Claims that Brazil¡¯s new far-right president will force candidates for publicly funded scholarships to take an ¡°ideology¡± test have provoked alarm among academics, in a sign of the anxiety gripping campuses?since the installation of Jair Bolsonaro.

Capes, Brazil¡¯s federal postgraduate funding body, was forced to release a statement stating that there would be ¡°no?undertaking¡± of the exam. It was mooted in an article in leading newspaper O?Globo, which stated that ¡°new measures are being considered by the Ministry of Education¡± for the allocation of master¡¯s and doctoral scholarships to students at home and going abroad, including an ¡°ideological criterion¡±.

¡°Also discussed is the possibility of stopping some scholarships already granted,¡± the article continued.

Scholars reacted angrily to the story, which?was said to be based on information leaked by a government source, condemning it as an ¡°attack on freedom¡± and an indication of things to come under Mr Bolsonaro¡¯s presidency.

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Some of Mr Bolsonaro¡¯s followers have pledged to campaign against the ¡°corrupt ideologies¡± of academia, and military police have reportedly confiscated teaching materials from campuses on the grounds that they contained ¡°leftist propaganda¡± and ¡°false information¡± about Brazil¡¯s political history.

In particular there are concerns that plans to censor teaching about Brazil¡¯s former military regime at school level will spread to universities.

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Adriana Marotti de Mello, professor of business at the University of S?o Paulo, said that the scholarships rumour was ¡°a?nuisance¡± but was unlikely to come to pass because universities still?had some autonomy in determining how they award scholarships. But there was, she continued, a deeper concern that policy rumours were being leaked by politicians with the intention of upsetting the university community.

¡°This is¡­intimidation, bullying,¡± she said. ¡°They are trying to create an atmosphere of panic and intimidation for opposition.¡±

Another researcher, who asked not to be named, said that the opening weeks of Mr Bolsonaro¡¯s presidency had brought ¡°quite a bit of ¡®gaslighting¡¯¡±.

¡°The government announces something outrageous, throws it to the mainstream press, then watches it sink and disappear so that the media appears discredited. This just happened with a series of measures for the guidelines for teaching textbooks that were very extreme,¡± the researcher explained.

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Academics have also expressed concern?about the appointment of Ricardo V¨¦lez-Rodriguez, a Colombian-born philosophy professor at an elite military school, as Brazil¡¯s education minister. He was selected over the former favourite to win the role, Mozart Ramos, after Professor Ramos spoke against a controversial ¡°Schools without Political Parties¡± initiative imposed in Brazilian classrooms?with the aim of preventing the perceived ¡°leftist indoctrination¡± of students.

Roberto Arruda, director of international student academic success at the University of Colorado Boulder and an expert on Brazil¡¯s internationalisation programmes, said that it was ¡°absolutely understandable¡± for educators to be on guard. ¡°Academic freedom is a major concern,¡± he said. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen such concern [for] academic freedom since the military dictatorship ended¡­there is a fear of the government interfering in what can be discussed in the classroom.¡±

rachael.pells@timeshighereducation.com