UNAM will summon Esquivel to explain the plagiarism of his thesis

Guaranteeing her right to a hearing and defense, Minister Yasmín Esquivel Mossa will soon be summoned by the University Ethics Committee of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to offer her evidence in relation to the alleged plagiarism of her Law Degree thesis .

The president of said committee, Elisa Speckman Guerra, informed the former student in writing, in terms of university legislation, she may present “the arguments and evidence she deems pertinent, either personally or through a representative.”

Through a bulletin, the National University informed, in reference to the matter related to the misappropriation of the texts of the theses presented in 1986 and 1987, of the then students Edgar Ulises Báez Gutiérrez and Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, that while the date for To listen to their arguments, the University Ethics Committee may receive the documents that the minister “considers pertinent to send, related to the alleged plagiarism of her thesis in the office of the Technical Secretariat of the Committee, located in the Old Graduate Building, next to the Humanities Tower II, first floor, Ciudad Universitaria, zip code 04510, Mexico City”.

goodbye title

In writing, the National Institution for the Celebration of Lawyer’s Day, with 8,000 affiliated lawyers, requested the rector of the UNAM, Enrique Graue, that “in the event that the defendant is found responsible for academic plagiarism, the corresponding title must be canceled without a doubt.” ”.

The civil association also informed that it will cancel “the recognition granted to the minister in 2015 following the ethical principles that govern us in our statutes.”

“The longer you delay the decision of the Ethics Committee of the University Council to which you assigned the task of considering this matter, the greater the damage to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which will have to review both the matters where Mrs. Yasmín Esquivel Mossa participated as those in which he was a speaker,” the communication cites.

In his message to the Governing Body of the University on January 20, Graue reiterated that upon learning of the aforementioned opinion he requested “the qualified opinion of the Office of the General Counsel” of the UNAM, “in order to know if the current university regulations allows a graduate to withdraw or annul a professional degree for these reasons”, and that the response was that “the National University and its authorities lack the legal powers to do so”.

And he replied: “My actions are not the product of procrastination, timidity, fear or cover-ups,” but rather, in compliance with university legislation, “I cannot and should not go beyond what the regulations allow us to do.”

rolando.ramos@eleconomista.mx