Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), voted this Friday (10) for the unconstitutionality of a law in Santa Catarina that prohibits the adoption of racial quotas and quotas for other minorities in public universities in the state.
The restriction also applies to institutions that benefit from grants funded by the Santa Catarina government. The measure is valid for the admission of students, hiring of teachers, technicians and other professionals, restricting the implementation of vacancy reservations, any form of quota or affirmative action, such as supplementary vacancies. The legislation maintains, however, the reservation of places for people with disabilities, based on “exclusively economic criteria” and for students who attended high school in a public school.
The new rule does not expressly prohibit the reservation of vacancies using the parameter of race or other minorities (such as transsexuals), but it excludes these groups by restricting the possibilities of criteria for adopting quotas. The measure does not affect federal institutions, such as the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) or federal institutes.
It affects the State University of Santa Catarina (Udesc), institutions that are part of the Santa Catarina Association of Educational Foundations (Acafe) system and private colleges that receive grants from the Free University program and the Higher Education Support Fund (Fumdesc).
Punishment
Institutions that fail to comply with the measure are subject to the following punishments:
- administrative fine of R$100 thousand;
- cut of public funding transfers;
- disciplinary administrative process against “public agents responsible for preparing and publishing the contest rules”
Udesc, the main one affected, regretted and expressed disagreement with the law. For the institution, the prohibition of quotas “contravenes the public interest, characterizing an unconstitutional setback and irreparable damage to the social and scientific progress of Santa Catarina”, in a note published this Thursday, 22.
Days before the law was sanctioned, the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) also spoke out, stating that it was being targeted by attacks and misinformation related to affirmative action policies, mainly supplementary places aimed at trans people in undergraduate studies, in force since 2023.
UFSC clarified that “the additional places do not reduce or compromise the original number of undergraduate courses, as they are additional places, created to expand the access of historically underrepresented groups to higher education”.
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