University of São Paulo launches campaign against harassment and discrimination
This Tuesday, August 22nd, the Pro-Rectory of Inclusion and Belonging (PRIP) will start the USP campaign Against Harassment, which seeks to draw attention to behaviors that must be fought in all spaces where students interact, teachers and staff.
During the second semester, every fortnight, 40 posters containing phrases typically used in situations of discrimination and QR Codes with information about the action will be spread across the University’s campuses .
By November, the central units and bodies will receive the material, which will address different types of harassment. The posters will have different colors to identify each cause fought by the campaign: racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, cancellation and ableism. More detailed information can be accessed via QR Code .
The Dean’s Office will also promote visits to USP’s campuses to help bodies and collegiate bodies linked to inclusion and diversity in coping with situations of harassment and promoting a healthier and more welcoming environment.
According to the director of the Coordination of Human Rights and Policies for Reparation, Memory and Justice at PRIP, Renato Cymbalista, the motivations for carrying out the USP campaign Against Harassment came from the units and commissions themselves, which needed both political and technical support from the University . “They needed a greater repertoire on how to deal with these situations. In addition, they needed a more effective position from USP regarding the fight against any type of discrimination”, he explains.
Cymbalista also points out that the campaign has two main objectives: “To make the bodies, commissions and collectives that need to deal with situations of harassment feel equipped with tools that forward the processes more effectively, always emphasizing care for the victim and, also, communicate widely that this type of situation needs to be prevented and fought by the entire community, inside and outside the University”.
USP against harassment
More than the campaign, USP has other mechanisms for dealing with cases of harassment. This is the case, for example, of more institutionalized tools such as verification, investigation and administrative processes – which are the tools that investigate this type of situation based on commissions created by the University itself, such as the Human Rights Commission, the Internal Commission of Accident Prevention and the Inclusion and Belonging Commission.
USP collectives, such as Negro and Sexual Diversity, especially when built with the support of students, also help create a protection network for victims of harassment.
In terms of psychological support, Cymbalista reinforces the importance of the Ecos program (Listening, Care and Guidance in Mental Health), aimed at the entire USP community. Students residing at Crusp also have access to the mental health service at the Centro de Saúde Escola Butantã.
“Currently, there is a group of members of the USP community who are taking a course at Unicamp on conflict mediation strategies — everything to deal in the best way with these unwanted cases. All these measures are important for USP not only to act as a punitive institution, but also to make restorative decisions ”, says the director.