Yesterday the University of San Francisco joined the list of institutions "revoking and rescinding"* honorary doctorates from one William H. Cosby, Jr., "Ed.D".**
Naturally, the blogosphere has lit up about this, with schadenfreude from those who believe the women and irrelevant comments about the Clintons from trolls. A couple of themes, however, merit discussion at this esteemed water cooler:
1. What? You can get a degree for not doing anything and not paying any tuition? My son / daughter / spouse / bad self wants some of that! (Appears to be genuine puzzlement and anger.)
2. Wanna bet these universities will give back Cosby's donations? They were after his money, after all, when they gave him the degrees. (Appears to be the new tack by Cosby defenders, of whom there are rabid legions, not that I'm biased in any way.)
I always thought that colleges awarded honorary degrees to public figures and entertainers in lieu of payment for a commencement address people might actually enjoy sitting through. And that such mutual obligations are not unexpected when someone famous has a child or grandchild in the graduating class. In other words, the celeb has been paying tuition, and now, having mingled awkwardly at a reception in his or her honor, will give a free presentation while sweltering in academic regalia.
Which leads to the thirsty:
Q: What's the real deal with honorary degrees? Who benefits most? What goes on behind the scenes?
* What's the difference? Is this one of those Anglo-Franco legal constructions, like "lewd and lascivious" or "acknowledge and confess"?
**in quotation marks due to the dubious nature of his "earned" doctorate from U. Mass Amherst and the likelihood that he paid others to write his dissertation.
Naturally, the blogosphere has lit up about this, with schadenfreude from those who believe the women and irrelevant comments about the Clintons from trolls. A couple of themes, however, merit discussion at this esteemed water cooler:1. What? You can get a degree for not doing anything and not paying any tuition? My son / daughter / spouse / bad self wants some of that! (Appears to be genuine puzzlement and anger.)
2. Wanna bet these universities will give back Cosby's donations? They were after his money, after all, when they gave him the degrees. (Appears to be the new tack by Cosby defenders, of whom there are rabid legions, not that I'm biased in any way.)
I always thought that colleges awarded honorary degrees to public figures and entertainers in lieu of payment for a commencement address people might actually enjoy sitting through. And that such mutual obligations are not unexpected when someone famous has a child or grandchild in the graduating class. In other words, the celeb has been paying tuition, and now, having mingled awkwardly at a reception in his or her honor, will give a free presentation while sweltering in academic regalia.
Which leads to the thirsty:
Q: What's the real deal with honorary degrees? Who benefits most? What goes on behind the scenes?
* What's the difference? Is this one of those Anglo-Franco legal constructions, like "lewd and lascivious" or "acknowledge and confess"?
**in quotation marks due to the dubious nature of his "earned" doctorate from U. Mass Amherst and the likelihood that he paid others to write his dissertation.
I have a great story about a recent honorary my school gave, but it'd be too revealing about where I teach.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Ed.D. I just picked up a book by a local historian with an Ed.D. (of course he insists on being called "Doctor" everywhere he goes. The book is a mess. My freshmen write better term papers. It was published by a local vanity press and they must not edit anything. To be fair, he published a history book, and he's not a historian. I don't expect Ph.D.s to be able to write well outside their own disciplines, but God Almighty, this book does not even demonstrate basic literacy at a high school level.....
I have an infuriating story about an honorary given at the ceremony when I graduated last year, but it, too, would be too revealing about where/who I am, so. I've never been a fan of honorary degrees, even before I knew I wanted to go to grad school.
ReplyDeleteCould the mods assemble an anonymized post of these stories? Y'all are teases.
Delete"The honorary degree is a way of honouring a pompous ass. No honest man would accept a degree he had not worked for. Honorary degrees are suitable only for realtors, chiropractors, and presidents of the United States."
ReplyDeleteH. L. Mencken
I disagree, at least with respect to honorary degrees given to artistic and humanitarian figures. Politicians and business folks, sure, that's fluff for dollars. But noting and acknowledging and legitimating socially and culturally powerful work seems legit to me.
DeleteMencken was just jealous, since he never had one. Come on, kids: honorary degrees are ways of saying, "We like you," of which there are precious few in academia. I never got an honorary degree, but I did get barbecues hosted for me in Texas and Australia, and I'm pretty sure I'd have had one in England, except they don't do much barbecuing there because of the damp climate, so we stayed indoors and drank Newcastle Brown Ale. What IS pompous is when the recipient of an honorary degree loudly insists on being addressed as "Doctor..."
DeleteJon Lord got an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Leicester in the same room in which he originally got interested in music at a classical concert he attended at a tender age, and subsequently got interested in rock 'n' roll while listening to Buddy Holly. If ever that were a well-deserved and well-awarded honorary degree, it was that one. (Roger Glover got an honorary degree from the University of New South Wales. He had attended art school, you know.)
DeleteJohn Lord deserved a degree just for coaxing that SOUND from his Hammond (and Marshall or whatever other electronica he used).
DeleteLest we forget, Brian May went back and completed his non-honorary doctorate. Before that, he built his own guitar.
Generally I agree regarding the pomposity of those who use an honorary as an excuse to be called "doctor" (see linked Peanuts cartoon below), with certain defendable exception(s).
I don't have any infuriating stories about honorary doctorates (at least none that I can remember; it's been a while since I went to a graduation). But I, too, think that they are sometimes awarded for all the wrong reasons, and at other times are very nice ways to recognize lifetime achievement. This second possibility might be informed in part by the fact that, in the era when I was attending graduations, there were a good many older women around who had never finished, or even started, college, but who had done amazing things with their lives. When somebody like that is awarded an honorary doctorate, it strikes me as sending all the right messages about what really matters, and what this education thing is really all about -- living a good, in the sense of useful and public-spirited, life. I'm willing to put up with someone draping a few yards of velvet around the occasional million/billionaire, athlete, entertainer, etc., if it also opens up the possibility of recognizing the contributions of the grassroots/community activist/leader, the humanitarian, the artist with an 8th-grade education, the small (or large) businessperson who managed to do something besides make money, and so on.
ReplyDeleteAll of that said, yes, I think you can and should revoke the honor if the honoree turns out to have done something truly awful, and I'm increasingly convinced that Cosby falls in that category. Donations really should be returned, too, if at all possible. Spelman has done exactly that in response to recent news about Cosby (even though it sounds like the money officially came from Camille Cosby, who occupies a more complicated place in the story). But Spelman does a lot of things right.
P.S. Is anybody else wondering why this post was created by Proffie Galore, but carries a picture of Amelia. Is the mask of one of the Oilmont Four slipping?
DeleteYeah, I was wondering about the graphic too. No, much as I'd like to take credit for Amelia's fine writing, I am not her. *
ReplyDeleteI just figured our poor moderator had bigger concerns, what with the Oregon shootings.
I'm Strelnikov.
I'm trying to run the page on my phone currently as I had a desktop go out on me last week. I'm finding it hard to do normally easy things. It was my error. Sorry for the confusion.
DeleteFab
Every commencement ceremony I sit through, when they get to the part of the bestowing of the honorary degree, I remember this Peanuts cartoon.
ReplyDeleteMy joint gave an honorary degree to a douchebag who went on to tell the students about how worthless their last four years had been. Sometime later he showed up onstage at a US presidential primary debate.