Strike at USP: Poli students approve strike – 09/26/2023 – Education

Students from the USP Polytechnic School (University of São Paulo) are on strike. On Monday night (25), they approved support for the demonstration initiated by students from FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences) due to the lack of teachers at the institution. But not without confusion.

The history of the unit responsible for engineering courses is one of aversion to strikes. The last one occurred in 2002, also caused by a shortage of teachers.

Pressured by the massive support of other units to boycott classes, Poli called an emergency assembly. The idea of ​​the Grêmio Politécnico, the Academic and Athletic Directory was to deliberate on a plebiscite for consent or condemnation of the strike.

Around 300 students attended. By majority, they refused to postpone any decision, discarding the plebiscite, and decreed at that moment the directive of strike and “chair”.

The turmoil was breaking out. The defeated called the assembly undemocratic. Insults were exchanged. Agents from the Military Police and the university guard appeared everywhere. The first chairs were placed at doors and gates.

“I believe that, the way it was done, the decision to strike is authoritarian and purely militant,” said Guilherme Martins, 24, a civil engineering student. “If the meeting was scheduled to draw up a plebiscite, this should have been done,” he continued.

Manager of the electrical engineering academic center at the Polytechnic, Ana Custodio, 20, disagrees. For her, the quick decision to strike was right. “The majority opinion always prevails,” she said.

The administration of the Polytechnic School canceled all activities this Tuesday (26) and claims to be in permanent contact and dialogue with student leaders.

This morning, however, students opposed to the strike entered the University City ready to tear down any barriers and occupy the rooms. Some teachers supported them. There was a new clash of ideas. Once again the strikers emerged victorious.

SHUTDOWN GAINS BODY

The conflict at USP began on the night of the 18th, when students from humanities and geography courses intended to stage a protest against the lack of teachers.

At around 7 pm, the FFLCH board sent an email to students saying that all activities were suspended. Subsequently, the buildings were emptied and locked due to fears that they would be invaded. The university guard was subsequently called, and Military Police vehicles were sent to the scene.

After the action, students from other FFLCH courses — social sciences, history and philosophy — decided to support the strike. This morning, representatives from the institution’s other teaching units voted to join the strikers.

In the second, a list of demands was addressed to the space director, Paulo Martins: release of the buildings; departure of security agents from student spaces; scheduling a meeting between the rectory and students; and a public retraction by Martins, recorded cursing the protesters.

The first three points were met. In an interview with Folha, Martins said he did not intend to apologize for his attitude and criticized the movement’s organizers, saying that they “use the same weapons as the Bolsonarist right.” The statement sparked outrage.

Other USP units began to embrace the strike. Only the faculties of Medicine, Economics, Administration, Accounting and Actuarial Science, Dentistry and Pharmacy, in addition to the School of Physical Education and Sport, did not comment on the topic.

Over the last two decades, the São Paulo university has increased the number of students enrolled without guaranteeing the same pace in hiring teachers. Thus, the ratio of teacher to student decreased by 28% in the period.

In 2002, the institution had 0.07 educators for each enrollee, on average. In 2022, the number dropped to 0.05. The data was obtained by the Teachers’ Association from the university’s statistical yearbook.

In a statement, the USP rectory says it is making an effort to hire new professionals. “Last year, we made 879 vacancies available for hiring teachers, granted based on the demands presented by the units themselves”, says the note. “We have 641 vacancies to fill and 238 have already been filled.”