Labor Minister and Congresswoman Betssy Chavez was put in the eye of the storm when the Sunday Panorama revealed that, according to the Turnitin program, the thesis that gave her the title of lawyer would have 49% similarity to other research papers. That is, 90 pages literally copied and pasted to support her degree.
Despite this, the Jorge Basadre National University of Tacna reported yesterday that it will not review the thesis and that the software used does not detect plagiarism, but “similarities.” With this, they violate their own regulations, which stipulate that a work with more than 40% similarity must be annulled.
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“More than 40% (of similarity) proceeds to the annulment of the work and reprimand”, indicates page 4 of the Directive of Authenticity of Academic and Research Documents.
In this regard, Víctor Damián López, former dean of the Faculty of Legal and Business Sciences, from which Chávez graduated, and president of the jury that qualified the minister’s thesis, told Perú21 that those responsible are his advisor and the technical juries. “This should be subject to academic investigation for the sake of transparency and the prestige of the university; Betssy was from the top fifth, no one would have suspected that level of matches,” he noted.
The Research Director of the PUCP, Andrés Melgar, said that the review of the work rests with the university. “The thesis has many indications of plagiarism and from the statements (of Chavez) it is understood that he did know that it should be cited,” he commented and added that, if the investigation was hidden from the public, it would show that “he has something to hide ”.
