The professor fired by the UPV/EHU for sexist comments offers to replace the dismissed vice-rector

The rector of the UPV/EHU and candidate for re-election, Eva Ferreira, forced the resignation this Monday in the middle of the electoral campaign of one of her closest collaborators, the prestigious professor Guillermo Quindós. According to a computer report from the alternative candidacy, Quindós would have actively participated in a campaign on X to launch defamatory messages against them and Ferreira has given full credibility to these considerations.

Quindós, current vice-rector for scientific-social development and transfer of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), has presented his resignation after it became public that through an anonymous account he insulted and defamed the members of the other candidate for the elections. to the rectorate, led by Joxerra Bengoetxea. The rector herself, Ferreira, has published a message on X in which she indicates that she accepts the irrevocable resignation presented by the vice-rector.

“This resignation is motivated by the publication on social networks of messages that in no way reflect the spirit and values ​​of this rector’s team or of the university itself. I also want to say that, on a personal note, I feel deeply disappointed. I was unaware of these actions, which have been carried out in a strictly private manner. Not only the content of those messages, but also that way of proceeding, seems completely unacceptable to me,” Ferreira wrote on his social networks.

Quindós himself wanted to apologize on his X account, but tried to excuse himself by claiming that “they were comments that he shared with a limited number of followers.” “The messages, issued in a personal context, without using my name or my position, and of very restricted scope, in no way aspired to have a public reach, beyond the context in which they had been written. They were comments that he shared with a limited number of followers, and without any intention of influencing the electoral campaign or the image of the other candidate. From here I want to convey my most sincere apologies to both candidates and, very especially, to Joxerramon Bengoetxea, for the damage that these messages may have caused and which, in the context of an electoral campaign, are particularly unacceptable,” wrote the former one of the vice-rectors of the UPV/EHU.

Bengoetxea’s candidacy has warned that the campaign in which both will compete until November 26, when the elections to the rectorate will be held, “is being defamatory” with “trolls who are dedicated to insulting and defaming.” For this reason, this Monday they presented a computer report with the evidence that led to the departure of Quindós, a professor with a very long career in the field of microbiology and health and who became an important disseminator during the COVID-19 pandemic. 19. The expert report, to which this newspaper has had access, proves that an anonymous account of

Through the account of ) and the fascist attack dogs (read UIB) who surreptitiously do their dirty work. Joxerra, good tactic, but remember Adolfo, Benito and Patxi the frog!” or “And this is the law professor? It reminds me of that Soviet joke about the vase and the political commissariat. Which, by the way, does not appear here.”

“These events are part of a very worrying dynamic. First of all, we want to express our solidarity with all the people who may have been affected by these hoaxes, part of our candidacy has been, but there are more people affected. Secondly, it is true that we also want to show our closeness to the other candidacy because surely it was a shock for them to hear this news, but we must also say that it is part of a dynamic that this candidacy has been following in trying to discredit our candidacy with different statements, statements and hoaxes about us,” Bengoetxea detailed.

The report has been prepared “by an independent group of people who seek to promote fair and transparent elections at the university.” “Without being professionals, we have carried out this investigation in order to demand responsibility for the offensive messages published on this account and to foster an environment of respect in the electoral process,” the document reads.