Inaugurated in the Main Hall of the Faculty of Education (FE) at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), the mural panel “Aquilombar a Universidade: 10 anos de lutas por cotas na Unicamp” (Establishing the University in Quilombos: 10 years of struggles for quotas at Unicamp), funded through the DCult Call for Proposals for Art and Culture Projects 2025/2026, transformed memory into public reflection on one of the most important processes in the recent history of Brazilian universities: the expansion of access to higher education through affirmative action.
The initiative brought together students, faculty, technical-administrative staff, social movements, artists, and administrators to celebrate a decade of mobilizations that culminated in the approval of ethnic-racial quotas at Unicamp and to discuss their effects on the democratization of access, academic diversity, and knowledge production. The event took place at a time marked by demonstrations in defense of public education in São Paulo, debates on university funding, student retention, and the importance of public teaching and research institutions.
In addition to commemorating a historical milestone, the inauguration sought to demonstrate how the presence of new profiles at the university has altered not only admission indicators, but also research topics, epistemological perspectives, and ways of producing science. The panel, created by visual artist Sabrina Saviani, who actively participated in the 2016 demonstrations for affirmative action policies, proposes precisely this reflection: inclusion is not just an access policy, but a continuous process of institutional, scientific, and social transformation.
The program opened with the artistic intervention Abre Caminhos , led by artists Doroti Martz and Cris Monteiro. Using references to Afro-Brazilian ancestry, the presentation established a symbolic connection between the historical struggle of Black people and the occupation of university spaces.
“It was with Ogum’s sword that all those who came before us opened a path to tread here and to occupy so many other spaces,” Doroti highlighted during the presentation, relating the trajectory of affirmative action to the historical resistance of the Black population.
From the streets and occupations to institutional change.
Although Federal Law No. 12.711, known as the Quota Law, was enacted in 2012 for federal universities, the debate on affirmative action had already been mobilizing the Brazilian academic community for decades. The legislation established reserved places for students from public schools, with income and race criteria, becoming one of the most comprehensive educational inclusion policies in the world. In 2023, the law was expanded to include students from quilombola communities and to improve access and retention mechanisms.
Similar experiences exist in countries such as the United States, India, South Africa, and Canada, albeit in different formats. In Brazil, however, the policy has acquired a unique dimension by combining racial and socioeconomic criteria on a national scale.
Representing the Directorate of Culture (DCult) of Unicamp, on behalf of the Pro-Rector of Extension, Sports and Culture, Prof. Dr. Silvia Furegatti, the Director of Culture, Prof. Dr. Eduardo Okamoto, emphasized that the celebration of ten years of struggles for racial quotas also highlights profound transformations within the university itself. Commenting on the mural's inauguration, he highlighted the importance of public art as a space for encounter, dialogue, and collective reflection, especially in a context where university life faces challenges in occupying and experiencing common spaces.
Okamoto also emphasized the role of cultural policies and public calls for proposals in encouraging initiatives that preserve institutional memory and promote debates relevant to society, such as the DCult call for proposals. For him, however, the legacy of quotas goes beyond expanding access to higher education. “When Unicamp implements quotas, it is providing a service not only to Brazilian society, but to itself. It is updating its own reason for existing, which is the production of knowledge,” he reinforced.
According to the Director of Culture, diversity broadens perspectives, provokes new questions, and strengthens the construction of knowledge by enabling encounters between different experiences, trajectories, and worldviews. He also highlighted that initiatives such as the mural panel contribute to preserving collective memories that often do not appear in traditional institutional records.
By relating culture, education, and democracy, Okamoto emphasized that the university has a responsibility to recognize the social processes that have transformed its own history. In this sense, the celebration of ten years of struggles for quotas is not limited to recalling a political milestone, but reaffirms the institution's commitment to expanding access to knowledge and valuing diversity as a constitutive element of contemporary scientific production.
At Unicamp, the approval of racial quotas occurred in 2017, after a long mobilization process that had its turning point in the strikes and occupations of 2016. During the ceremony, the director of the Faculty of Education, Professor Dr. Débora Jeffrey, recalled that the struggle was marked by political tensions and institutional resistance. "Today we are celebrating these ten years, but this was not an easy path," she recalled.
She reported that the 2016 strike represented a watershed moment for the university. "This movement began here at the Faculty of Education, with the occupation organized by students and the Pro-Quota Front. It was a landmark that helped transform the university," she emphasized.
In reconstructing the trajectory of the mobilizations, Jeffrey recalled that the process that culminated in the approval of quotas in 2017 did not begin that year. According to her, the occupation of the Faculty of Education, which began in March 2016, became a landmark in the articulation of anti-racist agendas within the university and directly engaged with the cycle of occupations of public schools led by high school students in 2015. For the director, understanding this context is fundamental to understanding how the agenda of affirmative action ceased to be a demand of specific groups and became an institutional debate that mobilized the entire university community.
The president of the Association of Professors of Unicamp (Adunicamp), Professor Dr. Silvia Gatti, highlighted that the achievement of quotas should be understood as the result of a collective effort. “If this panel had existed ten years ago, it would have had a different composition, a different background, and a different representation. The very diversity we see here (today) already demonstrates the transformation the university has undergone in this period,” she observed, emphasizing the importance of the mobilization of students, professors, technical-administrative staff, and social movements for the consolidation of affirmative action.
The director of the Unicamp Workers' Union (STU), Marli Armelin, emphasized that the fight for quotas was also built by workers at the university. A staff member at the institution since 2004 and a graduate in Pedagogy from the Faculty of Education itself through the Staff Training Program (ProESP), she recalled participating in the university's first hetero-identification commissions, back when the work was done on a voluntary basis.
“It wasn’t an easy path. It was a path full of stones and obstacles. But being here today and seeing how the face of this university has changed, with so many Black and Indigenous people occupying these spaces, is a source of pride,” he stated.
Marli also highlighted that the progress achieved over the last decade needs to be accompanied by ongoing investments in student support. For her, the challenge of inclusion doesn't end with students enrolling. "It's not enough to implement quotas and bring these people here. We need to guarantee conditions for them to stay and complete their education," she emphasized.
Also present at the opening session, the general coordinator of the Association of Postgraduate Students (APG), Carolina Galina, presented an overview of affirmative action policies in postgraduate studies at Unicamp. According to her, currently 76 postgraduate programs already have some type of affirmative action policy, which represents approximately 90% of the university's programs.
Galina explained that the Central Postgraduate Commission (CCPG) has been evaluating these policies and demanding progress from programs that have not yet adopted affirmative action. “Diversity strengthens scientific production and expands the possibilities for knowledge building. We need to move forward so that all programs assume this commitment,” she stated.
The student representative also advocated for expanding affirmative action policies for transgender people and people with disabilities in postgraduate studies and highlighted the importance of student mobilization in the continuation of this process. According to her, the mural inaugurated by the Faculty of Education fulfills a pedagogical role by daily reminding people who built these achievements and what spaces still need to be occupied.
The numbers of the transformation
Data presented by the Director of the Permanent Commission for University Entrance Examinations (Comvest), Prof. Dr. José Alves de Freitas Neto, representing the Rector of Unicamp, Prof. Dr. Paulo Cesar Montagner, demonstrate the change that occurred after the implementation of quotas.
Before affirmative action policies, Black, mixed-race, and Indigenous students represented about 13% to 14% of university entrants. Currently, this percentage reaches approximately 33% of entrants, according to data from the most recent entrance exam.
Growth can also be observed among indigenous students. Before the adoption of specific affirmative action policies, the indigenous presence was minimal. Today, around 100 indigenous students enter the university annually, a result of the creation of the Unicamp Indigenous Entrance Exam.
For Freitas Neto, the numbers represent only one dimension of the change produced by affirmative action. “A university cannot turn its back on the population of its own country. The university has only gained in recent years. My classroom has become more stimulating and more challenging. The students who arrived through the quota policy brought new epistemic questions, new authors, and new debates,” he stated.
According to him, the results also disprove predictions made by sectors that opposed affirmative action. "What we see today is exactly the opposite of what critics of quotas predicted. It is possible to create universities of excellence with truly inclusive policies," he emphasized.
Diversity and academic quality go hand in hand.
National studies have corroborated this assessment. Research conducted by the National Association of Directors of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (Andifes), the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), and several Brazilian universities demonstrates that students admitted through affirmative action programs show academic performance similar to that of other students and, in many cases, register equivalent or higher graduation rates.
Furthermore, surveys indicate that the majority of beneficiaries of affirmative action policies belong to low-income families, often being the first generation in their family to access higher education.
During the event, several participants emphasized that the expansion of diversity has altered the university's agenda itself. Historian and activist in the Black movement, and doctoral candidate in Anthropology (IFCH-Unicamp), Bruno Nzinga, one of the interviewees in the documentary produced for the occasion, highlighted that the achievement of quotas has modified not only the social composition of the university, but also its priorities. "It's not just the face of the university that changes. It's also the thinking of the university that changes, and the priorities of the university change," he stated.
According to him, the presence of Black, Indigenous, and other historically excluded students has broadened the research topics and theoretical frameworks used in scientific production. “The university has been adapting to us a great deal, but it is still adapting slowly. Quotas have opened up space for other issues to be considered relevant within the production of knowledge,” he observed.
For José Victor Alves Silva, a doctoral candidate in Philosophy at the Group for the Study of African and Afro-Diasporic Philosophies (IFCH-Unicamp), the history of quotas also needs to be understood from the perspective of the individual trajectories transformed by access to university. “People have to have the opportunity to do what they enjoy. I am proud of my trajectory and of being able to pursue a doctorate in Philosophy today,” he stated, highlighting that the democratization of higher education also represents an expansion of life possibilities and knowledge production for historically excluded populations.
Permanence: the challenge of the next decade
While access represents a consolidated achievement, student retention remains one of the main challenges identified by participants. And that's not redundant!
The director of STU, Marli Armelin, highlighted that the university has become more diverse, but still needs to improve conditions that guarantee the continuity of these students' academic trajectory. “It’s not enough to implement quotas and bring these people here. We need to look at student retention. This is a challenge that demands the university’s constant attention,” she stated.
APG's general coordinator, Carolina Gallina, highlighted that expanding access needs to be accompanied by strengthening retention policies and expanding affirmative action programs to new groups.
According to her, currently 76 graduate programs at Unicamp already have some type of affirmative action, which represents about 90% of existing programs. Even so, some programs have not yet implemented inclusion policies. "Now at the undergraduate level we already have affirmative action policies for transgender people and people with disabilities. This also needs to advance at the graduate level," she emphasized.
Indigenous student May Arapiun, admitted through the Unicamp Indigenous Entrance Exam, reinforced the importance of policies to support students who leave their home territories to study. "We were the collective that directly supported the strike because it directly impacts us, scholarship students, who come from very far away and fight to remain here within the university," she stated.
Ellen Alves Menezes, a Pedagogy student and member of the Marielle Franco Academic Center (CAPMF), pointed out that current achievements are the result of continuous mobilization. "Quotas were not a given process, nor an easy one. It was a process of much struggle and collective strength," she emphasized.
For her, the current debates about student retention keep alive the agenda built a decade ago. "If we are on strike today, it's so that students can stay in school, not just access the university."
New policies, new subjects, and new forms of belonging.
The expansion of affirmative action policies also spurred the emergence and strengthening of collectives, representative groups, and support networks within the university. During the event, Manuela Queiroz de Souza, a postgraduate student at the Faculty of Education and member of the Group for Studies and Research in Educational Policy and Evaluation (Gepale), highlighted that the panel discussion was conceived precisely to bring together different generations of students, researchers, and activists who participated in the construction of affirmative action policies at Unicamp over the last decade. According to her, the aim was to demonstrate that the achievement of quotas does not end with access to the university, but unfolds into new forms of collective organization, knowledge production, and the fight for rights.
This broadening of the agenda was highlighted by Alu Laurindo Vieira, a graduate in Chemistry from Unicamp, a doctoral candidate in the Multi-Unit Graduate Program in Science and Mathematics Education (Pecim), and one of the coordinators of the Trans Consciousness Center (NCT). Recalling his history of activism, he emphasized that student organizing in defense of student retention was already present even before the implementation of racial quotas.
“NCT was born from an occupation of student housing in 2012. It was a difficult process, but from the beginning we understood that it wasn't enough to just discuss access; it was also necessary to think about retention,” he stated. According to Alu, the experience accumulated over the years was fundamental for the construction of new affirmative action policies.
“When we approved the trans quotas, we knew we would face many challenges, but we needed to move forward. We learned a lot from the mistakes and successes of the 2016 processes and we continue working to advance, even in the face of the resistance that still exists within the university. In the Faculty of Education we found support to continue this fight,” she highlighted.
Student Laura da Silva Santos, a member of CAPMF and the Coletivo Arvoredo Negro, emphasized that holding the event also played an important role in preserving institutional memory. For her, recording the participants' accounts and bringing together different generations of activists helps the university community understand the historical dimension of the transformations that occurred after the implementation of quotas and recognize the role of collective mobilization in building a more diverse and democratic university.
“It was a very educational moment with everyone who participated in the recordings and interviews. We were able to learn about their journeys, which helps us understand how this struggle goes beyond the walls of the university and connects to the Black movement in Campinas and the region,” said Laura.
Representing CAPMF, student Ellen Alves Menezes recalled that she belongs to the first generation of students to benefit from racial quotas in undergraduate programs at Unicamp.
“I saw my seniors fighting so that I could occupy this space. Quotas were not a given process, nor an easy one. It was a process of much struggle and much collective strength,” he stated.
For Ellen, the current mobilizations for student retention keep alive the legacy of the occupations and strikes that marked the year 2016. "If we are on strike today, it is so that students can remain in school and even just access the university," she emphasized.
May Arapiun, a student from the Arapiun people, admitted to the Physical Education course through the Unicamp Indigenous Entrance Exam, highlighted the importance of the support networks built between Indigenous and Black students. She recalled that the Indigenous Entrance Exam, created in 2019, significantly increased the Indigenous presence at the university and allowed the formation of new collectives focused on student retention.
"We were the group that directly supported the strike because it directly impacts us, scholarship students, who come from very far away and fight to remain here within the university," he stated.
The debate also addressed recent advancements related to policies aimed at the trans, transvestite, and non-binary population, as well as people with disabilities. Representatives from the Adriana Dias Anti-Ableist Collective (CoAAD) and the NCT highlighted that the approval of quotas for people with disabilities and trans people represented a historic achievement, but that access needs to be accompanied by effective policies for retention, accessibility, and institutional support.
In this context, initiatives such as the Agnes Lemos community preparatory course, created to broaden access to higher education for transgender people, were presented, in addition to training and networking actions promoted by students and researchers at the university.
Student Vitor Santos Correia, a member of the Aquilomba Forum and CoAAD, highlighted that the development of affirmative action policies at Unicamp has always been linked to collaboration between different segments of the university community. According to him, the joint mobilization between students and staff was fundamental in broadening the debate on inclusion and ensuring that other forms of diversity were also considered in institutional policies.
"Racial quotas paved the way for other issues to gain visibility within the university. They were the precursor to several other affirmative action policies that came later," he stated.
Vitor emphasized that, despite the progress made in recent years, significant challenges related to accessibility and the retention of people with disabilities and neurodivergent individuals remain. “The university has advanced in creating access policies, but we still face architectural, attitudinal, and methodological barriers. Many demands presented in 2023, such as improvements in the accessibility of university spaces and services, are still progressing slowly,” he noted.
For him, the current mobilizations represent a continuation of the struggles that began in 2016. “We are experiencing a moment of continuity and renewal. The achievements obtained in that period have allowed us to discuss new public policies and new forms of inclusion today. The challenge now is to ensure that these policies are effectively implemented and reach all the people who need them,” he concluded.
Robson Sampaio, a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Education, reiterated that the history of quotas needs to be understood as the result of a long collective trajectory built by Black movements, unions, student collectives, and researchers committed to the democratization of higher education.
In recalling events that preceded the approval of quotas, Me. Sampaio emphasized that the fight for racial inclusion faced significant institutional resistance and required the continuous action of different generations of students.
“Even today, it is largely Black, Indigenous, trans, transvestite, and disabled students who continue to be at the forefront of these discussions. The challenge is to transform this agenda into a collective responsibility for the entire university,” he stated.
The very creation of the mural embodies this process of collective construction. The initiative was selected by the DCult-Unicamp 2025/2026 Call for Art and Culture Projects, a program aimed at supporting artistic and cultural actions committed to diversity, citizenship, and social transformation.
The proposal was conceived and submitted by the Institutional Communication team of the Faculty of Education, composed of public servant Giovanna Romaro, as well as the aforementioned FE Pedagogy students Rayan da Silva and Laura Santos, journalist Erika Blaudt, intern Laura Magalhães, and editor Marco Pinotti. The team was responsible for coordinating between artists, students, faculty, social movements, and university sectors. The work involved conducting interviews, producing content, audiovisual recordings, monitoring the artistic creation process, and disseminating the project. The Building Administration, Finance and Assets, Distance Education, and Events teams were involved in the project's execution.
Memory for designing the future.
At the end of the ceremony, the mural was presented as a visual landmark of a struggle that remains ongoing. Beyond recording the past, the artwork confirms that the democratization of the university is a continuous process that demands access, retention, and recognition of the diverse trajectories that today comprise the academic community.
Visual artist Sabrina Savani , responsible for creating the mural and a participant in the 2016 mobilizations, summarized the symbolic meaning of the work by reflecting on her own trajectory during the debate. “If I had told the Sabrina of 2016 that she would return to university receiving a fee as an artist to create a work about that moment, I would never have believed it. To return as an artist and represent a process in which I participated so intensely is very powerful. It's understanding that we plant something so that it can be harvested in the future,” she emphasized.
This is precisely the message that the "Quilombar a Universidade" (Building the University in Quilombos) panel leaves for future generations: the most profound transformations of the university begin when the memory of the struggle is transformed into a project for the future.
Check out the inauguration of the "Quilombar a Universidade" Panel:
