The one in São Paulo is preparing to choose who will occupy the Rectory for the next four years.
A is responsible for 20% of Brazilian scientific production; International rankings place it in first place among Latin American universities and among the 100 or 200 most important institutions in the world. Every year, on average, almost 6,000 postgraduates — masters and doctors — receive their degrees. More than that, not only scientific and cultural leaders are trained there, but also qualified staff for governments and parties, companies and organizations in society.
Together with Unicamp and Unesp, USP constitutes the foundation of a robust system of science and culture production, which distinguishes the State of São Paulo.
Since 2017, a social renewal, as important as it is silent, has been taking place on its campuses. The adoption of affirmative policies — in the form of racial quotas and for students graduating from public schools — made its teaching staff more diverse and closer to the colors and social composition of the Brazilian population.
Due to its importance for the country, everything that happens there is of general interest. But not everything is promising. Political intolerance, which feeds radical bubbles in society, is today, as it has often been, a reality on the campuses of Brazil’s largest university.
Recently, Jornal do Campus reported emphatically that, gathered in the main square of Butantã’s headquarters, they sang religious songs and that “USP belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ!” and shouted against Karl Marx accused of “owning” (sic) the university. The event was organized by a certain , committed to the “spiritual war against communism”.
The nonsense is added to incursions by far-right groups that, throughout this year, attacked spaces occupied by students from the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences, tearing up posters and threatening those present.
For its part, the FFLCH Congregation, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, decided to break a scientific cooperation agreement with the University of Haifa, in Israel. Just over 42% of students at this university are Palestinian, as is its current rector. The gesture continues other demonstrations, in which the fair opposition to the killing promoted by the Israeli government crossed the line into anti-Semitism.
Successful in promoting social diversity, USP now has the duty to guarantee the pluralism of ideas, which already exists among the more than 120 thousand people who make up the university community — students, professors and staff. The challenge is to bring differences face to face through an organized and respectful debate.
USP cannot be a battlefield for “cultural wars” fueled by ignorance, but a place where the discussion of values relating to public life or private behavior allows for civilized coexistence of different points of view.
The alternative is the growth of strongholds of intolerance, incompatible with the mission of the public university. This is the non-transferable responsibility of the leaders who will assume next year and of all the teachers of this great house of knowledge.
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