Arizona State University (ASU) saw fit to give an honorary degree to a real estate investment banker chair (founded and chaired, but not even a CEO!) yet refuses to give President Obama an honorary degree.
Sam Stein reports:
ASU's decision, announced on Thursday, has already floored members of the academic, political and media communities. At once bizarre and insulting, critics are curious as to what, exactly, a sufficient body of work resembles under the university's standards. After all, in addition to being the first African-American elected to the office of the president in our nation's history, Obama has served in the United States Senate and authored two best selling books.
Not to mention he was an Illinois State Senator for 8 years with a lot of breakthrough legislation, taught constitutional law at University of Chicago for 12 years, and was a civil rights lawyer, and community organizer.
William P. Carey founded and chaired the real estate investment-banking firm, W.O. Carey & Co. LLC, in New York City. ASU gave him an honorary degree. He is not an alumnus of the institution. But he has his ties to it. His grandfather played a role in the school's founding and Carey himself has donated prodigiously, including a gift of $50 million for the ASU business college, named in his honor: "The W.P Carey School of Business." Money may not have played a role in getting Carey his degree. The degree came in 1998 while the donation came in 2003. Regardless, Arizona State University found the New York investment banker's accomplishments of enough merit to bestow upon him the academic title. The same, it seems, is not true of Barack Obama. Despite giving the commencement address at the university's Tempe campus on May 13, the president will not receive an honorary degree. The reason: "His body of work is yet to come," said Sharon Keeler, a spokeswoman for the university. "That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency."
What message does ASU really want to send about itself? (Considering the obviousness of the insult as Stein reported that most of the university staff, to their credit, was floored by this decision as well?)
And if this has ever happened before to a commencement speaker at ASU or at any other major university, please do tell in the comments section here's a list of former recipients: http://graduation.asu.edu/...
CALL THEM: (480) 965-3565
or the Provost, Emily Dalton Smith here: (480)965-5286
AND WRITE THEM A STERNLY WORDED LETTER
Emily Dalton Smith
Director of Communication
Office of the Provost
Arizona State University
(480)965-5286
Emily.DaltonSmith@asu.edu
Academic/Administrative Requests
Office of the President
Mail Code 7705
PO Box 877705, Tempe AZ
85287-7705
Phone: (480) 965-8972
FAX: (480) 965-0865
http://graduation.asu.edu/...
********************UPDATE********************
We'll Consider Giving Obama A Degree When He's Out Of Office
Via huffpost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The university, it seems, has recently decided to stop giving honorary degrees to major donors or sitting politicians. But the best line comes near the end: "We will be delighted to consider him for an honorary degree once he leaves office at the end of his presidency," Dalton Smith writes.
Mind you, they won't give him the degree once his time in office is over. They will "consider him" for it.
Multiple calls and an email to Dalton Smith went unreturned.
HERE IS THE EMAIL:
Dear xxxxxxxxxxxx,
We have tremendous respect for President Obama, and that is why we invited him to speak at our graduation ceremony. We are honored that he accepted our invitation, and that we will be the first university in the nation to host him for a commencement ceremony.
In recent years, we have determined not to give honorary degrees to sitting politicians or major donors, but to do so based on an individual's body of work. While President Obama has already achieved remarkable success--including becoming the first African-American president--his greatest work is yet to come. We will be delighted to consider him for an honorary degree once he leaves office at the end of his presidency.
Sincerely,
Emily Dalton Smith
Director of Communication
Office of the Provost
Arizona State University