RBSC

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ASU Stiffs Obama, Claims Too Inexperienced For Honorary Degr

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ASU Stiffs Obama, Claims Too Inexperienced For Honorary Degr

    ASU Stiffs Obama, Claims Too Inexperienced For Honorary Degree


    TEMPE, ARIZONA - Universities typically confer an honorary degree on commencement speakers, particularly those who have reached the pinnacle of their career or achieved the top of their field. Arizona State University (ASU), though, says it will not confer an honorary degree on this year's commencement speaker, President Barack Obama, because "his body of work is yet to come."

    ASU Media Relations Director Sharon Keeler says, unlike other universities, the processes for selecting commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients are independent. She says that honorary degrees are given "for an achievement of eminence" and that Obama was not considered for an honorary degree because his body of achievements, at this time, does not fit within that criteria.

    Writing two best-sellers? Not outstanding. Developing one of the largest grassroots organizations in the world? Nothing special. Becoming the first African American President of the United States? Good, but nothing to write home about.

    A local paper published an editorial within hours of the news, exhorting ASU to give the honorary degree to Obama:

    Arizona State University has handed out honorary doctorate degrees to pioneering scientists and college presidents, titans of oil and computer microchips, newspaper publishers and generous donors, a foreign communist educator and a successful movie director.

    But others had much still to accomplish. Barry Goldwater received his honorary degree in May 1961, three years before his Republican nomination for president and only eight years into his three decades as a U.S. senator. Sandra Day O'Connor was similarly recognized just three years in her 25 years on the U.S. Supreme Court.


    The editorial called it an "odd gap" that the nation's first black president would not be deemed worthy of an honorary degree.

    According to the ASU State Press, ASU President Michael Crow told the committee that "significant contributions to education and society over the course of a person's career merit consideration for an honorary degree."

    If being a U.S. Senator and President of the United States -- the so-called leader of the free world -- is not enough to be deemed as having made significant contributions to society, Obama also has a long list of contributions to education. The first bill Obama sponsored in Congress was the HOPE Act. He developed comprehensive plans for students to receive education benefits in exchange for public service. Not to mention that he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, taught Constitutional law at an ivy league university, and, among many other accomplishments, served as a community organizer where established an adult education program and a college preparatory program in inner-city Chicago. It is hard to see how these achievements fail to merit honor.

    The ASU Honorary Degree Committee is made up of six members from across the campuses and is chaired by Dr. Laurie Chassin, a psychology professor. Keeler said Obama was not considered by the committee for an honorary degree and may not have even been nominated. According to university procedures, nominations may be submitted by members of the university family (including its 60,000+ students or even alumni) at any time during the academic year.
    "Jamaica's future reflects its past, having attained only one per cent annual growth over 30 years whilst neighbours have grown at five per cent." (Article)

  • #2
    Not surprising from a state that refused to celebrate MLK Day

    Comment


    • #3
      10 Priests object to Obama invitation to Notre Dame

      Also this is bubbling at the surface.


      10 Holy Cross priests object to Obama invitation
      By KEN KUSMER – 1 day ago
      SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Ten priests from the order that founded the University of Notre Dame say the school risks its "true soul" and could distance itself from the Roman Catholic Church by inviting President Barack Obama to campus next month.
      The members of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, which helps run the university, asked the Rev. John Jenkins, the Holy Cross priest who is Notre Dame's president, and the university's board of fellows to reconsider the invitation to Obama because he supports abortion rights.
      "Failure to do so will damage the integrity of the institution," said the letter published Wednesday in Notre Dame Observer.
      Notre Dame announced last month that Obama would deliver the university's May 17 commencement address and receive an honorary degree. The decision by the nation's best-known Catholic university sparked widespread anger among many Catholics who said Notre Dame should not honor someone whose policies on abortion and embryonic stem-cell research clash with core church teachings on human life.
      Hundreds of abortion opponents protested on campus Sunday, and the priests said the invitation has opened a "fissure" between Notre Dame and many bishops. More than a dozen bishops have denounced Obama's appearance, including Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
      Jenkins has said the university does not condone all of Obama's policies, and spokesman Dennis Brown has said Notre Dame does not plan to rescind the invitation.
      "We respect the opinions of members of the Holy Cross community and others," Brown said.
      Obama would be the ninth U.S. president to receive an honorary degree from Notre Dame and sixth sitting president to address graduates. Other commencement speakers have included Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
      Cecilia Prinster, president of the Notre Dame Alumni Association, noted in a column also published in the campus newspaper that Obama's policies in areas such as health care reform, economic security and environmental stewardship are in line with Catholic social teaching.
      "Although we disagree with Mr. Obama on some core issues, we must not condemn," Prinster wrote.
      Four days before his Notre Dame speech, Obama is set to deliver a much less controversial commencement address at Arizona State University. But the public school in Tempe is denying the president something he's getting at South Bend: an honorary degree.
      "It's our practice to recognize an individual for his body of work, somebody who's been in their position for a long time," Sharon Keeler, an ASU spokeswoman, told The Associated Press. "His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency."
      Recent recipients of honorary degrees at ASU include J. Craig Venter, an internationally known scientist credited for developing high-volume genome sequencing, and Wu Qidi, vice minister of education of the People's Republic of China.
      The university's policy is different from the one at Notre Dame, where Brown said it's customary to confer a degree on every guest speaker.
      Associated Press Writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.
      Winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else - Vince Lombardi

      Comment


      • #4
        Good ole American racism at work!


        BLACK LIVES MATTER

        Comment


        • #5
          How racism come inna dis?
          Winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else - Vince Lombardi

          Comment


          • #6
            hortical... what happen to yuh third eye... i suppose the suppression of human rights, religion and free speech is in accord with the catholic teaching... genome secquencing and all its potential derivities (too numerous to mention) are also in accord with catholic principles...

            as to asu... yuh dont even need a third eye fi si dat... if they are going by past standards, they dont have a legitimate argument...

            mosiah is spot on...
            'to get what we've never had, we MUST do what we've never done'

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Bricktop View Post
              Not surprising from a state that refused to celebrate MLK Day
              like mosiah said, good ole american racism at work...
              'to get what we've never had, we MUST do what we've never done'

              Comment

              Working...
              X