Academic Freedom Under Attack in Brazil: New at Reason

On the night Jair Messias Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil, the incoming state deputy of Santa Catarina, Ana Caroline Campagnolo, urged students to use an anonymous phone line to report “indoctrinating” professors—i.e., those expressing discontent with Bolsonaro’s victory. Her push sparked memories of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985, which policed education by approving school curriculums and by encouraging students to snitch on peers and professors.

But Campagnolo’s inspiration was more recent: She was building on the Escola Sem Partido (“School Without Political Party”) movement, which says it aims to promote objectivity in the classroom. While trying to teach objectively is certainly a sound principle, Campagnolo’s effort shows how such a crusade, especially when codified into law, can impede free speech and academic freedom, write Anne Hobson and Hane Crevelari in their latest piece at Reason.

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