Politics and science

last week, University of Guadalajara (UdeG, the country's second most important series, after UNAM) starred in two episodes describing the complex and inevitable relationship between the political class and the scientific community. A love-hate relationship between the apparent leadership of both groups ends up imposing itself and marking the research, educational, publishing, and extension work that takes place every day on campus.

The first of these episodes was the successful approval of a law reform constitution of Jalisco, It will have to guarantee the UdeG an amount equivalent to 5 percent of the annual state budget, in order to assert its independence. The second event, verified the next day, was the angry resignation of María Elena Álvarez Buela from her position. mexican academy of sciences (AMC), after publishing, with the stamp of the same House of Studies, a book entitled: “Proposals and Reflections on the Future of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Mexico.” One closes – or so we think and hope – a long period of conflict between Governor Enrique Alfaro and University President Ricardo Villanueva, which has put the future of the University of Guadalajara under control, while the other reopens the wounds of the bitter attack – which many thought was concluded – of the current director of Conassett against the group. Which led Conassett (without axe) until 2018.

There is no clear connection between the two episodes, other than their inexorable influence on the academic community. That UdeG has constitutional guarantees over the amount of its budget, without subjecting itself to the vagaries of local politics, is great news and a decision worth repeating for the rest of the public universities, including UNAM. It is also true that the condition of this reform is that university leadership use these resources with the utmost transparency, vigilance and integrity and use its independence to honor and promote the work of its academic community and nothing more.

Instead, the doctor's new tantrum Alvarez Buela It goes in the opposite direction: in the book compiled by Enrique Cabrero (former director of Conacyt and current director of the UdeG's Institute for Research in Public Policy and Government) and José A. Sovereign Corrie (President of the AMC), there are two texts: a collective publication and twelve individual contributions, which propose (with the benefit of the discussions that will take place during the electoral year) a review of the science, technology and innovation policy of President López Obrador. The collective texts were signed by the AMC itself and by the Red ProCiencia Mx, which since their founding have been critical organizations, but sincerely committed to university education of the highest quality and freedom of thought, teaching and research, which are international human rights. .

The doctor was more angry about the composition of this volume than about its contents Alvarez Buela Not only did he decide to ignore and ignore the proposals of that group of scholars, but he also angrily chose to disqualify those who drafted them and renounce his membership in the academy, which brings together scholars from all fields of knowledge.

It is impossible to predict the political consequences that the UdeG will have to face after this new manifestation of intolerance by the person heading the government. Conahsett. Nor is it certain that reconciliation between this study house and the public authorities in Jalisco will protect it from new political fluctuations. But at this point, it should be clear that the authority should not interfere with the university, nor should the university interfere in the seizure of power. Each monkey has its own rope.