20 1 1 In February, Fischer Lescano, a professor of law at the University of Bremen in Germany, and Felix Hanschmann, a legal expert at Frankfurt University, commented on Gutenberg's doctoral thesis "The Constitution and the Constitutional Treaty-The Constitutional Development Stage of the United States and the European Union" in the Journal of Law Review. The commentary believes that the paper is not only "average" in level, but also plagiarized in many places. Articles published in the Swiss newspaper New Zurich and the German newspaper frankfurter allgemeine zeitung were plagiarized, as well as the contents of expert reports. Some paragraphs are exactly the same, without indicating the source. Sü ddeutsche Zeitung reported that there are at least nine such practices. Fischer-Lescano thinks this is "systematic" and "serious plagiarism". Some German media also published passages suspected of plagiarism.
Gutenberg denied plagiarism and argued that his 475-page paper contained more than 65,438+0,200 footnotes. "I am willing to accept verification to see if there are some footnotes that have not been made, or are not done correctly, and will be revised when reprinted." On the other hand, when writing, he claimed to be "seeking truth from facts, not being heartless". However, Han Shiman said that they had checked it at least three times. The political scientist Qin Pfennig, one of the plagiarized authors, said that Gutenberg's doctorate must be cancelled.
At present, Bai reuter University is investigating whether this incident violates the regulations on doctoral degrees of the university. Peter Heibler, the doctoral supervisor of Gutenberg, thought that Gutenberg's paper was not plagiarized, accusing it of being "absurd". However, some media pointed out that although Haebler was a well-known legal scholar, when Gutenberg applied for his degree, he was 73 years old and had already retired.
Once this incident was exposed, it immediately caused a fierce dispute between the German ruling and opposition parties. Lai Na Arnold, a national defense expert of the main opposition Social Democratic Party, said that if gutenberg's doctorate was revoked, he would not be able to continue as the Minister of National Defense because his "credibility has been lost". Trittin, chairman of the parliamentary group of the opposition Green Party, believes that Gutenberg can't escape the responsibility whether it is intentional plagiarism or carelessness. Gunter Frings, vice chairman of the ruling CDU parliamentary group, accused the opposition party of provoking a "dirty water movement" and trying to "overthrow Gutenberg".
According to some reports, Fischer-Lescano is connected with the opposition Left Party and Social Democratic Party. However, Hanschmann said their comments were for "academic, not political" purposes. German Justice Minister Schnarrenberger called for a "calm" investigation, rather than drawing conclusions in advance.
According to a poll conducted by the German newspaper Le Monde, more than 60% of readers believe that if gutenberg's doctorate is cancelled, he should also resign as defense chief.
Give up one's doctorate
German Defense Minister gutenberg, caught in the whirlpool of plagiarism, said on February 20th11that he would "stop using the doctorate forever", but he refused to resign again.
Gutenberg admitted that he made a "serious mistake" when writing his doctoral thesis in the election held near Frankfurt that night, and he apologized to all those who were hurt by it. He said: "The decision not to use a doctorate is painful." He also denied the accusation that the paper was not written by himself.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel answered media questions in Berlin that day, saying that even if gutenberg's doctorate was cancelled, he would still serve as the Minister of National Defense. Merkel stressed that Gutenberg's work is excellent.
On June 8, 65438, Gutenberg said that he would "temporarily" give up the title of doctor of law obtained at Bayreuth University in 2007. The Bayreuther Procuratorate has filed two charges against gutenberg, accusing him of copyright infringement. Meanwhile, Reuters University is investigating the incident and considering whether to cancel his doctorate.
Resign as secretary of defense
German Federal Defence Minister gutenberg, who was involved in the plagiarism scandal, issued an official statement in Berlin on March 1 local time in Germany, announcing his resignation as Defence Minister. Gutenberg, 39, is one of the most popular political stars in Germany. About two weeks ago, the German media revealed that Gutenberg quoted a large number of other people's articles in his doctoral thesis without indicating the source, which was a serious plagiarism. Later, Gutenberg admitted that there were serious mistakes in writing the thesis, but refused to resign. After investigation, Reuters University announced the cancellation of Gutenberg's doctorate on February 23rd. Although Gutenberg admitted his mistake, apologized and returned his doctorate to the school, he finally couldn't last two weeks and decided to resign.
On March 1 noon115, local time in Germany, Gutenberg made an official statement in Berlin, announcing his resignation as Minister of National Defense. In his resignation statement, he said: "I just got off the phone with Chancellor Merkel and expressed my decision to resign. This is the most painful decision I have made in my political career. I think my position as Secretary of Defense is a position of great responsibility, and I also put forward high requirements for myself, but I have not fulfilled this requirement. I made a big mistake in academic research. I sincerely apologize for my mistake. I want to apologize again today. Because of my mistake, the federal government, the Ministry of National Defense and my political party may suffer losses. This is the last thing I want to see and the main reason for my resignation. " These are the contents of his resignation statement.
As the most popular political star in Germany, Gutenberg has been the headline of German media for two weeks in a row because of being accused of plagiarism of his doctoral thesis. I thought that things would calm down after publicly admitting mistakes, apologizing and revoking my doctorate, but the wave of criticism against Gutenberg has intensified.
German academic circles believe that Gutenberg's attitude in writing doctoral thesis shows that his style of study is not rigorous, and the support of the German Chancellor will damage Germany's image of academic rigor in the world.
During this period, the opposition party's accusations against gutenberg were endless. Even Gutenberg's political party, CSU, and CDU, the ruling partner and sister party, have heard criticism of him. On Monday, Shawan, the German Ministry of Education and Research, publicly said: As a person who received his doctorate 365,438+0 years ago and had frequent contacts with doctoral students in his past career, I am ashamed of Gutenberg's behavior in public, and I think he should feel the same way. At the end of February, more than 20,000 scholars submitted a collective signature letter to Merkel to protest against Merkel's protection of Gutenberg. This became the last straw on Gutenberg.
Gutenberg's resignation has also caused quite a stir in German politics, with different reactions from all walks of life.
Seehofer, chairman of CSU, gutenberg's political party, was very surprised by gutenberg's stepping down, because just the day before, gutenberg expressed his determination to continue to perform his duties. He said: "All members of our CSU think this is a great loss. We feel very sad. Gutenberg is an outstanding politician. He advocated a hundred-year reform of the German Defence Force, but unfortunately lost the opportunity to carry out the reform to the end. " Seehofer expressed his understanding of gutenberg's decision, but also stressed that he would try his best to keep gutenberg in close contact with German political circles and CSU, because he will always be a member of CSU.
After Gutenberg stepped down, the opposition remained firm. Steinmeier, chairman of the Social Democratic Party parliamentary group, believes that "it is too late to step down now. Chancellor Angela Merkel has always supported Gutenberg, as if it were a trivial matter that he was accused of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis. In fact, his practice is a great shame for the German academic research community. Merkel should know that people like gutenberg can't stay in their posts. "
Trittin, chairman of the Green Party parliamentary group, said, "gutenberg was two weeks late to bear the consequences of his opportunism. This is also a shameful thing for Chancellor Angela Merkel who has always believed that she can get out of this scandal. "
Dariusz Kubicki, chairman of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Democratic Party in Schleswig-Holstein, said: "His stepping down was a firm step, but it came too late. If he had made this decision a week ago, he would still be respected. And now he is just a person who has been driven away. "
However, most people still regret the resignation of the popular defense minister.