For release to newspapers: The following statement in support of Professor Francisco J.

Ayala
has been signed by his colleagues, at UCI and throughout the world, as of July 4th 2018. We
would appreciate your forwarding it to the appropriate department in your paper for publication.
Thank you.

Contacts:
Elizabeth Loftus (eloftus@uci.edu)
Kristen Renwick Monroe (KRMonroe@UCI.Edu)

We are deeply concerned about recent events surrounding the resignation of Professor Francisco
J. Ayala. Nothing in our own interactions with Professor Ayala, many of us over some 20+
years, or the evidence of the charges made available to us so far, suggests Professor Ayala treats
women with anything but respect and courtesy. Given our personal experience with Ayala, then,
and given that all of the charges against him that we have been told of fall into the ambiguous
gray area, subject to misinterpretation, the university's treatment of Professor Ayala seems a
massive over-reaction, not commensurate with the wrong doing of which he is accused.
Allegations of sexual harassment should be treated seriously and with respect for the procedural
due process rights of all involved.

Andreas Acrivos, Professor Emeritus, Levich Institute, City College of CUNY, and FPCE,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
Ana Barahona Echeverria, Ciencias, UNAM, Mexico
Eladio Barrio, Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, University of Valencia, Spain.
Former researcher in Prof. Ayala’s lab, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Irvine.
Diego Bermejo, Philosophy Professor, Bilbao, Spain
Mar De Miguel Bonet, Former Research Associate, UCLA, Former UCI Graduate Student
applicant (with Dr. Ayala), Current Graduate Student, University of Alcalá (UAH), Spain,
Current Freelance Scientific Journalist
Dr. Chi Bui, former UC Irvine Biology student, Orange County Orthodontist
Lucrecia Burges Cruz, Profesor of Philosophy, University of the Balearic Islands (Palma de
Mallorca, Spain).
Camilo J. Cela-Conde, Emeritus Professor, University of the Balearic Islands (Palma de
Mallorca, Spain)
James T. Chiampi, Professor of Italian, UC Irvine
Valeria Ciompi, Editorial Director, Alianza Editorial, Madrid
Michael T. Clegg, Emeritus Professor, UC Irvine
Dr. D. Flynn, UC Irvine Ph.D. Graduate, 2014
Fernando Galán-Estella, Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Susana Pinar García, Science writer and Spanish biographer of Francisco Ayala
Richard J. Haier, Professor Emeritus, School of Medicine, UC Irvine
Hon. Prof. Pedro R. Garcia Barreno, MD., Ph.D., Complutense University, Madrid
Fernando Galán-Estella, Professor Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Luis Alfonso Gámez, journalist, “El Correo” (Bilbao, Spain)
Antoni Gomila, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of the Balearic Islands (Palma
de Mallorca, Spain)
Professor F.M. Goñi , Professor of Biochemistry , University of the Basque Country, Bilbao,
Spain. President, The Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Sociedad
Española de Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular).
Raúl Gutiérrez Lombardo, Executive Secretary, Center for the Study of Philosophy, Politics
and Society, Vicente Lombardo Toledano, Mexico
Luisa Idoate, journalist, Bilbao, Spain
Mahtab Jafari, Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC Irvine
Juan-Ramón Lacadena, Emeritus Professor of Genetics, University Complutense, Madrid
Amparo Latorre, Professor of Genetics. Former Director of the Cavanilles Institute for
Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Spain
Simon Levin, Princeton University
Elizabeth Loftus, Social Ecology, UC Irvine
Juan Linares
Zhao-Rong Lun, Professor & Director, Center for Parasitic Organisms, School of Life
Sciences,Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P.R. China
Richard McCleary, UC Irvine
Donald J. McGraw, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Ephraim, Utah
Richard B. McKenzie, Walter B. Gerken Professor (emeritus), Merage School of Business, UC
Irvine
Fabio Macciardi,,M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Lab of Molecular
Psychiatry, UC Irvine
Heslley Machado Silva, biologist, professor and researcher, the University Center for
Formiga/MG, Brazil
Carlos A. Machado, Professor, Department of Biology, University of Maryland
Andrea Marcantonio-Bergen, MPH (former UC Irvine student and currently a biology teacher)
Kristen Renwick Monroe, Political Science, UC Irvine
Andrés Moya, Professor, Genetics, University of Valencia and FISABIO Foundation (Spain)
Jesús Navas-Castillo, Professor, University of Málaga, Spain
Juli Peretó, Co-director, Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia
Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of the Year, Fellow, Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering,
Professor of Engineering, Oakland University, Rochester, MI
M. Dolores (Lola) Ochando, Full Professor (retired) Genetics Department, Faculty of Biology,
Complutense University, MADRID, SPAIN
José L. Oliver, Professor of Genetics, University of Granada, Spain
Amparo Querol, Research Professor, Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology from the
Spanish Council of Scientific Research, Valencia, Spain
Francisco Rodríguez-Trelles, Associate Professor of Genetics, Department of Genetics and
Microbiology, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain
Rosario Rodriguez Arnaiz, UNAM, Mexico
Rosaura Ruiz, Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, UNAM, Mexico (August 2010 to July
2017) and former President of the National Academy of Sciences of México.
Michael Ruse, Department of Philosophy Florida State University
Jan Siegel, Orange County resident
Donald Saari, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, UC Irvine
Soroosh Sorooshian, Distinguished Professor and Director Center for Hydrometeorology and
Remote Sensing (CHRS), UC Irvine
Virginia Trimble, Professor, Physics and Astronomy, UC Irvine
Adam S. Wilkins, Ph.D., Former Editor, BioEssays (1990-2008), Editor, "Perspectives",
GENETICS (2009-present)
Martina Zurovcova, Ph.D., Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice,
Czech Republic
Michal Zurovec, Ph.D., University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic