UNAM Rector determines sanction for Minister Esquivel after plagiarism scandal

The Rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Enrique Graue, announced that he will convene the honor committee of the Facultad de Estudios Superiores (FES) Aragón, to determine the sanction that corresponds to Minister Yasmín Esquivel Mossa after the plagiarism committed in her thesis.

After the house of studies confirmed that the lawyer plagiarized her undergraduate thesis, and that the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) refused to impose a sanction to withdraw her law degree, UNAM will be in charge of resolving the validity of her degree, opening a proceeding before the University Court.

“Upon learning of the opinion of the FES Aragón Committee, I requested, in my capacity as Rector, the qualified opinion of the Office of the General Counsel, in order to know if the current university regulations allow the withdrawal or annulment of a professional degree to a graduate for these reasons,” said Graue.

“I know very well that the prestige of this administration and that of our house of studies, are in question; but for that reason we will not act hastily and irresponsibly in response to external pressures to make summary judgments,” he said.

“Shortly I will be convening the University Ethics Committee that derives from the Honor Commission of the University Council to review the opinions and documentation that the Academic and Scientific Integrity Committee of the FES Aragon and the evidence that continues to emerge for analysis and thus accommodate the due process to which everyone has the right,” he concluded.

It should be mentioned that Yasmín Esquivel Mossa is no longer a student of UNAM, so the authorities of this house of studies are responsible for the degrees issued and, in this case, it is a document that was obtained in violation of university legislation.

When granting a professional degree, the UNAM performs an academic and administrative act, and in that sense, Article 5 of the Federal Law of Administrative Procedure considers that “the omission or irregularity of the elements and requirements” of this type of acts, “will produce, as the case may be, nullity or annulment” of the same.

TYT Newsroom