Lisbon Faculty of Law sues student for discriminatory comments against Brazilian students

The Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon has filed a disciplinary case against a student for allegedly discriminatory comments against Brazilian students, Lusa at the higher education institution confirmed.

The comments that led to the opening of disciplinary proceedings against the student were made during the General Student Meeting (GSM) on 20 April. The minutes of this meeting mention that “some Portuguese-Brazilian students” contacted the Academic Association of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon because they wanted to write a letter to the President of Brazil revealing “some of the difficulties experienced”. .

This letter will be delivered to Lula da Silva during his visit to Portugal and will address issues such as difficulties in accessing housing, visa issues and other more general issues faced by Portuguese-Brazilian students studying in Portugal.

Some praised the initiative, but a student present at the meeting, who will also be an advisor to the University of Lisbon, felt that the letter contained “several errors” and “lies” in relation to the issues that the Portuguese-Brazilian students exposed.

“He also mentions that there are serious errors in the letter, such as referring to President Luis Inácio as ‘Lula’, as if the students are saying ‘Lula, this just says that Portugal is a terrible country, we are being treated very badly. , but even so, we are so stupid that we continue to go there, ”he also says,“ the people who wrote this, I think that they really deserved to be hit with a stone, ”the protocol of the RGA says.

In this regard, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon “decided to immediately initiate disciplinary proceedings against the said student,” Lusa’s official source confirmed.

“The Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (FDUL) rejects and does not tolerate any situation of discrimination,” says the same source, adding that “the multicultural environment that exists in the institution, ensured by the presence of students and teachers from the most diverse geography, is one of its assets, because it values ​​the experience of the entire academic community.”

“The faculty will always take all measures at its disposal to combat discrimination,” states the institution of higher education, leaving guarantees that it will “always be on the side of its students, faculty and non-teaching staff” and that “it provides a set of support mechanisms, an example of which is the student ombudsman, to whom they can report these situations.”