Researcher accused of sexual harassment, out of the shortlist to lead Cinvestav

Fernando Camacho Servin

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, November 13, 2022, p. eleven

The Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) announced last Friday the list of shortlisted candidates to lead the institution, which does not include Jean-Philippe Vielle Calzada, who was singled out by at least four women for acts of harassment and sexual harassment.

Cinvestav academics informed La Jornada that the list of candidates was finally made up of Máximo López López (who received 229 votes), Aldo Gustavo Orozco Lugo (164) and Alberto Sánchez Hernández (57).

According to the people consulted, the composition of the list is incontrovertibleso that no other applicant could disagree to be included in the list. Possibly the only recourse would be to review some votes, but it is very unlikely that such an initiative would be successful, they indicated.

As reported by this newspaper, on October 31, Vielle Calzada was unable to present her work plan as a candidate for the directorship of Cinvestav, after a group of students and researchers protested against her with shouts of out stalker Y no stalker will be director.

Asked about the fact that Vielle finally did not appear in the list of finalists, Dr. Daniel Hernández Rosete, a member of the Department of Educational Research at Cinvestav, emphasized that in this way we show that there was consensus in the scientific community not to let a rapist pass.

According to the social anthropologist, Vielle’s non-inclusion was the product of a fair, intelligent and congruent vote with the indignation that many Mexicans feel towards violence. There was a vote, literally of punishment, but supported and well calibrated by my colleagues, both men and women.

In the same tone, he pointed out that there is a kind of hygienism in the academic world of the country, where it is considered more demeaning or dirty a case of plagiarism, which can lead to the person involved being dismissed from their positions, but a complaint of sexual harassment does not cause the same anger, not based on rumours, but with legal support in criminal matters.

For Hernández, the decision to form the aforementioned shortlist places us in the expectation of redirecting one of the most important research centers at the international level, such as Cinvestav, to have an ethical thought for a case of harassment.