To the point: embarrassment
German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has resigned following serious allegations of plagiarism, after he returned his doctoral degree—which he had apparently obtained fraudulently—but still intended to remain in office.
His resignation was preceded by a media mudslinging. Only the Bild-Zeitung held on to the aristocratic political shooting star. What amazes me about the whole affair is that although Guttenberg's cheating was reported everywhere loudly and in part polemically, one thing was actually always disregarded. His doctoral thesis was accepted, it was not simply waved through, but awarded the rating "summa cum laude", which after all means "with the highest praise". An award that in retrospect is grotesque and does not exactly speak for the credibility of a university. But it gets worse. After the accusations became known, Bayreuth law professor Peter Häberle, Guttenberg's doctoral advisor, had told the Bild newspaper: "The work is not plagiarism." Later, the professor changed his mind. With very great regret, he had to acknowledge that the circumstances of the doctorate he supervised were likely to "bring the reputation of the University of Bayreuth into disrepute in the public discussion," Häberle announced in a written statement obtained by the newspaper Die Welt. A measly apology. It seems to me that a lot has gone wrong here. On the one hand, a shooting star in politics who, in addition to his ministerial and noble titles, lacked a doctorate, which is not entirely unimportant in Germany, and on the other hand, a mild-aged professor - Häberle is, after all, already 76 years old - who perhaps allowed himself to be blinded by Guttenberg's brash demeanor. Or did that not play a role? Would a doctoral student like Hans Mustermann also have received a "summa cum laude"? Probably so. And what did one read in the press on this subject? Nothing. Everything was picking on Guttenberg. There is no doubt that he made serious mistakes, but the fact that the countless instances of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis were not noticed is at least as big a scandal and an embarrassment for science and the university. As a reminder, in 2000, fake interviews with Hollywood stars by Tom Kummer appeared in various newspapers, including the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Magazine. Some senior editors who had bought Kummer's texts lost their jobs in the process.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
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