The São Paulo Public Defender’s Office sent a letter to the USP (University of São Paulo) requesting the cancellation of a competition for teaching African literature in Portuguese. The vacancy opened on September 30 after the previous notification was canceled due to doubt on the part of the committee.
Erica Bispo, who was approved for the position in November 2024, had her appointment revoked in March of this year for allegedly maintaining a friendly relationship with two professors who evaluated her entry into the university. She denies the charge and claims that she was the target of racism because she was the last black candidate in that competition.
In the document sent to the rectory of the University of São Paulo on November 1, the Ombudsman’s Office requests that the bishop be guaranteed a broad right to defense before a new contest can be held. In response, the institution maintained that its decision was based on evidence and passed through its highest body, the University Council, and informed its advisors.
The appeal against the selection process was filed by a group of six contenders. According to them, the woman will not be able to perform the intended role and will receive unjustified high marks due to her intimate relationship with the committee.
To prove their theory, they collected photos in which the then-certified women appeared in groups with teachers. In one of these photos, the caption read, “It’s so good between friends.”
Bispo mentions that there are not many specialists in African literature in Brazil and it would be common to meet at conferences on the subject.
Larissa Lisbon, a professor at the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), was one of the contestants who questioned the panel. According to her, the selection was problematic and the successful candidate’s performance was questionable, as the photos were “evidence that something was wrong.”
Lisbon also disputes the version spread by Bispo that the appeal would have discriminatory bias. “This hurts me deeply, because I am also a black woman. And in the competition in question, I declared myself this way,” says Lisbon, who did not meet the quotas for Black, brown and Indigenous teachers in the notice in question.
For USP’s attorney’s office, the photos provided were enough to prove the intimate relationship between Bishop and the teachers and get the competition invalidated.
The authority considered that the candidate’s performance was superior due to some virtues and did not comment on her eligibility for the position, but said that it found in the photos that were analyzed “sufficient context to identify the affection between the candidate and the professors.”
The University Council approved the version on March 18 by a majority of 59 votes to one, in addition to four abstentions.
It turned out that in the midst of the proceedings at USP, the Public Ministry in São Paulo was also analyzing the case. He contradicted his opinion with the university and said that “the intentional actions of any public employee have not been proven,” citing teachers.
The document was handed over to the committee members, the administration of the FFLCH (Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Humanities), responsible for the competition, and the rectory, but only after the University Council had already considered the issue.
For Bispo, the prosecutor’s account proves that the cancellation of the selection process was unfair. Therefore, she and her lawyers are seeking to overturn the decision in court.
Who is Erica Bispo?
Erica Cristina Bispo holds a degree in Literature from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), a PhD in Portuguese and African Literature, and a postdoctoral degree in Guinean Literature. She has been a professor of Portuguese literature and language at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology in Rio de Janeiro since 2015.
Several entities, such as the Writers’ Association of Guinea-Bissau and the International Conference of African Literatures and Cultures, published notes of support.
“It is not even necessary to review Erica Bispo’s latte curriculum from front to back to affirm the solemn wisdom of her oratorical conferences, lectures, and oral communications, always guided by exemplary seriousness in light of her legacy as a profound scholar of African epistemology in Brazil,” the conference says.
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