Axel Meyer

In 2003, Meyer was accused of several cases of misconduct in a complaint that was filed by 16 former students and postdocs.[27] The initial accusations included violation of intellectual property rights, plagiarism, disregard of author rights, misappropriation of research funds, fabrication of results, threats against lab members and posting misleading job advertisements, however, most of the allegations could not be confirmed.[28] In reaction to the accusations, the university launched an investigation lead by law professor Dieter Lorenz.

The commission published their report in 2004 and found Meyer to be not guilty of any fabrication of results or misappropriation of funds. However, the commission stated Meyer was "'damaging the scientific interests' of lab members by, for example, placing 'misleading job advertisements' and 'blocking the publication of a lab member's paper for more than 2 years.'"[29] The report was also criticized, as the job advertisements in question were placed in accordance to common practice and signed by the rectorate, and because the commission also did not speak to any of the 16 complainants before affirming their accusations.[28] The final report criticized Meyer for not respecting personal matters of research assistants. According to Science, the internal commission reported that "Meyer claimed ownership of other people's intellectual property".[29] However, Professor Lorenz, stated that the phrase intellectual property was not meant "as a legal term".[28] The complainants noted at the time that they were met by institutional resistance from the University of Konstanz and any consequences imposed by the university were never reported.[30]

In 2004, 36 of Axel Meyer's students, postdocs and scientific collaborators published a letter of support in Nature with the title: "Meyer: disagreements but no misconduct".[31] They claimed they "[…] were surprised by the committee's decision to accept some of the complaints […]. Our own experiences of working in or collaborating with Axel Meyer's lab have been far more positive. Those of us who have published with Meyer found that he provided crucial intellectual contributions to manuscripts."[31] Furthermore, the group underlines: "Collaboration with Meyer took place in a fair, open and cooperative atmosphere."[31]

In 2015, Axel Meyer wrote an article for FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) describing German university students as lazy and dishonest.[32] Despite a long history of publicly funded post secondary education in Germany, Meyer argued that the tuition-free education system made today's students spoiled and entitled compared to those in the United States[32] – though the US faces increasingly high rates of student debt.[33]

Meyer was compelled to write the piece after his office had been broken into two days before an exam. Upon finding markings around the lock to his office at the University of Konstanz he notified the police who informed him that occasionally students attempt to break into offices to steal exams.[32] Though the police also reported that several offices had been compromised for the purpose of stealing cash and no evidence suggested the culprit was a student.[34] Regardless, Meyer contemplates in his article: "Would students break into the office of a professor to steal the exam topic?" And then goes on to say: "At least I would not be surprised if that were the case." One of his most inflammatory statements colorfully illustrates his view of students: "In jeder Hinsicht wird ihnen der Hintern gepudert und mit viel Fürsorge und Verständnis jede Faulheit und Inkompetenz vergeben" — which translates to "In every way are their butts carefully powdered and laziness and incompetence is forgiven with care and understanding."[32]

The rector of the University of Konstanz, Ulrich Rüdiger, apologized personally and described several passages in Meyer's article as "defamatory and insulting", suggesting possible consequences for Meyer[35] though no official consequences were reported.

In a circular letter of the Rector of the university professors, the rector testified that Meyer had publicly spread several "false factual claims about the conditions at the University of Konstanz." Meyer apologized for his choice of words but not for his message. Students countered that Meyer himself was not giving his lectures, but rather divvying them up among his PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.[34]