This Wednesday (23), the Special Body of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP) unanimously dismissed a Direct Unconstitutionality Action, filed by the São Paulo Attorney General's Office, which questioned the granting of adjustments to employees of the three state universities in São Paulo - Unicamp, USP and Unesp -, with the allegation that university autonomy concerns only the didactic-scientific activities of the institutions. The action specifically concerned the Cruesp Resolution 1, of June 13, 2019, which granted a 2,2% salary increase to employees at the three universities.
In the decision, the case's rapporteur, judge Alex Zilenovski, highlighted that the autonomy of São Paulo's state universities, determined by the State Decree 29.598/1989, is broad and also extends to the financial and asset management of institutions. "University autonomy is broad and is not restricted to didactic-scientific autonomy, as proposed by the applicant. On the contrary, the didactic-scientific autonomy of Public Universities would be at risk if they were not also guaranteed administrative and financial management autonomy and patrimonial", says the judge. He also notes that, as the transfers from the State Treasury are already fixed at a percentage of ICMS collection, it is not necessary for the granting of adjustments to first go through the Legislative Assembly.
"This is a historic decision and one of the most important since the achievement of autonomy. It means the recognition, by the Judiciary, of the authority that the original autonomy decree possesses and is in accordance with what the three universities have always interpreted. This gives us the comfort of thinking about a much longer term, maintaining the trajectory that has made us the most important universities in Brazil and internationally recognized", analyzes Antonio José Meirelles, dean of Unicamp.
Meirelles points out that, even with autonomy over budget and asset management, universities do not fail to respect federal standards that may override state legislation. According to him, the importance of the decision lies in the security it gives to what is already determined by São Paulo laws. "There are laws that establish rules for the functioning of the State as a whole. Institutions that have this particularity of universities, which act in the long-term training of people, have details in their functioning that are different from other State bodies. But none of these bodies are no longer subject to greater legislation, as is the case with Law 173 / 2020", he explains.
According to the rector, the work carried out by universities, such as training people, scientific production, extension and assistance provided to the community, aims at the long term. This requires planning from institutions that depends on regularity and guaranteed access to resources. He highlights Unicamp's growth experienced after the autonomy decree, such as the expansion of teaching units and the creation of night courses: "The expansion of these actions was done with budgets defined by autonomy and, depending on our planning, we managed to improve a lot our performance without increasing the need for resources. This is due to the university's ability to think in the long term". Meirelles is also grateful for the understanding of the importance of university autonomy demonstrated by the TJ-SP and the court judges. "I would also like to thank the legal bodies of the three universities, in particular our Attorney General's Office, for their dedication and firmness in affirming and reaffirming the perspective that underpins our concept of university autonomy", states the rector.
