Only a few citation errors
Alice Weidel probably didn’t copy it after all
January 25, 2024, 2:05 p.m
Plagiarism searchers accuse AfD leader Alice Weidel of copying entire passages in her doctoral thesis. The University of Bayreuth is investigating the allegations. According to the university, there are occasional citation errors – but the examiners do not see any culpable misconduct.
After allegations of plagiarism against AfD leader Alice Weidel in connection with her doctoral thesis, the University of Bayreuth does not see enough evidence for further examination. According to the Commission for Scientific Integrity, there were isolated citation errors in the work, the university said. However, these passages were not sufficient to prove grossly negligent or intentional scientific misconduct.
“There is a single-digit number of passages in which textbook knowledge is reproduced,” the university said. The committee therefore unanimously decided not to initiate main proceedings to examine the allegations in the case.
The university announced in December 2023 that it was investigating “suspicion of plagiarism” after the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported that two plagiarism searchers had contacted the university. Accordingly, the two accused Weidel of not or not sufficiently identifying the sources of individual passages, coherent sentences or even sentence fragments in their doctoral thesis from 2011, which was awarded summa cum laude.
Weidel rejected the allegations in a video on the X platform. At the time, she spoke of a campaign against her personally, given the relatively high poll numbers for the AfD. Weidel is also chairwoman of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag.