The Anahuac University of Mexico came out this Friday afternoon to rule on the case of plagiarism of Minister Yasmin Esquivel’s doctoral thesis. The private school has affirmed that its current regulations do not allow penalizing offenses “after the three years following the presentation of the doctoral exam”, after that time “it is not possible to carry out an action that questions it”. The university, which thus rules out taking measures and also avoids using the word plagiarism, points out that in 2009 there were no “technological tools” to “detect situations that may arise in the preparation of degree work.”
An investigation by EL PAIS has revealed this Friday that 209 of the 456 pages of the thesis that Yasmin Esquivel presented at the Anahuac University to receive her Doctor of Laws title were plagiarized from the previous works of 12 authors. A total of 14 texts, including theses, books and essays, are reproduced without being cited in the minister’s work. This is 46.5% of the total thesis that Esquivel presented at the Anahuac University.
Esquivel’s legal representative, Alejandro Romano, has sent a reply to this newspaper in which he states that “it is totally inaccurate that, by omitting to cite an author in a professional thesis, this automatically implies plagiarism of his entire work.” “The possible existence of omissions in the citations of authors, or of errors in their writing, only have that meaning, —that of deficiencies or oversights—, but never a form of plagiarism, because technically this legal figure implies the publication of a work complete in the name of another”, says the lawyer.
David Jimenez Gonzalez, former senator, former magistrate and today ambassador to Honduras, pointed out: “This magnificent work considers a meticulous, deep and responsible investigation that gives it a singular value of an intellectual nature, which, by the way, has always been demonstrated by the teacher Esquivel Mossa ”. Professor Sara Perez Kasparian considered that “the work enjoys the required quality, is new, innovative and will be useful as a bibliographic heritage.” Victor Manzanilla Schaffer, former PRI governor of Yucatan, defined it as “a reference book” and Luis Humberto Delgadillo Gutierrez, former magistrate of the Federal Court of Administrative Justice, as “an in-depth analysis of fundamental rights.” In addition, the court was made up of Eduardo Enrique Gomez Garcia, a military man who was in charge of the body that administers federal prisons, and professors Carlos Cabrera Beck and Hector Moreno Nunez.
With this measure, Anahuac distances itself from the position taken by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which, after hearing accusations of plagiarism of Minister Yasmin Esquivel’s bachelor’s thesis, convened its scientific integrity committee, which He confirmed that the minister’s work was “a substantial copy” of the thesis that another student published a year earlier. After this first opinion, UNAM decided to open a more extensive investigation to clarify responsibility. Currently, the minister initiated legal proceedings against the university to prevent it from issuing a resolution.
The Anahuac University ends its statement appealing to the need for reflection: “We believe that the country’s higher education institutions must continue to reflect deeply on university regulations, so that the culture of academic integrity is reinforced in all members of university communities.
