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The newly appointed CSU General Secretary Martin Huber at a press conference on May 6, 2022
Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
After allegations of plagiarism against the new CSU General Secretary Martin Huber, the responsible university spoke up.
The doctoral committee for the degrees Dr.
phil.
and dr
re.
pole.
The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich announced that the scientific quality of the work would now be checked again and the allegation of deception investigated.
The university confirmed that Huber asked to examine his dissertation on "The Influence of the CSU on the Western Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1954 to 1969 with regard to relations with France and the USA".
The politician received his doctorate in 2007 from the Faculty of History and Art at the LMU.
The plagiarism expert and author Jochen Zenthöfer now claims to have come across numerous plagiarisms in Huber's doctoral thesis, as the "Bild am Sonntag" reported.
According to Zenthöfer, the first 26 pages of Huber's dissertation contain a total of 25 quotations with no or incorrect source information.
“Mr. Huber should not have earned his doctorate with this work.
Here there are blatant violations of good scientific practice, which the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich must now deal with," Zenthöfer is quoted as saying in the "BamS".
The duration of the test is not yet foreseeable
Even in the worst case, Huber would not have to fear a subsequent withdrawal of his doctorate.
Because the university has now announced that the examination will be carried out, but according to the doctoral regulations valid in 2007 for the degree of Dr.
phil.
and dr
re.
pole.
"a subsequent determination that the doctoral examination has not been passed in the event of cheating, as a result of which the doctoral degree is withdrawn, is only possible five years after the notification has been issued".
According to the information, the duration of the test is not yet foreseeable.
According to the LMU announcement, the aim is to conclude the process as quickly as possible.
During the examination, the doctoral regulations do not stipulate that the title should be suspended.
The FDP parliamentary group leader in the Bavarian state parliament, Martin Hagen, had asked Huber in the "Bild am Sonntag" to stop using his doctorate for the time being.
»The suspicion of cheating is the next negative headline for the CSU after the mask, toll and Mayer scandal.
The university must now thoroughly review Huber's work," Hagen is quoted as saying.
Until the end of this process, he should voluntarily let his doctorate rest.
Huber himself explained in the report: “I wrote my doctoral thesis to the best of my knowledge and belief.
More than 20 pages of bibliography and more than 600 footnotes document the source work, which was completed in 2007.
Nevertheless, for reasons of transparency, I ask the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich to check the work again.«
The 44-year-old was only announced on Friday as the future CSU general secretary.
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