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The German minister of defense, whose full name is a mouthful Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (and yes, I copied that from Wikipedia), has come under severe fire not only from the German opposition but also from his own party.
Earlier this month critics accused the young star of German politics to have plagiarized much of his work. After an evaluation period, yesterday the University of Bayreuth deemed that Guttenberg had "clearly violated academic principles in the framework of his dissertation," as the university's president Rüdiger Bormann put it.
Guttenberg had failed to attribute quotes to their original sources and pretended that they were his own. And he failed to do so on at least 76 pages and borrowed from 19 authors without naming them.
A "GuttenPlag Wiki" on which countless volunteers post their findings of plagiarisms claims to find that even 63% of the body of the dissertation contain at least one plagiarism.
Such numbers are of course unreliable. And what speaks for Guttenberg is that he himself asked the university to remove his degree of Doctor of Law, according to Bormann.
And what speaks against the university is that it tested Guttenberg in an oral exam based on his thesis, and then rated his work in 2007 with "summa cum laude," the highest distinction you can earn for academic work.
(To boast for a moment: My mother got that distinction too, more years ago than she cares to remember, for her Juris Doctor degree. And her work was original.)
At least for now, Chancellor Angela Merkel is standing by her minister. "I appointed him as minister of defense," she told reporters. "I did not appoint him as an academic assistant or doctor."
What do you think? Should Guttenberg resign? Or should he try to weather the crisis that has befallen him and argue that his transgression has nothing to do with his capacity to serve as a minister of defense? I look forward to reading you on my blog (http://thomaszweifel.blogspot.com/).
All the best,
All the best,
P.S. To download my latest book Leading Leaders: The Art and Science of Boosting Return on People (ROP) for free, go to Leading-Leaders.
P.P.S. Integrity is the chief capital of leaders. To read about how to build it, check out The Rabbi and the CEO: The Ten Commandments for 21st Century Leaders.
Yes, he should. This is a question of integrity not political expediency. And Merkel's comment reveals an attitude of today's politicians that the former doesn't seem to count. Especially for someone with the pedigree, as manifested by his name, it should be a matter of course to do the honorable thing as his ancestors would have, likely without thinking twice about it.
ReplyDeleteAlas, those days are history, especially when it comes to elected officials.
German politicians are not our business. This is a German affair and I am sure that they are able to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI think that he should indeed resign as what he has done is use the hardly obtained research work of others and claim it as his own. All he had to do was acknowledge the work of others and then use those as sources. I don't think it would not have prevented him from getting his doctorate, as researchers always draw on existing sources. I do agree that in principle this affair mainly concerns Germans, but in ethical terms what he did was wrong.
ReplyDelete@jebworks and @dilip: you have a point, which seems to be that a politician who lies is so impaired that he can no longer be trusted with his office. so if most politicians (and most human beings for that matter) lie at least some of the time, where do you draw the line? to extrapolate your argument, do you think bill clinton should have resigned once the monica lewinsky scandal broke?
ReplyDelete@anonymous: do you think politics in all countries other than your own are none of your business, or is your view specific to germany? i agree that germany can be trusted to deal with this scandal, but what happens with the german defense minister can surely have a bearing on other parts of the world, given germany's membership in nato, for example. and as dilip says, ethics are universal in nature, whether the ethical breach was committed by a german politician or an american bicycle champion or a swiss banker.
COMMENT FROM VINCENT GRUENDLER (DON'T KNOW WHY THIS IS NOT DISPLAYED):
ReplyDeleteMaybe he should. I live in Germany and therefore was "forced" to follow this scandal on the news. One has to know that von Guttenberg is the most popular of all German politicians and during this scandal his popularity has even increased, if you believe the BILD-Zeitung (yellow press), which nobody should. It is indeed a question of integrity. I say maybe only because I still want to give von Guttenberg a chance to fully acknowledge and recognize his errors in public. Until now he hasn´t. At least not sufficiently, in my view. First, he tried to play it down. Then, under pressure, he recognized his errors in Parliament explaining that the dissertation took him 7 years and that his political work and raising children was the reason he failed in thoroughness but never willfully cheated. This, excuse me, is complete bullshit - anyone who wrote a academic paper knows that you can miss one or two quotes but not entire pages (and you can quote me on that!). He then voluntarily gave back his title - one day before the university revoked it. This is not what I call acknowledgment.
It is also a question of leadership. A true leader would fully acknowledge his mistake, make a formal apology and offer his resignation. And if von Guttenberg would do that it would be a great opportunity to regain some of the long-missing values in politics - in Germany and worldwide (and no, this is not a German affair only).