Chapela and Academic Freedom
In Fall 2003, Professor Ignacio Chapela was denied tenure by Chancellor Robert Berdahl, after an unprecedented and irregular three-year process. This was despite a 32-1 vote in favor of tenure by Chapela's own department and the recommendations of international experts. Why?
Prof. Chapela's first sin was his outspoken opposition to a controversial $25 million research agreement signed in 1998 between the College of Natural Resources and the Swiss biotech company Novartis. Next, in 2001, Chapela published a report in Nature magazine documenting the presence of transgenic DNA in wild corn in Oaxaca, Mexico, despite a nationwide moratorium against the planting of genetically modified (GM) maize. This suggested that the GM crops were much harder to control than their producers claimed. The publication of these findings was met with loud critiques, mostly coming from the burgeoning transgenic and GM-supporting corporate sector. Curiously, all of the authors of these published criticism pieces had direct ties to Berkeley's Department of Plant and Microbial Biology (PMB). Following this controversial series of events Chapela was denied academic tenure at Berkeley. Chapela’s courage and academic integrity was a threat to the private agenda of the UC and their corporate partners.