Scandal about Klagenfurt University Rector: Plagiats hunter convicted!

Scandal about Klagenfurt University Rector: Plagiats hunter convicted!

Klagenfurt, Österreich - The Salzburg media scientist and self -proclaimed "plagiarism hunter" Stefan Weber was recently convicted of a court for a bad recruitment. He has to pay Oliver Vitouch, the former rector of the University of Klagenfurt, compensation of 4,000 euros. This was made by both The press comprehensively reported.

Origin of the conflict was a blog post that Weber published in January 2024, in which he made Vitouch false allegations that referred to the dismissal of two German professors at the University of Klagenfurt. Weber insinued that these layoffs were carried out by the rector as a "demonstration of power" and claimed that the academics would still suffer from the consequences to this day. Vitouch and his lawyer, Maria Windhager, rejected these accusations and emphasized that they were not only untrue, but also damaging to Vitouch.

court judgment and legal consequences

The court confirmed the decision of the Salzburg State Court, which is an important confirmation for Vitouch, which spoke of an "unreasonable salvation of untruths" at the beginning of the trial. Weber was also prescribed to make the judgment public and to bear the procedural costs. According to Vitouch, Weber, with his statements, was targeted to harm him. Despite the conviction, Weber announced at short notice to continue to fight grievances in the university landscape and defended his blog as a kind of "whistleblower platform" to draw attention to abuse of power.

The controversy about the layoffs of the professors resulted from internal complaints that dealt with bullying and bossing. A witness who testified for the rector confirmed that the layoffs were not only decided by Vitouch, which made Weber's claims in question. Webb said that the journalistic duty of care in his case had to be interpreted differently and that he saw the statements in his blog as pointed.