Iris Mabel Velázquez / Reform Agency
Friday, January 06, 2023 | 19:24
Mexico City.- In a first review of the Law theses, UNAM authorities found another four with similarities to that of Minister Yasmín Esquivel, involved in the plagiarism controversy.
The official who aspired to the presidency of the Court, has been pointed out for plagiarizing the thesis of Edgar Ulises Báez Gutiérrez, a former law student who graduated a year earlier.
In an interview with Grupo REFORMA, Raúl Contreras Bustamante, director of the Faculty of Law, indicated that on the first working day of this 2023, after a vacation break at UNAM, four other theses similar to the two previously mentioned were found.
He highlighted that in the two theses that entered into the plagiarism controversy, both Báez’s and Esquivel’s were advised by Martha Rodríguez Ortiz. And the name of this academic is also involved in other similar works.
The director said that in a review carried out last Thursday, after the return to activities at UNAM, they found more works similar to that of the Minister’s thesis.
“Up to date, eh? Up to now, because remember that we had our activities suspended due to compliance with the collective contracts and we started working yesterday, so we are just starting the machinery,” Contreras said.
The situation of academic Rodríguez Ortiz at UNAM will be defined next Monday by university advisors.
“We are going to attend to the matter because there are elements that make us presume that she did not act with due academic integrity. She was thesis director, of these 2 theses that have been discussed. Up to now, there are four other exams with the same theses and from what we have seen, she was not only thesis director, but also acts as synodal, that is, she is present at the exam,” she stated.
“So, that seems incredible to us, that there is no academic integrity and it is not corresponding to the trust that the University gives it. So, when it does not correspond to the trust, well, we have to see the ethical and university behavior of any academic,” he added.
The interviewee specified that the theses with similarities or coincidences belong to former students of the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Higher Studies (FES) Aragón, the campus where the academic has worked.
Unprecedented in recent years
He stressed that in the 7 years in which he has served as director of the Faculty of Law, he had not heard of a case similar to the one that will be analyzed next week.
“We are going to assess the seriousness of the matter, we are going to give her (adviser) her right to a hearing and after having listened and seen the issues, the seriousness of the conflict will be determined.
“She is part of the university community, it is not the same to try to see former students who have been out for almost 40 years. She is still a full-time professor in Aragón,” he added.
He warned that in the event of finding sufficient evidence against him and that the counselors find him guilty, after having granted him the hearing, he could even lose his right to teach at the institution -despite having a finality-, and of course, advise thesis.
Just 7 years ago, Contreras recalled, when he took over as director of the Faculty, he came up with a work plan that was focused on combating absenteeism and lateness, which he indicated was a problem at that time.
“So, I think (the professor) since she taught in Aragon and here (Faculty of Law), she felt that the pressure was going to be very strong and she decided not to be anymore. She left, I don’t have the pleasure of meeting her and As long as I have been a director, he has never taught (in Ciudad Universitaria),” he said.
He stressed that in this case, letters have even been sent to the UNAM requesting that the resolution be speedy.
“The university was on vacation when all this happened, nothing more than the times of the university seem to not concern everyone and they forget that we are an autonomous institution and they wanted us to resolve in a temporality that was not what it would have than to have followed in the university”, said.
“These are very delicate processes that have to be done with due process, we have to give the academics the right to a hearing, in short, without there even being writings that activate things, the pressure we had was (great) to resolve a subject that was not university, it was more political”, considered.
He mentioned that the interest is to preserve prestige. He indicated that the department under his charge, has been internationally classified for 5 years as the best law school in the Spanish-speaking world by the QS World University Rankings.
“We have to take care of the prestige of an institution like ours, of an issue like this that, although it happened more than 35 years ago, because somehow in the networks they have mentioned that it has to do with legal issues, with something to do with college.”
