Mexico City.- The Rector of UNAM, Enrique Graue, confirmed in his statement on the last day of 2022 that the thesis prepared by the student Édgar Ulises Báez in 1986 was plagiarized.
And he considered that when comparing it with that of the student Yasmín Esquivel, disclosed in 1987, it had a “high level of coincidences of more than 90 percent.”
After the revelations of the writer Guillermo Sheridan about the alleged copy of the thesis by the current minister Esquivel, the UNAM reveals that:
– The existence of plagiarism is evident.
– The original thesis was the one supported in 1986 (prepared by Báez).
In addition, Graue notes that the electronic version of Esquivel’s thesis did not correspond to the original document presented in 1987 and was modified on December 22 for updating.
That is to say, that for some reason the original thesis that was entered into the UNAM archives at the time it was recorded on microfilm was transferred incomplete when the house of studies digitized its thesis collection.
According to this official version, Esquivel’s thesis was not only plagiarized but also mutilated in order to register it in the TESIUNAM electronic system.
– When comparing the PDFs of the theses in question, the absence of eight pages was observed in the file of the work of former student Esquivel.
– The UNAM recovered the original microfilm of the thesis to scan the missing pages and complete the PDF in the TESIUNAM repository.
Hence, on December 22, the UNAM made the modification to update the thesis. Graue said in his statement that he does not accept external pressure.
“In my capacity as Rector, I do not accept that derived from disputes of others, the prestige and honor of the University are violated,” he stated.
