SAN FRANCISCO—Ignacio Chapela, an outspoken biotechnology critic, has been denied tenure by the University of California, Berkeley and will be let go when his employment contract expires in June.
Chapela didn't return telephone calls Thursday. He told the science journal Nature in a story published Thursday that he's going to fight the school's decision.
Chapela was hired as a tenure-track assistant professor and teaches in the school's Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. He has been a controversial figure on campus, loudly opposing a five-year, $25 million deal Berkeley signed in 1998 with Swiss agriculture giant Novartis to do agricultural biotechnology research. Two years ago, Chapela co-authored a study published in the journal Nature that concluded that DNA from genetically engineered corn contaminated native maize in Mexico.
The study was denounced by the biotechnology industry and Nature later said there wasn't enough evidence available to justify publication of the paper. The journal did not retract the original paper but printed two harsh criticisms of the work as well as a defense by the researchers, who presented new data.
Chapela presented the disputed paper as justification for tenure.
Berkeley officials have been reviewing Chapela's tenure status since November 2000, an unusually long time. Nature reported that 32 faculty members in his department voted for tenure and one against, with three abstentions.
Chapela's supporters claim he's being denied tenure by the administration because of his outspoken criticism of the university's deal with Novartis.
"The tenure process at this university is as strenuous and as demanding and as fair as any in the country and in many ways even more strenuous and it must be that way for us to maintain our position as being pre-eminent," said school spokesman George Strait. "We stand by the process."
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