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Once again come from it: The SPD politician Franziska Giffey may keep their doctorate, it has decided the examining board of the Freie Universität Berlin after more than eight months of consultation. On about one third of the pages the plagiarism hunters of the internet platform Vroniplag Wiki had found errors and incorrectly marked quotes. She wrote the paper "to the best of my knowledge and belief", Giffey said after the allegations became known - with the question of whether someone works deliberately negligently or does not play a role in evaluating a dissertation.
However, the biggest shortcoming of the doctoral thesis entitled "Europe's Path to Citizens - The European Commission's Civil Society Involvement Policy" is not in the sloppy sources, nor is it whether the minister used an "American citation system" that should explain some of the messiness.
To whom does such a dissertation serve?
The real problem is: Franziska Giffey wrote a doctoral thesis about herself. She highlighted the involvement of civil society in EU politics. Her object of investigation was Berlin-Neukölln, where Giffey worked as a European Commissioner, when the 266-page documentary was produced on an extra-occupational basis.
To whom does such a dissertation serve? Does it contribute to political science research, as would be expected from a doctoral thesis? That's at least doubtful. It is most likely to be of use to the author, who may then decorate herself with an academic title that is to count on her credibility as a politician. However, the responsibility lies not with the doctoral candidate, but above all with the responsible supervisor, who has accepted this work and waved it through.
Sure, Franziska Giffey is not the first to have obtained a title in this way: Kristina Schröder, Giffey's predecessor in the ministry of the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, submitted a thesis in Political Science in 2009 entitled "Justice as Equality?" An Empirical Analysis of the Objective subjective responsiveness of members of the Bundestag "- since she sat for seven years in the Bundestag. Former Chancellor Dr.phil. Helmut Kohl wrote about "The Political Development in the Palatinate and the Resurgence of the Parties after 1945". The research should not have been particularly hard for him. Kohl joined the CDU in 1946, and a year later he founded the Junge Union in his hometown of Ludwigshafen. Ex-Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle wrote a legal paper on "The Party Law and the Political Youth Organizations", which he completed in 1994. Westerwelle was a founding member of the Young Liberals and its chairman for five years.
The college abused
Franziska Giffey is not a scammer, just as Schröder, Kohl and Westerwelle are cheaters. But they have all opted for the simplest legal way to print a Ph.D. on their business card - and use it for their own purposes.
In the end, the victims are the scientists: those who really penetrate deeply into a field of research and spend years searching for new insights.
Universities should no longer be harnessed to the cart of career-ambitious politicians. Chairs should have enough self-confidence to demand a genuine academic contribution from PhD students - no matter how prominent the budding authors are.
