All federal universities have examination boards for quota holders – 03/26/2024 – Education

Heteroidentification panels, formed with the purpose of checking whether students who benefited from quotas for blacks are actually black or mixed race, arrived this year at all Brazilian federal universities.

MEC report obtained exclusively by Sheet points out that, in 2024, this verification mechanism reached all 69 higher education institutions maintained by the federal government. According to the survey, in 2018 there were only 16 federal universities that performed heteroidentification.

Last year, when the MEC survey began, the examination boards had already been implemented in 66 federal universities, and have now reached all of them.

The last three that had not yet adopted the stands and did so this year, according to the research, were the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), the Federal University of Rondônia (Unir) and the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB).

The survey, carried out in partnership with UNESCO, points out that there is “a profusion” of investigation models, as well as rules for the composition of panels and decision criteria. The assessment is always phenotypic, that is, based on a set of observable traits, such as skin color, hair and the shape of the mouth or nose, but there are criteria that may differ, for example, if the candidate, to be approved, needs to of the majority of the votes of the panel or unanimity, among others.

Assessments are also carried out in a variety of ways – by photo or video sent by the candidate, by interview via videoconference or in person or by combining these models. The report does not tabulate this data, but points out resolutions and notices that create the panels and, in these documents, it is possible to check the verification models.

At the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), for example, the candidate must send a video in which they speak their name, ID, course, declare themselves black or mixed race and cite phenotypic characteristics that, in their opinion, justify self-declaration.

At the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), the exams are in person. At the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), photographs sent by students are analyzed and, upon reports or suspicion of fraud, the student is called for in-person verification.

The research was carried out by the Department of Continuing Education, Youth and Adult Literacy, Diversity and Inclusion (Secadi) of the MEC.

In a note, the ministry stated that, “in 2024, 12 years after the Quota Law, hetero-identification commissions became the main mechanism for implementing affirmative actions in the form of reservation of places for racial sub-quotas in federal universities”.

Advisor to the Secadi office, Cleber Santos Vieira told Sheet that it was “a happy surprise” that the panels reached all federal universities and that this shows how “institutions are looking for mechanisms to guarantee the effectiveness of public affirmative action policies”.

Based on the survey, according to him, the MEC, “respecting the autonomy of universities, which is protected by the Constitution, wants to create guidelines for the boards, which are as harmonious as possible.”

“Brazil is big, regional complexity affects racial complexity, but we have in common the desire to enforce the Quota Law, so let’s seek dialogue”, said Vieira, who is a professor at the Department of Education at Unifesp and former president of the Brazilian Association of Black Researchers (ABPN).

The Quota Law provides for the reservation of half of the places in undergraduate courses at federal universities for students who completed three years of high school in a public school. Within this number, a percentage must be reserved for PPI (black, brown and indigenous) students equivalent to this population in each state.

In the first years of implementation of quotas in universities, self-declaration by candidates was sufficient. However, with the emergence of reports of fraud, these institutions began implementing hetero-identification boards.

Recently, the controversy surrounding these commissions intensified with the revelation, by Sheetin the case of two students approved in one of the most competitive courses at USP, one in medicine and the other in law, who had their enrollment canceled because the hetero-identification panel stated that they were not brown, as they had declared themselves – later, the Court determined for them to be re-enrolled.

Researchers and panel members interviewed by Sheet state that students who declare themselves mixed race are those who normally generate doubts when filling quotas for blacks (black + mixed race). And brown people have become, in recent years, the majority of the Brazilian population (more than 45%). Given this, a trend has grown in this universe of heteroidentification that argues that the best path is tolerance and that, when in doubt, students should pass.