There are universities where corridors have conversations and students find faculty members worth debating and growing with. In contrast, this article describes the University of Madeira as an environment where one enters with care, like crossing a minefield, where conversations happen in low voices and opinions are kept outside the campus.
The text criticizes management that defends itself rather than acknowledging errors, pointing to concentrated power and a culture of intimidation where disagreeing has consequences. It also points to the perpetuation of incompetence, arguing that merit has never been the main criterion.
Students who chose to stay in Madeira to study face curriculum plans apparently designed for the convenience of those who propose them, teaching instability with professors who come and go, contracts that are not renewed, and areas of knowledge that depend on people with such precarious affiliations that no student knows if the professor will be there to finish the semester.
The article concludes that a public university in an autonomous region cannot be an extension of the will of those who manage it, but rather an institution funded by and intended for the people. When management is inverted and the institution comes to exist to serve those who manage it, that constitutes corruption. The text calls for the people of Madeira, as funders, and students, as trust in their future, to deserve a better institution. The article is signed anonymously, for reasons anyone understands.
