Mexico: UNAM coordinator dismissed for using data of scholarship holders in books without consent

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) reported that it separated Dora Evangelina Mendizábal García from the Coordination of the Scholarship System for Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples (SBEI) of the UNAM after scholarship recipients claimed the use of personal data without consent in a publication directed by the academic. At the beginning of this week, the Intercultural Youth Collective Our voices denounced Evangelina Mendizábal for using personal information in the book University and diversity: the indigenous scholars of the UNAM, which was stolen from the reports provided by the beneficiaries as requirement to receive support.

The organization said in a statement, In the (book), personal and private information is used without the consent of those of us who have integrated the SBEI, which we find outrageous and unethical, since the information collected is intimate and personal. We reiterate the PUIC's commitment to guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of the information conferred by SBEI scholarship recipients. In the same way, we reiterate our willingness to listen to the proposals of the scholarship recipients and their proposals.

Given this, the university reported this Thursday that after an exhaustive review of the book by the Ethics Committee, it was decided to cancel its publication, because it did not follow the guidelines for the treatment of personal data. In addition, the University Program for Studies of Cultural Diversity and Interculturality (PUIC) specified that on its website it will expand the principles for the processing of personal data, in strict adherence to the regulations in force at UNAM, including the rights of ARCO : Access, Rectification, Cancellation and Opposition.