20 MARCH 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6484 1293PHOTO: SECRETARÍA DE CULTURA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO/FLICKR CC BY-SA
E
arlier this month, Mexico’s leading
university, the National Autono-
mous University of Mexico (UNAM),
announced that renowned neuro-
scientist Ranulfo Romo Trujillo
would leave his position after being
disciplined for an unspecified offense.
According to a 4 March press release from
UNAM, Romo Trujillo voluntarily asked to
be separated from his job at its University
City campus in Mexico City. Sources close
to the case say he had been temporarily
suspended because a female worker made
a formal complaint of sexual harassment
against him following an incident in Janu-
ary. But current and former UNAM students
and staff say that reports of inappropriate
behavior by Romo Trujillo had circulated
for years before his departure.
Romo Trujillo, who works at UNAM’s
Institute of Cellular Physiology (IFC), did
not respond to repeated requests for com-
ment. He is arguably the most famous
neuroscientist in Mexico, studying per-
ception, working memory, and decision-
making. He has more than 150 publica-
tions, including in top journals such as
Science and Nature; is on the editorial
board of Neuron and other journals; and is
one of 11 Mexican members of the U.S. Na-
tional Academy of Sciences.
IFC physiologist Marcia Hiriart Urdanivia
acknowledged in an email to Science that,
while director of IFC from 2009 to 2017,
she received multiple accounts of sexual
harassment or inappropriate conduct by
Romo Trujillo. Hiriart Urdanivia says she
warned Romo Trujillo that “his career
was endangered by such actions.” But the
women involved did not choose to file offi-
cial complaints, she says. As a result, “I had
no authority to do anything else.”
Six former trainees at UNAM told Science
that they witnessed or experienced mis-
conduct or harassment by Romo Trujillo,
including inappropriate and sexually sug-
gestive comments, grabbing women with-
out their consent while he was drunk at the
institute, and making unwanted physical
advances. The alleged victims and witnesses
say they did not file formal complaints be-
cause they feared reprisal or thought that
his status would protect him from disciplin-SCIENCEary action. They asked to remain unnamed.
One woman was a graduate student at
IFC in 2006 when, she says, Romo Trujillo
harassed her at a graduation party in the
institute’s cafeteria. According to her, he
was drunk when he grabbed her by the
arm and pulled her away from the party
to take her to his lab to show her the mon-
keys he works with. “I got really scared,”
she says. “It was obvious that I did not
want to go with him.” Many at the party
saw the incident, but only one person, a
fellow student, helped her get away from
Romo Trujillo, she says.
Students and staff say Romo Trujillo’s lab
now has no female students or technicians.
More than 20 members of the IFC commu-nity told Science Romo Trujillo’s behavior was
well-known, including to those in authority
at the institute. “Everybody knows,” one says.
Some students say they tried to warn new
female students about Romo Trujillo. Oth-
ers took preventive actions. “When I arrived
at the lab, especially on the weekends, and I
saw he was there, I used to lock myself up in
the lab if I was alone,” says one woman, who
has been a student there since 2014.
One woman who claims to have been sex-
ually harassed by Romo Trujillo says she did
report incidents to Hiriart Urdanivia. But
she did not feel she got enough guidance
to file a complaint. “It’s very difficult for a
student without experience or knowledgeto file an official complaint as an individ-
ual person,” she said.
Hiriart Urdanivia rejects this account
and insists she did support students. “If
any of the women who spoke to me about
Dr. Romo’s inappropriate behaviors had
wanted to file a formal complaint, they
would have had my full support as direc-
tor,” she wrote in an email to Science. “I
did what I could to make people feel safe.”
The January complaint about Romo
Trujillo sparked outrage on social media. On
27 February, an anonymous Facebook post
claimed that Romo Trujillo’s sanction was an
8-day suspension, which the poster argued
was far too lenient. The post, which claimed
to be from an IFC student, went viral.
Romo Trujillo’s departure comes at a
time when universities throughout Latin
America are only beginning to fight sexual
harassment in science (Science, 21 Febru-
ary, p. 842). UNAM implemented a gender
violence protocol in 2016, and according to
officials, 1195 formal complaints have been
filed since then. But advocates for women
say its responses have often been weak.
Starting in September 2019, protests de-
manding more action from authorities have
shut down more than 20 UNAM schools.
On 12 February, UNAM said in a press
release that it would change its general
statute to view sexual harassment as a
serious offense. That action formally rec-
ognizes that “violence against women is
not allowed nor will it be tolerated,” says a
UNAM spokesperson. On 6 March, the Na-
tional Council of Science and Technology,
Mexico’s main granting agency, similar to
the United States’s National Science Foun-
dation, announced it would investigate un-
specified allegations against Romo Trujillo
and another UNAM scholar.
On 9 March, the National College—
Mexico’s honorary academy of scholars,
of which Romo Trujillo is a member—
announced that he asked to suspend his
membership while he deals with the allega-
tions. Some current students think the dis-
cipline and departure of such a prominent
researcher will serve as a turning point.
“We are tired of this patriarchal system in
which the success of a man matters more
than the dignity of a woman,” says a cur-
rent Ph.D. student. jInés Gutiérrez is a journalist based in Mexico City.By Inés Gutiérrez, in Mexico City,
and Rodrigo Pérez OrtegaSCIENTIFIC COMMUNITYTop neuroscientist leaving Mexican university
Alleged incidents of sexual harassment by Ranulfo Romo Trujillo began years ago
Multiple women alleged sexual harassment by
Ranulfo Romo Trujillo of the National Autonomous
University of Mexico, University City.NEWS | IN DEPTH