The only meal they eat. When the cafeteria fails, these students go hungry.
Em uma universidade pública que deveria ser porto seguro do conhecimento e da dignidade, estudantes da UFRJ chegaram a uma encruzilhada: após meses de assédio sexual sem resposta, refeições contaminadas e serviços administrativos paralisados, mais de 98 cursos se unem em greve nesta terça-feira para exigir que a instituição honre suas responsabilidades mais fundamentais. É o momento em que o silêncio institucional encontra o limite da paciência coletiva — e os estudantes escolhem a praça pública em vez dos corredores que os ignoraram.
- Uma estudante abandonou o curso de física após ser assediada por um professor de matemática cujo processo permanece congelado meses depois das denúncias — ele continua dando aulas.
- O bandejão serve refeições com insetos e larvas, falta talheres em dias críticos e há períodos sem comida alguma, privando de alimentação estudantes que dependem daquela refeição como única do dia.
- Desde março, bibliotecas fechadas, matrículas perdidas, bolsas instáveis e o setor de auxílio emergencial em silêncio absoluto — a greve dos servidores técnico-administrativos por atraso salarial paralisou a infraestrutura que sustenta a permanência estudantil.
- Após esgotarem os canais institucionais sem resposta, estudantes de 98 cursos organizam ações descentralizadas em múltiplos campi ao longo do dia.
- Às 15h, a convergência na Reitoria na Ilha do Fundão transforma protestos dispersos em uma demonstração unificada de força — e a administração da universidade ainda não respondeu a nenhuma das acusações.
Na tarde desta terça-feira, estudantes de toda a Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro deixarão as salas de aula e marcharão até a administração central. A greve, organizada principalmente pelo centro acadêmico do Instituto de Física, reúne 98 cursos em torno de demandas que tocam aspectos essenciais da vida universitária.
O estopim mais grave envolve um professor de matemática acusado de assediar sexualmente mais de quatro estudantes. Boletins de ocorrência foram registrados e denúncias encaminhadas à ouvidoria, mas o processo não avançou. Uma das vítimas, que preferiu não se identificar, acabou abandonando a universidade — incapaz de continuar num ambiente onde o agressor seguia empregado e em sala de aula. Meses depois, ao tentar obter informações sobre o caso, os estudantes não receberam resposta alguma. Para a coordenadora do Instituto de Física, Waleska Rocha, 22 anos, a investigação está simplesmente congelada.
No bandejão, a crise é de outra natureza, mas igualmente urgente. A empresa contratada serve refeições com insetos e larvas, há dias sem talheres e períodos sem comida disponível. Os trabalhadores terceirizados, frequentemente com salários atrasados, entram em greve e fecham o refeitório por dias. Para muitos estudantes, aquela é a única refeição do dia — quando o bandejão falha, eles passam fome, e alguns acabam deixando a universidade.
Somam-se a isso os efeitos da greve dos servidores técnico-administrativos, iniciada em março por atrasos salariais: bibliotecas fechadas, matrículas canceladas, bolsas instáveis e o setor de auxílio emergencial sem dar sinal de vida. A estrutura que torna possível estudar e permanecer na universidade entrou em colapso.
Waleska descreve o clima no campus como de insatisfação e desespero generalizados. Os estudantes tentaram o diálogo, os pedidos formais, os procedimentos institucionais — sem resultado. Agora tornam público o que a universidade preferiu ignorar. As ações começam cedo, descentralizadas em vários campi, e às 15h convergem na Reitoria, na Ilha do Fundão. A administração ainda não respondeu. O que vier a seguir dirá se esta greve marca uma virada ou se tornará mais um protesto absorvido pelo silêncio institucional.
On Tuesday afternoon, students across the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro will walk out of classes and gather at the university's central administration building. The strike, organized primarily by the Physics Institute's student center, has drawn support from 98 different courses across the institution. What began as isolated complaints has crystallized into a coordinated demand for accountability on issues that touch nearly every aspect of student life on campus.
The grievances are specific and documented. Last year, a mathematics professor was accused of sexually harassing more than four female students. Complaints were filed with the university ombudsman and a police report was made, but the investigation has stalled. One of the victims, seeking anonymity, ultimately left the university entirely—unable to continue her studies in an environment where her harasser remained employed. Even after the professor was temporarily removed from one class, he continued teaching evening sessions, prompting fresh protests. When students tried to follow up with the ombudsman months later, they received no response. The case, according to the Physics Institute's coordinator Waleska Rocha, 22, appears frozen.
The university's cafeteria presents a different kind of crisis, one that affects students' basic survival. The facility, operated by a contracted company, regularly serves meals containing insects—students report finding larvae in food and foreign objects in their plates. There are periods when utensils run out entirely, forcing students to eat with cups. Supply shortages mean some days there is simply no food available. The workers who prepare these meals, hired through third-party contracts, often go unpaid, leading to strikes that leave the cafeteria closed for days. For many students, the university meal is not a supplement to their diet. It is the only meal they eat. When the cafeteria fails, these students go hungry, and some eventually leave the university.
Parallelizing these failures is a strike by administrative and technical staff, triggered by salary delays. Since the academic year began on March 9, the university's libraries have remained closed. Students have lost course registrations due to suspended administrative services. Scholarship payments are unstable. The office responsible for distributing emergency financial aid has gone silent. The infrastructure that allows students to study, to access resources, to receive the support that makes university attendance possible, has fractured.
Waleska Rocha describes the atmosphere on campus as one of complete dissatisfaction and desperation. The students have tried conventional channels—dialogue, formal requests, appeals through proper procedures. Those methods yielded nothing. Now they are making their distress public. The strike will begin early Tuesday morning with decentralized actions across multiple campuses: the School of Fine Arts, the Geography Institute, the Philosophy and Social Sciences Institute, and others. Throughout the day, each academic center will organize its own activities. At three in the afternoon, students from all units will converge at the Rectory in the main university city on Fundão Island for a unified demonstration.
The university administration has not yet responded to requests for comment on any of these allegations. The space for their response remains open. What happens next—whether the institution acknowledges the failures, whether investigations resume, whether the cafeteria is reformed, whether libraries reopen—will determine whether this strike becomes a turning point or simply another moment of protest absorbed and forgotten by an institution that has learned to wait out its students' anger.
Notable Quotes
We've tried so hard to dialogue peacefully through conventional methods. Finally, we decided to make our distress public and show how poorly we've been treated.— Waleska Rocha, Physics Institute student coordinator
For many students, the university meal is the main one, sometimes the only one of the day. When the cafeteria doesn't work, these people go without food, which also contributes to students leaving.— Waleska Rocha, on the impact of cafeteria dysfunction
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did it take a strike to surface these problems? Hadn't students complained before?
They had. Repeatedly. Through official channels, through the ombudsman, through police reports. But complaints alone don't move institutions. A strike makes the problem impossible to ignore because it disrupts the university's normal operation.
The sexual harassment case sounds like it should have been resolved months ago. Why is it frozen?
That's the question the students are asking too. The investigation began, the professor was briefly removed from one class, but then nothing. No updates, no progress, no communication. When students tried to follow up, they hit a wall of silence.
And the cafeteria—is this a matter of the university not caring, or genuinely not having resources?
The university contracted out the cafeteria to a private company. That company isn't paying its workers on time, which causes strikes. The company isn't maintaining basic food safety. Whether that's a resource problem or a management problem, the result is the same: students who depend on that meal go without.
One student left the university because of the harassment. How many others might leave because of these conditions?
That's what Waleska emphasized. When the cafeteria closes, when libraries close, when financial aid stops flowing, students who are already struggling financially have no choice but to leave. The strike is partly about preventing more departures.
What does the university administration say about all this?
As of the reporting, they hadn't said anything. They've been asked to comment, but they haven't responded. That silence is part of what's driving the students to strike.
Do you think the strike will actually change anything?
That depends on whether the administration sees the strike as a crisis that demands response, or as a temporary disruption to wait out. The students are betting on the former.