Calls for Hungary’s president Pal Schmitt to resign after being stripped of his PhD
Hungary’s President Pal Schmitt giving a statement to the press in Budapest on Mar. 22, just days before Semmelweis University began proceedings to strip Schmitt of his doctorate for plagarism.
Hungary's president Pal Schmitt has had his doctorate revoked after it was judged that large sections of his thesis had been plagiarized.
Associated Press says that Semmelweis University's senate voted 33-4 in favor of revocation after a five-member committee claimed that more than 200 pages of Schmitt's 215-page thesis were either direct translations or showed "partial similarity" to other works.
"An analysis of the program of Modern Olympic Games", showed partial overlaps with a study written in French by a Bulgarian sport researcher, and 16 pages were copied from another author, Reuters reports.
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Europe Online says that the commission also absolved Schmitt of responsibility in the case, noting that the University of Physical Education, which has since been absorbed by Semmelweis University, should never have accepted the thesis when it was first submitted in 1992.
Schmitt is a former Olympic fencing champion. He has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1983 and was recently named as its vice-president. He was elected to the largely ceremonial role of Hungary's president in 2010.
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AFP says that Hungarian opposition parties have called for Schmitt to resign in light of the university senate's ruling.
"The doctorate council came to the sole possible conclusion, with which it saved the honor of Hungarian science," the Socialist party leader Attila Mesterhazy, is quoted as saying. "Now it is Pal Schmitt's turn to make the right decision: he must go because he has become unworthy of the post of president."
Bloomberg notes that Hungary's state news service MTI quoted Schmitt as saying he would not resign over the matter, with his ruling Fidesz party saying they considered the matter closed.
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