Slashdot Mirror
German Science Minister Stripped of Her PhD
An anonymous reader writes "In a move likely to have major political implications, the University of Düsseldorf has revoked the doctoral degree of Germany's science and education minister, Annette Schavan. The committee investigating allegations of plagiarism came to the conclusion that she 'systematically and deliberately claimed as her own intellectual achievements which she had in fact not produced herself.' Schavan wants to appeal the decision in court and has not resigned from her post so far."
"Annette Schavan stripped"
do NOT want!
"A university committee yesterday evening confirmed accusations, first aired last May, of plagiarism in Schavan’s ethical-philosophical dissertation entitled ‘People and conscience — studies on the conditions, necessity and requirements for formation of conscience today’."
Naturally!!
Nothing interesting to say...MUST...NOT...REPLY...ohtheheckwithit.
Until she can copy off someone else's letter of appeal.
Google search for "That's a sweeping and unfair generalization." shows 14 results... Looks like you've got some explaining to do, Mr "I don't use footnotes", or you're about to be stripped of your second post achievement.
Now I'm doing it right, put my post in quotes and google for it and "did not match any documents" is the result.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
No one wil ever say it better!
The great Tom Lehrer
hmmm.
It is now a smear campaign to point out someone is a cheater and a liar?
She has had many years to admit this. She chose not to.
When the University officially strips you of your degree, it's moved from "smear campaign" to "substantiated charges".
current Committee on Science, Space and Technology member Paul Broun...
" embryology, evolution, and the Big Bang are "lies straight from the Pit of Hell ... lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior."
former Committee on Science, Space and Technology member Todd Akin...
"If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. "
on Evolution - "I don’t see it as even as a matter of science, because I don’t know if you can prove one or the other."
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I'd love to see that kind of zeal put on the backgrounds of US politicians.
There are some very interesting articles on the "bribes-for-PhD" scam in Germany: In 2008 Time Magazine reported on an investigation into around 100 cases of bribes for PhDs: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1919339,00.html. One blogger claims 500 to 700 PhD's are illegitimately "purchased" each year by aggressive career-climbing German lawyers, managers and politicians. The blogger provides numerous citations: http://ktwop.wordpress.com/tag/guttenberg-fraud/. In 2011, the DW German news outlet called some German PhD's "cut and paste": http://www.dw.de/academic-consultants-target-phd-wannabes/a-14852460-1.
Mr. Guttenberg resigned because his whole Ph.D. - done outside the university while he was already a politician - was a lousy Copy&Paste job including copying papers done by the research arm of the parliament for him. Especially also in places where he claimed original thought.
Mrs. Schavan did the Ph.D. at the university before she started her career and seemingly ca. 15 years before she went into heavy politics. As far as I understand her Ph.D. was revoked because of incorrect citations (i.e. she named sources but not marked text as direct citation) in her literature section.
The only commonality is that both lost their Ph.D..