IT WAS Friday midday on the campus of La Sapienza, Rome's mega-university attended by upwards of 200,000 students. Two 22-year-old law students, Marta and Jolanda, were walking away from the law faculty building after a lecture.

Suddenly and silently, Marta fell, as if struck by something. Her friend Jolanda panicked at first and ran away before turning back to help her, screaming at her: "Marta, talk to me, talk to me, say something."

Marta Russo never answered. A passing student unsuccessfully tried artificial respiration. Marta was already in a coma and died four days later, killed by a .22 bullet fired at her by someone on the complained of a wall of in-house omerta, or silence - a word usually used in connection with the Mafia - blocking their inquiry.

This is a murder that has inevitably disturbed many Italians, themselves parents of university students. It defies explanation. The alleged killers have no obvious motive. No murder weapon has been found. Most disturbing of all, however, is the suspicion that this was clearly not an innocent student prank that went wrong but rather that the alleged faculty cover-up masks something sinister.

Forensic evidence indicates that the bullet was fired from Room 6 of the law philosophy faculty. Secretary GabrielIa Alletto, who works in Room 6, has alleged that Scattone and Ferraro, the two researchers, were at the window and that Scattone killed Marta.

Ms Alletto's evidence, however, only adds to the intrigue, since a month had passed before she finally fingered Scattone and Ferraro. She claims she had been intimidated into her initial silence by unnamed "superiors".

Further confusion comes from the testimony of Francesco Liparota, also allegedly in Room 6 on the morning of the killing. He at first denied any knowledge of the killing, only finally to confirm Ms Alletto's testimony. He, too, claimed he had been threatened into silence. To add to the confusion, Mr Liparota then retracted his confession, saying that he could no longer "remember anything".

Insiders at La Sapienza University this week spoke of reports of a "sex-for-exams" operation which professors within the university may have (and may continue) to work. Sleep with me, Ms X, and you'll get through your exams no problem. The suspicion is Marta may have rejected such sexual blackmail and was thus killed in reprisal.

Whatever the outcome of this puzzling and painful case, it certainly represents negative public relations for La Sapienza, an institution already in bad need of image repair. For years, Italy's open university system has stretched university resources beyond breaking point. (To enter an Italian university, the only requirement is a pass in the Moturita, which is similar to the Leaving Certificate. Last year, 95 per cent of those who sat the

Maturito passed.)

Crowded conditions (there are 40,000 students in the Sapienza law faculty alone) lead to Dickensian practices. Students queue for hours just to "hear" (from a loud-speaker) a lecture. The majority of exams continue to be oral and this leads to students having to turn up for days at a time, waiting for their turn to be called to an exam.

Once in at the oral exam, the student is often well-advised to bring with him or her a text (this year's edition, please) written by the professor, who then puts a mark on it to make sure that it does not do the rounds of other students. The exam itself often merely requires mindless role learning. Medical graduates who have never seen a cadaver are not unknown. The research work 01 the better postgraduates is systematically stolen and recycled under the professor's name.

Decent and honourable academics struggle to make up for the failings, both of the Italian system and of some of their less scrupulous colleagues who, in the words of one La Sapienza academic this week, tend to act like "God almighty".

Several academics have also this week expressed the hope that something good may come of the scandal that has hit La Sapienza; that the media exposure helps speed the reform of an antiquated system.

Whatever reforms may be achieved, however, will be too late for Marta.