Weintraub Revokes Grad School Quotas Ordinance for Blacks, Indigenous and Disabled

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – About to be dismissed, the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, on Thursday, June 18th, revoked a ministry ordinance that established quotas reserved for blacks, indigenous and disabled individuals in graduate degree programs of federal higher education institutions.

The ordinance, issued during ex-President Dilma Rousseff administration, had been in force since May 2016. The text provided for federal universities to establish systems for reserving places for these groups in masters and doctorate programs.

Ministry of Education and Culture’s (MEC) sources point out that, behind the scenes, the measure’s repeal was viewed as a mission that Weintraub wanted to accomplish before leaving office, as a symbolic gesture. He was expected to leave by the end of the week.

At the April 22nd cabinet meeting, in addition to advocating the arrest of Federal Supreme Court (STF) justices, Weintraub said he hates the term “indigenous peoples”.

MEC reported in a statement that the ordinance was revoked based on a 2019 decree revising and consolidating the normative laws. The portfolio also noted that the Quotas Law provides for affirmative action “exclusively for undergraduate programs”.

The portfolio failed to report on any studies that preceded the measure.

The repeal of the ordinance does not imply the end of reserved graduate school quotas. Several institutions and research programs had created inclusion policies before the ordinance, and have sufficient independence to decide whether to maintain or discontinue such measures.

The GEMAA (Group for Multidisciplinary Studies for Affirmative Action), linked to the UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University) analyzed 49 policies created between 2002 and 2017. Of these, 61 percent had been determined by decisions of the program itself, ten percent by university resolution, and six percent based on state law.

Despite forcing federal universities to establish commissions for the inclusion of blacks, indigenous, and people with disabilities in graduate degree programs, the repealed ordinance had not set any reserved percentages, nor did it provide for sanctions to a university in the event of non-compliance.

Political scientist João Feres, coordinator of GEMAA, says he does not expect a widespread termination of inclusion programs due to the repeal of the ordinance.

“In practical terms, what may happen is that some of the programs created may end, because there is no longer any obligation. This repeal does not mean that universities will be forced to end their policies. Universities are independent to create these programs and even within the university, departments can develop their own inclusive processes,” said Feres, who is linked to IESP (Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro).

Feres points out that the 2016 ordinance worked as an incentive, and the establishment of inclusion programs led to more blacks, indigenous and disabled people entering universities.

In interviews, Abraham Weintraub said he was in favor of social quotas, but stated he did not agree with reserving places on racial criteria. President Jair Bolsonaro has a history of downplaying racism in the country and has always been critical of the quota law.

Sérgio Camargo, appointed by Bolsonaro as president of the federal Palmares Foundation, recently referred to the black movement as “cursed scum” and censored biographies of historical black leaders on the institution’s website. The federal institution has precisely the task of preserving this memory.

The former Minister of Education Aloizio Mercadante, who signed the now canceled ordinance, criticized the government’s decision in a note. According to him, the measure allowed the policy of inclusion by quotas in higher education to continue in the post-graduate program.

“The Bolsonaro government once again demonstrates its total lack of commitment to the fight against inequalities and historical racial discrimination that plague the Brazilian people,” the note said.

David Santos, director of the NGO Educafro, says he believes the repeal of the 2016 ordinance could have a major impact on diversity within federal higher education institutions. He believes Weintraub, with Bolsonaro’s consent, is implementing a project that aims to end all the rights granted to the black population.

“Bolsonaro’s project is fully designed for the black people and a return to slavery disguised as cheap labor. We, the black society, reject the role of the pirate parrot of our black brother Hélio [deputy of the president’s support base], used by the system to break our ability to fight,” he says. “We ask Brazil not to allow Bolsonaro to humiliate black people. The time is pressing, but even in light of the pandemic, we will do our utmost to put a stop to this stance,” he said.

According to him, the exposed structural racism, particularly in the last few weeks after the wave of anti-racist protests in the world, may lead federal universities to close inclusion and diversity programs. This is because even the deans with center and left-wing political positions have proved resistant to quota policies.

“Unfortunately, the structural racism issue is a disease that has infected the Brazilian right, center, and left-wings alike. Unfortunately I tell you that most of the center and left-wing deans will view this ordinance favorably. The right, left, and center-wings in Brazil have always agreed with this thing, to leave the black with no achievements. If any center, left or right-wing dean fails to realize the significance of the black man in the university, that dean is sick in the head,” he says.

Educafro has already convened pro-bono attorneys and is considering legal measures to repeal Weintraub’s ordinance. “Educafro will go to the very last instance to be able to revoke this decree.”

Source: Folhapress