Ignacio Chapela wins!

Ok, this post comes one year too late, but I'm totally surprised! Ignacio Chapela is this professor who was battling against UC Berkeley because they did not give him tenure due to his allegations against Novartis, which Cal invests heavily in. In 2003 he staged a sit out protest by camping outside California Hall and lecturing in the hot sun day and night. I stopped by the lecture in amusement. I mean, I suppor this guys fight against the big giants but I thought it was game over for him. Guess not:

Ignacio Chapela Wins Tenure Battle
In May 2005, after a two-year battle, biologist and professor Ignacio Chapela was granted tenure with full back pay by the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chapela -- a vocal opponent of the University’s research ties with the agrochemical and biotechnology firm Novartis (now Syngenta) -- was denied tenure in 2003 despite the overwhelming support of faculty in his department, Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Chapela remained at the teaching post he had held for ten years while he appealed the decision, charging the University had retaliated because he spoke out about improprieties in the Novartis agreement. In April 2005, Chapela filed a lawsuit against the University over the denial.
In 1997, Chapela opposed a US$25 million contract between the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Novartis, granting the genetically-engineered seed producer first rights to negotiate licenses on a major portion of the department’s discoveries, allowing two Novartis representatives to sit on the department’s research committee, and requiring certain faculty to sign confidentiality agreements. Chapela openly led public opposition to the deal, arguing the contract was negotiated in secret, was detrimental to academic freedom and a misuse of the university’s resources, and would ultimately bring damage to the environment, native plants and public health. The Atlantic Monthly ran a cover story on the contract titled “The Kept University” and California State Senator Tom Hayden held hearings in Sacramento. The contract was allowed to expire in February 2004.
In November 2001, Professor Chapela again stung the agricultural biotechnology industry when he and researcher David Quist published surprising findings in the scientific journal Nature: genetically engineered corn, banned in Mexico, had contaminated indigenous strains in the Oaxacan highlands; and the transgenic material or DNA detected was fragmented and unstable. If these results were confirmed, it meant that the world’s reserve of wild, biodiverse maize might be irreparably diminished.
The peer-reviewed paper was met with a storm of criticism, particularly on the question of unstable DNA, already a concern among scientists. As Paul Gepts, University of California, Davis plant geneticist, pointed out to an Australian news agency, “There is little research done on the stability of transgenic DNA…. These are important questions to investigate and yet the idea has never been tested in a systematic way.” Internet postings and letters-to-the-editor in Nature attacked the Chapela and Quist research, and the editors took the inexplicable and unprecedented step of “disavowing” the article, stating, “the evidence available does not justify publication of the original article.”
Later studies by the Mexican government confirmed the existence of the transgenic corn in Mexico, and an investigation tied some of the letters to Nature and web postings to fictitious “scientists” created by a public relations firm hired by Novartis.
When the University Budget Committee voted to deny Chapela tenure in 2003, it did so despite the unanimous support of an ad hoc tenure committee and a nearly unanimous vote for tenure (32 to 1) by his faculty peers. Chapela’s cause benefited from widespread student support, on-campus vigils, backing from the Berkeley Faculty Association, and letters from international scientists and supporters. It sparked an interdisciplinary campaign for intellectual freedom in scientific research and academic debate, including webcast conferences. Hearing that his bid was finally granted, Chapela wrote an open letter to his supporters:
“I know of no other case where the public’s role in the conferring of tenure has been more evident. There is no doubt in my mind that I owe this tenure to you, as well as to others beyond yourselves who, without knowing, have been prodigal in support of a place to think and speak freely.”
PAN North America is proud to have had Dr. Chapela as a member of our Board of Directors since 1997.
Sources: Tenure Justice, http://www.tenurejustice.org/Index.html; Mexican Maize Madness, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 7, 2002 (accessed on Pulse of Science website); Pulse of Science, http://www.pulseofscience.org; Global Pesticide Campaigner, August 2002; David Quist and Ignacio Chapela, “Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico,” Nature (November 2001, v.416, pp.541-543).