how to, okay, sorry, oh dear. Okay, so please. In the meanwhile, you can of course write your questions in the chat and we will answer your question again, your question later on. Now I leave the floor to my colleague and I try to, okay, yes, I have to share my, my monitor again in order to show you the learning agreement. Okay, sorry. It's not necessary. Fine, fine. I will try. Thank you. Hi guys, I'm Angela Lagana and I work in the Student Office of the Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Sciences. First of all, I would like to congrats with you for being the winner of this wonderful opportunity to have the international mobility in the academic year 2323. This is surely a really important step of your university career and also for your life. Now I'm going to show you something about what you have to do before you leave during your mobility and after the mobility. I will talk about the learning agreement that is what concerns my work. I cannot see my screen. Wonderful. Give me one minute please. Okay. This is the page you saw before. National exchange students. Mobility abroad. Okay. Study and search abroad. I show what about Erasmus for studies. If you click here on the right before the mobility, you can find the learning agreement for studies. That is the first document. Okay. The first thing that I want to tell you is please remember that the learning agreement is a document. So, even though it is formed by many pages, these pages should remain together all the time. I tell you it because sometimes students send us only the second page with the signature or only during the mobility section. It's not correct. It's the same thing as you will show your passport in the airport divided in two or three parts. It's not valid. So, remember that the learning agreement is a document and it has to remain all together for all the time. Here you can see the first part where you have to write your name, surname, information about the University of Siena, and then about the host university and the contact name in the host university. It seems that I see everything white. Don't you see it? But you tell me, are you sharing it with Google Chrome? The page is white. You want to try to put it in the same way then? No, I don't know. I don't know. You don't see it. It seems that... Okay. Here it is. Okay. It's just very slow. Sorry. The first page, the first section is for your date and your data and the information about the sending and receiving institution. Here is the section before the mobility. In this table A, you should write all the exams that you intend to do in your host university and the number of credits offered in the host university. In table B, you will write the corresponding exams in your Italian study plan and the credits should be the Italians one. Please pay attention to indicate correctly the correspondence between the exams that you will do abroad with the exam in your Italian study plan. You can do it simply by writing here, if you can see the arrow, the numbers. One, two, three, four. The number so you can write in table B next to the corresponding exams. It seems simple, but sometimes it can occur that the credits offered in the host university should be different from the number of credits in Siena University. The number of the difference is less than two, it's not an issue. If the number is more and if the difference is higher than two credits, you should avoid to ask for an integration of the exam. It's better if you find two exams in the host university and you ask them to be recognized for one exam in Siena. For example, you have an exam with four credits abroad, another with five credits abroad. You can put them together and ask to be recognized for an exam with nine credits in Siena. Then, then this, you must send the learning agreement to the student and deductive office of your department by email nearly two months before you leave. It's better because we have to send the learning agreement to the deductive committee for approval and for the signature of the head of the deductive committee. Here you can read, responsible person at the sending institution is the head of the deductive committee. The committee usually meet one time a month, so in order to avoid issue with your document, please send the learning agreement nearly two months before your departure. Then when the committee will approve it, we will send the document back in order you can take it abroad or send to the host university if they require. Okay, here we have the section during the mobility. What happens if when you are abroad you discover that one of the exam that you choose before doesn't exist anymore or you don't like it or you're not interested in this topic, you can change your study plan. In order to do this, you can fill this table A2 where you will write the name of the exam that you want to delet and you have to fill here the deleted component or the name of the exam that you want to add. And remember to fill added component. In table B2 you should write the name of the exam that you ask to be recognized for the new one in your study plan in case you add one otherwise you can leave it white. Remember to give a correct indication of the exact correspondence as in the before the mobility part, writing numbers next to each name of the exam in table A2 and in the corresponding table B2. Okay, then this you should send the learning agreement again to the student deducted office for the committee approval and we will send you back after the approval as before. At the end of your mobility when you are in Siena again you must send the final learning agreement to the student deducted office by email. Fill in this table, it's an help for us and for the committee. You can write the name of the exam that you passed abroad and the number of credits and the grades if you have. And then in table D you can write the corresponding exams in your Italian study plan. Moreover, you should add its mandatory the transcript of records that the whole institution will give you before you come back to Italy. And that's all. I think I have nothing more to say. I hope you have understood well what I explained. If not, please write questions or answer me at the end of this meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Angela. And now I see that the head of the international relations division has joined us. So I would like to leave the floor to Annalisa Poggiallini that I think that she would like to address you some words. The floor is to you Annalisa. Yes, I am. Good evening. And just a few words to give from the University of Siena our congratulations from the students who have this important result. Because an Erasmus experience is an important experience for your life. Not only for the study, of course, but for the experience that you will have the occasion to do with other universities, with other kind of courses. And so I really give our congratulations for this. We have a lot of experience because we have seen so many students that have had this experience. And I can confirm that these experiences change their lives. So I think that will do also for you. And I say to you that it's important to follow all the information that my colleagues have already told you. Because that's very important before starting your study period abroad that you do all of your steps. In particular, it's important that you arrange your study plan and try to be approved before your departure if possible of course. Because it's very important that before when you come back to University of Siena, when you have done all examination of course, you have the possibility to be all of them confirmed in your curriculum. And so all our backs for all of these. And please get in touch with the International Office and also with a colleague of the other office in particular. The office for the students. If you need other information before arriving and so on, please do not hesitate to do it. It's also important that you continue to get in touch with the professor coordinators of the RASMOS program. That's very important in order to give you all advice regarding your plan, your study plan. And other in practical information, please get in touch as soon as possible with the university, the universities in order to find all aspects regarding accommodation and so on. That's very important also the collaboration of the students from the RASMOS student network. They are students that have already done this kind of experience. They can give you all advice about also practical information. And some of them have perhaps the same experience in the same university. They are a very big network. There are many students are inside it. So take the chance to speak also with them. That's very important. And so good luck for your experience. But I think and I hope that there may be an experience in presence of course and not in a different way online of course. So I hope we really hope that you have occasion to live and to go in presence in these different countries. Apart from this particular moment that we are of course facing this moment. Okay, thank you. Thank you and good luck again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Annalisa for your words. And I would like just to add stress and add one information, very important information. Which is that during the mobility, you cannot take exams at the University of Siena. This is very, very important because if you do it. Okay, once you are back, these exams will be penciled. Okay, because as written on notice of selection, you cannot take exams while you are in mobility. In any kind of mobility, in any kind of mobility, in any kind of mobility, in any kind of mobility, in any kind of mobility, in any kind of mobility. So please remember this is very, very important step. So now I am glad to look the floor to our group and please Maryam or Alessandro. Okay, hi. Maryam is writing me that she's having some problems. So until she's back, I will now present a presentation, of course. Does anybody listen to me well. Can you listen to me. Yes. Perfect. Okay, hi. Okay, perfect. You can present. Yeah, give me a minute. And download it in this computer as well. So, meanwhile, I am Alessandro Grasini from ESN Siena Jazz. Maryam. And I'm Maryam Denden, the local representative of ESN Siena Jazz. And today I'm so glad and happy to be here with you and present who we are. And I want also to thank the University of Siena to our long gas to be here. So, I don't know if you. Yeah, I'm going to second. Okay. Everything okay. Can you see it? Okay, so what is ESN, who we are? ESN is the biggest European student network. We are more than 500 local section in 43 countries. And we are around 80,000 volunteers. We have more than 30,000, including the bodies. You can see here some of our values. University, university diversity. I don't know. Okay, I have probably some. We send Peter. Okay. Okay, perfect. So, you have some of our values like university diversity, diversity, unity, student helping students because we are students that help other students, Erasmus students or international students and also local students. In this map, you can see where we are. We are in all Europe in Russia, Armenia, also more than Europe. So, in Italy, we are 54 local section in 47 cities. We have more than 20,000 Erasmus and exchange students. And we are probably more than 1800 active active members. Here, there are some photo of us in our events. So what we do, what is our events? What is our activities? We do sports activities, beefs, social activities, CG tours and also tandem nights. And you can see also our ESN cards. I don't know, Ale if you want. Yeah. So, I skipped too much. Okay. ESN card is our membership card. It's available in all ESN sections all around Europe. It's basically a discount card from Erasmus students. You can go to this website, ESN card.org, you can go there, search for your city, the city you are going to, and you can see all the places you have discounts there with ESN card. You can type Siena, you can type Amsterdam, wherever. And this works in a local level. Therefore, with the discounts you have in the city, but also national level. So, the ESN card from the country right now. There are some informational discounts. Like probably one of the most famous ones is Ryanair, where you can have four flights with 10% discount a year and a luggage of 20 kilos in the check-in. With this thing, I once flew to Paris with a few euros and something and a luggage in the check-in. So, it's very, very convenient. Also, we have Flixbus with 10% discount with our vouchers. And also, we have a thing called the body system. Here in Italy, we use an app called Papaya, but the places you are going to, they also have other systems called body to find yourself a body. A body is basically a person from the city you are going to that helps you move around, learn things, helps you give an university. It's not an Erasmus student. Maybe it has been an Erasmus student at best, but it's a person from the city you are going to. If you want to check to apply for a body in the city you are going to, you can go to bodysystem.eu and you can check which website in the city you are going to use this to assign you to a body. In Italy, you also have Ascarasmus. Ascarasmus is a thing of, again, yes, in Italy only that makes in contact with a person that went in Erasmus to the city you are going to. So it's not a local student of the city you are going to, but it's someone like you that went to the city once. To apply to Ascarasmus and to receive help from these people, you can, at the end of March, there will be open for Synapse again and you will be able to, again, Synapse and get to enter the program. To see when it does, whether this form is open, it will be open, you can just follow us on our socials or follow Ascarasmus or go to the website at isianitalia.org. And, yeah, that's basically it. As a yes and we help you with whatever we can. So feel free to ask us everything and I hope that you will have an amazing year abroad. So, thank you, thank you so much for a very, very useful information and I see that the directors delegate can just join us. So I would like to leave the floor to Professor Luca Verticelli. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes, yes, we can hear you, although we don't see you, but we hear you. Okay, I don't know why I'm in the rectory. Today has been a very difficult day for these meetings but I just want to bring a word of welcome and a word of recommendation. It's an important day for us. In a difficult moment after two years of redaction and limitation in mobility and after one month of war in Europe, we keep going without work, trying to help everyone who is in difficulty but even thinking to the future of our students and particularly the future of mobility which is one of the strong assets of our policy. I think that this is the only important thing I have to say that we have to keep going and to think to mobility as an important, not just an episode, but an important spirit an important element of the philosophy of being a University of Siena student and a University of Siena member of a community and for the rest the usual disclaimer apply try to study, try to be focused, try to know the language, the culture and everything you are going to meet and try to enjoy. But I think that all these things could be much better presented by my colleagues from the office but I don't want to be longer. It was a very strange day with all this connection. I'm now going to see newcomers from Afghanistan. I'm very happy about this and at the same time I'm saying Arrivederci to our students who are living and that's a good feeling. The feeling to be in a pre-international, mobile community of learners, nevertheless the pain, nevertheless the war, nevertheless all this madness which is around us. Thank you guys. We have a good time now with Michael. I think the connection has gone. Anyway, thank you so much. Professor Bedi-Haley for your words. And now I think that it's time for the question and answers. And so, okay, so let's go. So the first question is okay. English transcript is required. How? And then learning agreement would be digitalized through portal or paper. So first answer. During the application procedure of the Hofstra University, the Hofstra University may ask you for a transcript of records. Okay. So the list of the all the exams that you have already taken at the University of Siena. So you have to ask for this document, your student office, because it has to be print of course in English and signed by them. So you have to send to them an email asking for this document. Then learning agreement online or on paper. At present, at the University of Siena, we ask the paper, okay, as Angela, as my colleague has shown you before. You may be asked by the Hofstra University to fill the paper, sorry, the learning agreement on OLA, online learning agreement. Of course you will have to do it, but at the same time, you will have to give your student office the PDF, not the PDF, okay. The learning agreement as a file. Not on paper, sorry, but these learning agreements may be exchanged by email, okay. You don't need, you are not requested to give personally the learning agreement to your student office, but you may send it by email. So I'm not yet in Italy and I'm still taking the online education. Is it possible to apply for the country and being assigned to and go there without being in Italy first? Well, yes, I mean all the procedures can be done online or by email. So you don't need to pop in Italy before going to the Hofstra country. Unless he's necessary to get the visa. That case, as you are enrolled at the University of Siena, I don't know actually, I don't know if you have to ask for visa in the embassy in Italy, or you may ask for visa at the embassy in another country. Then you have to find out when contacting them. Sorry, I have not this information for sure. Hello, if I got a single in your cycle, is it possible to choose to go for just one semester? Well, yes, you can, but you need to have the approval of the Hofstra University course. So of course we nominated the students for the months of the assignment. So if you choose a mobility, for example, of 10 months long, so you will be nominated or you will be nominated for the old period. But if you decide to shorten the mobility, once you are contacted, once you get in contact with the Hofstra University, because the Hofstra University will send you an email saying that we are very happy that you are going to come over and so on. These such and such and such documents before, this deadline, well, that time you can write the Hofstra University, ask for their approval to shorten the period. We approve all the shortening, no problem from our part, but you have to receive the approval from the Hofstra University. And of course, let us know. Okay, the next one. Good evening. I have not received an email from my Hofstra University about when should I start my procedure. You have an idea about it. Well, as I told before, we have done nearly all the nominations. We have a few nominations left because the nomination procedure at the Hofstra University are not open yet. So this may be the issue, or maybe the Hofstra University is processing, is about to send the email, the contact email. So as I said before, the first step anyway is to visit, to check the web pages of the Hofstra University and try to look for the application procedure. Because usually all the Hofstra Universities in the international or Erasmus or exchange students web page list the show, the application procedure. So the first step is to check. Then you, let's say around the second part of April, if you have not, the second step is to check the junk folder of your email account or spam folder. And then if nothing, if you see nothing by that time, let's say the second part of April, you can write on to us and we will try to find out the situation about your mobility. So I have one year left to graduate. Does going for these Erasmus means we'll graduate in the assigned school or we'll return to MC to graduate. The graduation must be done at the University of Siena.  You come back to Siena and then you can graduate. You will not graduate abroad. The corresponding code, I use any number or letters. Well, it depends on the exam code. I mean, you will, the Hofstra University will give you the list of exams that you can take at the University and presumably, I assume that each exam will have a code. So you will write the code and the description of the exam on the learning agreement. The first table is for the exams of the Hofstra University and the second table is in the second table must be listed the exams of the University of Siena which will be replaced by the exams taken abroad. So it may be number or letters depends on the code. Will this video be recorded for later viewing? Yes. As I wrote in the former email and in the web page University Erasmus for Studies at the end of this streaming, the same link will do for the registration of the meeting as well. Okay. So I am in my final year and I wanted to enquire if I can take my thesis to Hofstra University. Well, yes. Generally speaking, yes. Unless the Hofstra University does not allow this activity and when we know it, when we have known it, we have written it on the destination file but this is the preparation and research for thesis is an activity allowed during the Erasmus probability. Yes, Angela, please. Okay, sorry. I would like to say something about this topic because sometimes students can be confused. If you have to go abroad only to prepare your thesis, you can do it and you can report it on the learning agreement simply writing in Table A research for thesis without indicating the credit and in Table B you can write a thesis for Prova Finale in the Italian study plan. You have to do the learning agreement even though you don't take any exam. Even though you have only to prepare your thesis. It's important. Okay. Thank you, Angela. Okay. So are we going to pay the same school fees of the University of Siena or the school fees of the host university? So you will pay the fees only to the University of Siena. Okay. The Erasmus probability as in this room. So the student pay the fees at his own university. Some German university universities may ask for a fee which is not a tuition fee but it is a service, services fee. With that fee it's covered and transportation or other services are covered are included. But it is not that fee it is not a tuition fee. The tuition fee has to be paid to the University of Siena. How do I know the coordinator professor and what's the scope of question to acquire about him or her? So you know the name of the coordinator of the destination because you find it in the destination file, the Excel file of the destination. So you know the professor that coordinate that exchange the professor in Siena. So you may ask him or her for help for example. But okay. I leave the floor to Angela. Maybe it's yes. Sorry it's Moana but I know I forgot to tell this during my presentation but students ask this question very often. The name of the coordinator professor in Siena is the name of the head of the deductive committee of your court. It should be the name of the head of the deductive committee. So not the professor or the delegate or the internationalization of the department or the University is the head of the deductive committee of your court. Yes. Yes we have two figures. We have two positions. So one is the coordinator of the exchange is the professor who assessed your application and decided that you were eligible for that destination. And you may ask this person to sign the application form that may be sent by the host university to you. Okay some not all of them but some universities may send a form to you, to the student and with many many details and this so you can ask the coordinator of the exchange that you find in the destination file for the signature of this of this document. While the learning agreement is signed by the president of the deductive board okay and maybe I may say that I think it is the most also it is the person who can maybe help you more okay if you have some doubt about the courses. Of course you can address him or her only when you have the program of the courses that you would like to be held abroad not just asking him what do you think should do. This is not a very answer that can be answered you can go to the professor with a plan with the program of the courses to be taken abroad you may ask for their advice okay then good afternoon is it possible to carry a course that you have already enrolled for here in Siena to the first university supposing you have not done an exam for the course well I think that if you have not taken an exam in Siena I would say yes of course you can attend the course abroad and take the exam abroad if there is a corresponding exam in Siena if Siena can recognize that that course I would say no problem at all and I think that Angela also said yes okay when can I apply for Erasmus pre-extension during the mobility you can apply of course you will have to ask for approval to the host university and to the coordinator in Siena and then send to us the form the extension form that you find during the mobility web page regarding question of digitalized learning women so I should fulfill both all the portal and document send digitalized to the student office thanks because I'm confused no so this is a transition period okay from paper to Erasmus without papers and every transition period okay we have to do sometimes to do both procedures so as far as University of Siena is concerned we still ask for the learning agreement as a PDF or as a document but the host university may ask you to fill the online learning agreement so you will have to fulfill both requests but not all of them not all the universities will ask for this procedure some of them may do it is it allowed to travel in the holidays or between semester yes yes you can you can come back for holidays and go back to attend the courses again what is the minimum credit thank you because I forgot to tell you what is the minimum credit student must obtain abroad at the end of the Erasmus program where the University of Siena has decided to fix no minimum okay so the validity so the mobility is valid only on the basis of the period so it means that if you come back with zero credits but you have carried out the period declared in the grant agreement your mobility is valid you will be covered by the grant and that's it okay we do not ask for minimum of credits other universities do it but not the University of Siena not yet okay now there are nice people sorry I wasn't there when you answered about the possibility of going straight to my assigned university for my Erasmus when I'm well you can go through the the registration again and here for the answer does the University for any kind of visa support for Erasmus to see to the designation countries well if of course we are ready to provide to supply any document that the embassy will ask you in order to issue your visa but it is you to get in contact with the embassy and find out what they require what happens in a case where there is no course that can be that can be integrated with the course that you intend to take to the host university okay I review the floor Angela okay you can ask to have the activity recognized as extra benefits so you need some more than one you have in your study plan or if you have free exams in your study plan so activities to be chosen by the student usually in this third year for first level degree or the second year for master's degree the exam to be recognized as free credits yes Simona we cannot hear you sorry okay I have another question for you Angela what happens if you are fortunately do not pass an exam at the end of your mobility do you just come back and give the university subject exam do you have to take the course here or the game okay nothing happens if you do not pass the exam you will come back and you can give the exam here in Italy if you choose to follow the course you can do it but if you want to try the exam without following lessons you are free to do it I talk for my department we have not the frequency as mandatory I don't know what will happen if the department requires frequency for the exam sorry I don't know it yes I think yes if the course requires a mandatory frequency of attending I think that the course has to be taken again but please ask your students office in case the last question does university offer support of any kind okay sorry does university offer support of any kind you Erasmus to designation countries I don't know what kind of support you mean as Visa have already answered about that about as I told you about accommodation you can take advantage of the web pages I showed you before you may get in contact with the Erasmus group in order to have other information but anyway you can write to us at any time and we will try to give you all the information we know and we can give you the contacts you can find the contacts in the Erasmus for Studies web page we are about to change our email address but anyway you can still write to us through Erasmus.out at UNISI.it but you will find the new address in the web in our web pages of course you can also contact us on the phone and in the Erasmus for studies web page you can find the phone the desk phone number and you can you can also get in contact with us by the virtual by the online desk you just have to book a slot and we will we can have a 15 minutes talk about your issues so I can see another can I order some ok no questions to ask what kind of questions are suggested to ask from the host university is anything specific you have to ask what you need to know what kind of questions we have no suggestions about ok but please check the web pages ok and in order to get information for your mobility ok I think that it's done and if anyone needs to add something is it ok so we can close our meeting and at the same link you can see and hear again this meeting so thank you to all of you for your support for your help and information given to the students thank you so much good bye good luck to everyone good bye enjoy your experience guys bye bye bye bye