“...and at the time he was everybody’s favorite dad.”
October 7, 2015 4:26 AM   Subscribe

To Revoke or Not: Colleges That Gave Cosby Honors Face a Tough Question by Sydney Ember and Colin Moynihan [New York Times]
Few people in American history have been recognized by universities as often as Mr. Cosby, whose publicist once estimated that the entertainer had collected more than 100 honorary degrees. The New York Times, in a quick search, found nearly 60. But now, as dozens of women have come forward to accuse Mr. Cosby of sexual assault, colleges across the country are confronting the question of what to do when someone who has been honored falls from grace.
Has Your Alma Mater Given Cosby a Degree?

American colleges and universities have routinely awarded honorary degrees to Bill Cosby, as evident in this partial list of nearly 60. Some of these schools are grappling with whether to rescind the honor. Others already have. And many say they have never rescinded an honorary degree and would not change the policy in Mr. Cosby’s case.

Baylor University
Berklee College of Music
Boston College
Boston University
Brown University
Bryant College
Carnegie Mellon University
Colby College
Colgate University
College of William and Mary
Cooper Union
Delaware State University
Dillard University
Drew University
Drexel University
Fashion Institute of Technology
Fisk University
Fordham University
George Washington University
Hampton University
Haverford College
Howard University
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Johns Hopkins University
Marquette University
New York University
North Carolina A&T State University
Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Ohio State University
Old Dominion University
Paine College
Pepperdine University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rust College
Spelman College
Springfield College
Swarthmore College
Talladega College
Temple University
Tufts University
University of Cincinnati
University of Connecticut
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Notre Dame
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of San Francisco
University of South Carolina
University of Southern California
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wesleyan University
West Chester University
Wilkes University
Yale University
posted by Fizz (58 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would vote for revocation on the grounds of total grossness.

And many say they have never rescinded an honorary degree and would not change the policy in Mr. Cosby’s case.

Yes, but how many previous honorary degrees went to people that gross?
posted by Dip Flash at 4:35 AM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


One from Spelman, but none from Morehouse. I guess it's not ironic that he duped the women's college, but not the men's.

"Gross" is not the appropriate word to describe Mr. Cosby. If his accusers are to be believed - scores of women telling the same story - Pill Cosby is a serial rapist and sexual harasser. That's more than gross and all those institutions saying they never make an exception? Really?
posted by three blind mice at 4:47 AM on October 7, 2015


> Yes, but how many previous honorary degrees went to people that gross?

You could check Henry Kissinger's CV.
posted by ardgedee at 4:47 AM on October 7, 2015 [55 favorites]


The mentions of Kissinger and Nixon and instructive in light of recent revelations that the latter put the kibosh on Vietnam peace talks leading up to the 1968 elections, committing treason under US law and sacrificing tens of thousands of US lives (and countless Vietnamese lives) to further his political goals.

Honorary degrees are nothing more than a cynical pot-sweetener employed by universities to bait celebrities (of varying definition). For a university to refuse to revoke such an award is some combination of striving to keep up the pretense of the degree's value and refusal to admit having made a mistake.

Additional thoughts concerning the worth of individuals we choose to idolize are currently lost to the shochu-induced haze.
posted by oheso at 4:58 AM on October 7, 2015 [7 favorites]


The Doonesbury reruns on gocomics are featuring a few strips from 1985 (that's 30 years ago, folks) about the honorary degrees given to Frank Sinatra as well as the Medal of Freedom given to him by President Reagan. What's old is new, etc. etc...
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:01 AM on October 7, 2015 [9 favorites]


You could check Henry Kissinger's CV.

Actually, I don't think you'll find too many honorary university degrees next to Kissinger's Nobel Prize. Unlike Temple University, Harvard famously never honored its alum Kissinger with an honorary degree. "One recognition he has never received is an honorary degree from his alma mater and first scholarly home."
posted by three blind mice at 5:02 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Speaking of Reagan, I seem to remember Harvard asking him to speak at their anniversary celebration, but when he insisted they give him an honorary degree and they refused, he told them to go piss up a rope.
posted by valkane at 5:04 AM on October 7, 2015


Both of my alma maters in that list. Bleh.
posted by octothorpe at 5:16 AM on October 7, 2015


These 'honorary degrees' don't bother me as much as his Presidential Medal of Freedom. But apparently that won't be happening.
"There's no precedent for revoking the medal," Obama said at a news conference today. "We don't have that mechanism."
Though my response to President Obama. If there isn't a current precedent or mechanism for revoking the medal, then establish one.
posted by Fizz at 5:17 AM on October 7, 2015 [27 favorites]


I think that the dividing line on revoking the degrees would, for me, be somewhere around 2005. Institutions who issued them before that time can reasonably honesty say they didn't know, that they gave out the degree based on the best information available at that time and that they have a policy of not revoking such honours. Anyone who gave him an honorary degree after 2005, however, should revoke it on the grounds of "We didn't do our due diligence and if we had, we would never have issued it in the first place, nor in fact would we have invited him to share a room with a few thousand potential victims, and we are giant assholes and complete failures at our jobs."

I think a general policy of "we don't revoke" is defensible on the grounds that a) revoking something useless is just a gesture and b) as a gesture, it kind of smacks of attempting to whitewash your own institutional history. Which isn't to say that you couldn't create a policy on when and why you might revoke a degree and put it into effect, just that I don't think it's inherently morally bankrupt to choose the 'we don't revoke' route.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:18 AM on October 7, 2015 [17 favorites]


I must say, for a college drop-out, he certainly collected a lot of honorary degrees. (Unfortunately, I see my alma mater is one of the many—looks like it's time to write a strongly worded letter to the alumni office.)

Fizz is right, though, revocation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the US's highest civilian award—is far more important.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:20 AM on October 7, 2015


Let him keep the degrees but call him in for formal anathematisation ceremonies. That way they can defend learning by reaffirming their belief in his work and status as a leading academic thinker while separately recording their distaste for his purely personal qualities; and they get to dress up in fantasy clothes, make inane speeches and eat another dinner all over again.
posted by Segundus at 5:24 AM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Kissinger already earned a formal MA and PhD from Harvard; Harvard will not garnish him with further laurels because there's no higher degree they can give him.

The other several thousand universities of the world were still opportunities to pad his CV in exchange for a commencement speech.
posted by ardgedee at 5:25 AM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Policies can be changed. They're not etched in stone. Show some leadership.
posted by tommasz at 5:27 AM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


For once, my alma mater's snobby "the University does not honor actors, ambassadors, presidents or monarchs unless they meet stringent requirements for scholarship" stance does something other than make us look like the condescending assholes we are.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:29 AM on October 7, 2015 [26 favorites]


Glad to not find any of my previous institutions on that list. And yeah, if an institution doesn't have a mechanism in place to deal with something as problematic as honors bestowed on someone like Cosby, this gives those institutions a perfect chance to develop those mechanisms and set those precedents.
posted by still bill at 5:38 AM on October 7, 2015


If there isn't a current precedent or mechanism for revoking the medal, then establish one.

Is the medal bestowed by the President and only the President? If so, then a framework for revoking may not be so hot if it was also decided by one person. Then you might have future presidents revoking them for purely political reasons.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:44 AM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]


"We have no protocol for rescinding degrees. Mr. Cosby will continue to hold an honorary Ed.D. from our university. However, we have kicked him out of contention for our honorary "How Not To Be A Rapist Scumbag" degree and making the fact of his failure a matter of public record.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:48 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


An aside. Could not help noticing the lack of southern state unis. Alabama, Florida, Georgia Mississippi, LSU, Texas, Tn. etc.
posted by notreally at 5:56 AM on October 7, 2015


I don't blame Obama for not wanting to set that precedent. Like the aforementioned comment said, it could certainly be abused. Plus there are plenty of recipients that the vast majority of people don't know, I'm sure Cosby isn't the only one with some shit going on (though we'd probably never know due to their lack of comparable fame).
posted by girlmightlive at 5:59 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


You could check Henry Kissinger's CV.

I did, he remains an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters, the first person to receive such an honour (trivia fans) and one of only ten people to be thus anointed. Shame on you Globetrotters.
posted by biffa at 6:05 AM on October 7, 2015 [13 favorites]


I did, he remains an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters, the first person to receive such an honour (trivia fans) and one of only ten people to be thus anointed. Shame on you Globetrotters.

The Globetrotters only wanted him for his skills as a pass first point guard, and his knowledge of higher level physics.
posted by drezdn at 6:09 AM on October 7, 2015 [16 favorites]


God dammit, RPI.
posted by blurker at 6:12 AM on October 7, 2015




I don't blame Obama for not wanting to set that precedent. Like the aforementioned comment said, it could certainly be abused. Plus there are plenty of recipients that the vast majority of people don't know, I'm sure Cosby isn't the only one with some shit going on (though we'd probably never know due to their lack of comparable fame).

Personally, I'd be okay with any other rapist, regardless of their level of fame, having their Presidential Medal of Freedom rescinded.

As for the "precedent" of a President being able to rescind a PMoF, it's not like it accrues a benefit. There's no harm to Oprah's legacy if President Trump decides to take her medal back.
posted by Etrigan at 6:16 AM on October 7, 2015


Is the medal bestowed by the President and only the President?

Yes, though there's provisions for a board to vet candidates, it's solely the President's to give, and the medal was created by Executive Order, and could be amended by such. The version from Congress is the Congressional Gold Medal, it is awarded by statutory act -- though by committee rules, the committees that would review the legislation will not act on it unless it's co-sponsored by at least two thirds of the members of that house of Congress.

Currently, there's no mechanism to revoke an award. One could be declared simply by Executive order, but then you've enabled every President to revoke any medal at their pleasure, which makes the PMoF even more of a political football than it is already.

To revoke a Congressional Gold Medal would require an act of Congress, just as the award did.
posted by eriko at 6:25 AM on October 7, 2015


item: What I wouldn't give to watch a pick-up game played by Henry Kissinger, Bob Hope, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Pope John Paul II, Jesse Jackson, and Pope Francis.

I've always felt the same way about knighthoods awarded by the British monarchs. Who wouldn't pay to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan toddling off to the battlefront in a full suit of armor while dragging a broadsword, muttering about the fine mess they've found themselves in?
posted by dr_dank at 6:31 AM on October 7, 2015 [11 favorites]


I think Cosby is The Worst Human Being, but I don't support revoking anything that was bestowed in a time and place. As jacquilynne says above, it's meaningless and whitewashing.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:33 AM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


And as to the Presidential Medal of Freedom? We gave it to Dick Cheney, Barry Goldwater and Casper Weinberger. Any honor it has is long dead.
posted by eriko at 6:33 AM on October 7, 2015 [9 favorites]


I think the President said all that was needed. From EW:
“And as you know I tend to make it a policy not to comment on the specifics of cases where there might still be – if not criminal then civil issues involved,” Obama said. “I’ll say this: If you give a woman, or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge, a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape. And I think this country – any civilized country – should have no tolerance for rape.”
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:44 AM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


Spelman has suspended the visiting professorship the Cosbys endowed.

This is actually somewhat disturbing to me, unless they are also returning the endowment. For good or ill, Cosby gave money to be used for a certain cause - in this case, funding visiting professorships. If they want to rename it, that's one thing, but to fail to uphold the terms of their agreement with the donor is another. Not to mention that the biggest impact of this is not really to the malefactor himself, but to the the visiting professors and students who would have benefited from the program.
posted by anastasiav at 6:46 AM on October 7, 2015 [6 favorites]


I must say, for a college drop-out, he certainly collected a lot of honorary degrees.

If you're talking about Cosby, you're mistaken:
After attending Temple University in the 1960s, he received his bachelor's degree from Temple in 1971. In 1973 he received a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and in 1976 he earned his Doctor of Education degree, also from UMass.
Not that I think he's a good person.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:53 AM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


I've got some serious beefs with the question, the article, and I just generally disagree with a lot of the comments here.

First off in that article, can we actually start calling it what it is?
"[...] dozens of women have come forward to accuse Mr. Cosby of sexual assault [...]"

It's rape. More than half of them are rape accusations. I understand the technicality of rape being under the umbrella term of sexual assault, but it is possible to clarify. Why not 'accuse Mr. Cosby of rape and sexual assault'? If someone murdered someone and committed fraud (both felonies) I'm pretty sure the description of allegations would include the word 'murder'. Don't whitewash it. Call it what it is.

Also, "fall from grace" sound super weak as well. What about something like 'turned out to be a total creep the whole time'? I know that's probably contentious, it's mostly a joke, but there's better options than 'fall from grace'.

And as to some of the comments here, which have at least in part already been responded to but I really gotta throw my hat in the ring on this one: all of the 'but what if [this is the current policy which is problematic or some other hypothetically problematic policy I've come up with because in most of these cases we don't know the actual policy]?' questions can be addressed with the advice: fix the fucking policy.

If colleges want to distance themselves from him (and they very well should) they need to revoke the honorary degree. I honestly don't see the issue here, let alone any arguments for letting him keep it. None of the ones I've read have been compelling, and if we disagree on this maybe we're just gonna disagree on this. What possible benefit is there to letting him keep them, especially if the honorary degree is something to do with humanitarianism or law?

"Some schools say they do not want to condemn in the court of public opinion a man who has never been found guilty in a court of law, or even charged with a crime."

Cosby admitted in court that he bought quaaludes specifically to give to women he wanted to have sex with. This is well-known information to anyone who has remotely paid attention. If a college is leaning on this as a 'well he technically didn't admit to raping anyone' I personally find that to be super gross.

I guess another way to put this is: would you expel someone who drugged 30+ women and raped about 20 of them? Would you let them attend classes and get their degree? Cosby might already have the degree but it's not a real degree. It was basically given as a gift and a celebrity endorsement. There can be different precedents for revoking real degrees (probably shouldn't) vs. honorary ones (why not?).

If the degree is revoked there can still be a record of it. If we're worried about whitewashing a college's history it would be just as easy to keep his name on a list but have a very prominent "REVOKED" put next to it.

Fix your policy, or at the very least conduct a very public review. Hell, ask the student body. Involve the whole school. Make it a discussion about the issue and use it as a learning experience. This is not a situation that requires just throwing your hands up and saying 'but what can we do?' when there are options available to you. Don't hide behind a policy that you are perfectly capable of changing.
posted by nogoodverybad at 6:54 AM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


He actually earned a degree at Temple, though they may have granted him another on top of it. My high school math teacher was his roommate there. No, I'm not going to look him up to ask him about it.
posted by scalefree at 6:54 AM on October 7, 2015


"or a university to refuse to revoke such an award is some combination of striving to keep up the pretense of the degree's value and refusal to admit having made a mistake."

My response is the opposite: "Since it's just something they give celebrities they can convince to sit through a 4-hour graduation ceremony, who really cares if they revoke it?"

Honorary degrees are not important or meaningful ... I'd rather all the colleges on this list turn any staff time devoted to fretting about Cosby's fake degrees into a task force on the safety of students from sexual assault.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:58 AM on October 7, 2015 [13 favorites]


biffa: "You could check Henry Kissinger's CV.

I did, he remains an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters, the first person to receive such an honour (trivia fans) and one of only ten people to be thus anointed. Shame on you Globetrotters.
"

Of course HK thought it was the Harm 'em Globetrotters
posted by chavenet at 7:00 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


oh wow NYU what a total unexpected surprise.

You could check Henry Kissinger's CV.

This was my first thought at well. And all of them were fully aware of his doings at the time, weren't they?

I can never excuse or forgive cosby's behavior and I would never expect anyone else to as well but we are a country that regularly honors some of the worst known members of the human race with high honors both during their lifetimes and long after their deaths, so it will be no surprise to me or presumably anyone else if nothing is ever done. Further, if Cosby ends up being treated differently, ends up actually being held accountable for his crimes, it's hard not to see it as being due to his race, which is just another cherry of horror atop this entire fucking shit sundae.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:01 AM on October 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


Was just drafting a message to say exactly what Eyebrows McGee said.

Mrs. Knot has worked in Higher Ed for yeas, and has played a big role in giving out honorary degrees. They're BS. The honoree has to agree to take the degree, and a huge number say "no, thanks." They're basically a way to get well known people to come and give a free speech, nothing more.

Revoking Cosby's degrees implies he did something to earn them. He didn't, other than being famous.
posted by Frayed Knot at 7:02 AM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


if nothing is ever done to remove or amend those honors, i meant to say.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:03 AM on October 7, 2015


Take a closer look at the very first one in the list.

Baylor is private, but otherwise yes. I'm relieved that my alma mater isn't on the list, but after we honored Alberto Gonzales (who is at least an alum), there's no room for actual pleasure. Speaking of, here's a question for alumni of these schools: is the idea of rescinding the degree something that gets brought up in alumni fora or magazines or whatever? When Rice gave Gonzales his award, the letters column of the alumni magazine was so full of back and forth about it that after a year they had to announce they weren't publishing any more letters about it.
posted by immlass at 7:04 AM on October 7, 2015


I don't think that giving an honorary degree to a celebrity has much value beyond "here's a guy to lighten up our ceremony." Revoking a degree strikes me as an equally shallow gesture, especially from systems that have dragged their feet when it comes to the safety of women (primarily) who actually earn their degrees.

You want to make a show of pomp and circumstance that matters? Give next year's podium to Green, Bowman, and Dickinson. Give a podium to advocates for the Sandusky victims. Give a podium to the women who have been running hotlines, shelters, and victim-advocacy programs for decades. Give a podium to the women blowing the whistle on escillation of online sexual harassment and threats.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 7:06 AM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]


I remember reading a biography of Cosby - written back in the hagiography days, before we knew how nasty he was - in which Cosby's bitterness at not being rewarded early in his career for being the "nice guy comedian" is palpable. All those other guys were becoming famous just for swearing, while *he* was keeping things clean and making great comedy and nobody cared.

He was a Nice Guy(TM).
posted by clawsoon at 7:28 AM on October 7, 2015 [5 favorites]


It's times like this I'm reminded that we have the right idea of not putting anyone on a stamp until they're good and dead.
posted by komara at 7:34 AM on October 7, 2015 [7 favorites]


They still put Nixon on a stamp.
posted by octothorpe at 7:40 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm torn. On one hand, I would like Cosby to feel as much rejection as society can muster. On the other, I feel like it might be better to keep reminders around that people like him can turn up anywhere, that we can be fooled and make mistakes, and that the damage done in the meantime isn't reversible -- things many people prefer to forget. These wrongly bestowed symbols of admiration should stick around to keep us sceptical of our idols. I think nogoodverybad's idea about attaching some kind of enormous asterisk to the honour is a good one.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 7:41 AM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


It would be fantastic if some of his funding to various institutions could be repurposed to campus rape crisis centers but I am well aware of how difficult that can be. I also wouldn't want to take scholarship funding away from anyone else. But at the same time there are certainly people who would not feel comfortable applying for a scholarship with his name on it.

again i reiterate how fucking ghastly this entire godawful situation is, it's like a neverending shitty onion of gross awful layers of crap that will go on hurting people for multiple generations.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:48 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


You want to make a show of pomp and circumstance that matters? [...] Give a podium to the women blowing the whistle on escillation of online sexual harassment and threats.

You know we can do both, right?

Revoking the degree matters to some people. This is merely one more opportunity to send a message. These issues require attention and honestly I think the more opportunities the better. We can use this (because it's already being talked about) as a way to give a larger podium to women blowing the whistle on various methods and types of harassment into this discussion. We don't have to choose between this or something else.

I understand it doesn't matter to others, that it's considered a hollow gesture, etc. etc. But it isn't to everyone, and if heavily publicized it absolutely would be a broader condemnation of him and his actions that could speak beyond individual campuses.

I guess I'm more interested in dealing with an immediate (and yeah, arguably minor) issue that could bring some comfort to victims, which can be paired with other pro-active measures, than catering to to some of the hypotheticals I'm seeing in this thread.
posted by nogoodverybad at 7:48 AM on October 7, 2015


An aside. Could not help noticing the lack of southern state unis. Alabama, Florida, Georgia Mississippi, LSU, Texas, Tn. etc.
posted by notreally at 8:56 AM on October 7


If you look closer, you'll see the University of South Carolina, which would seem to qualify.

I can speak for UGA, since one of my roommates was on the graduation speaker's committee our senior year (1989; no really!): It doesn't offer honorary degrees to graduation speakers, so it has a long history of wealthy alums, incoming or outgoing University presidents, etc.; 2015's commencement speaker was UGA J-School graduate Amy Robach. I used to hate this policy, but the Cosby situation is a perfect example of why it's needed.

Not sure if the law school is different, but I remember Ted Turner giving a loopy, entertaining address at a UGA law school commencement around 1992.
posted by SubterraneanRedStateBlues at 7:48 AM on October 7, 2015


also the fact that there is a CUNY school on the "we're thinking about maybe revoking" list is wildly and disgustingly ironic.
posted by poffin boffin at 7:51 AM on October 7, 2015


What I wouldn't give to watch a pick-up game played by Henry Kissinger, Bob Hope, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Pope John Paul II, Jesse Jackson, and Pope Francis.

If the zombie Pope John Paul II kills and devours Kissinger, get me a ticket.
posted by Gelatin at 8:16 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Revoking honorary degrees will hurt a university's ability to solicit big name donors for cash or prestige because celebrities won't show up for temporary phony credentials. They're not stupid, they want permanent phony credentials.
posted by srboisvert at 8:27 AM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


If you're talking about Cosby, you're mistaken

Thanks, I am indeed mistaken. I knew only that Cosby dropping out of Temple in the early sixties to go into stand-up comedy, not about his going back in later years.

In any case - by which I mean either of the civil court cases that have been brought against him - maybe if he's finally found guilty, some of these institutions will get off the fence about rescinding their honors to him.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:39 AM on October 7, 2015


I'm willing to agree to disagree on the value of that kind of message. A large part of my skepticism is due to the perception that university administrations are about as credible as Cosby on this issue.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 9:12 AM on October 7, 2015


I wonder if Harvard Lampoon will revoke the award they gave him in the '80s.
posted by dr_dank at 11:18 AM on October 7, 2015


An aside. Could not help noticing the lack of southern state unis. Alabama, Florida, Georgia Mississippi, LSU, Texas, Tn. etc.

Virginia schools are well-represented: Old Dominion, VCU, and William & Mary. Of course, W&M also made Kissinger chancellor (a ceremonial role). Alma mater hail.
posted by naoko at 12:07 PM on October 7, 2015


Revoking honorary degrees will hurt a university's ability to solicit big name donors for cash or prestige because celebrities won't show up for temporary phony credentials. They're not stupid, they want permanent phony credentials.

Perhaps, but if the revoking can be avoided by not systematically raping 60+ women, then I am perfectly OK with any celebrities who cannot handle this "constraint" and will stop accepting honorary degrees.
posted by holyrood at 7:15 PM on October 7, 2015


i used to disagree strongly with honorary degrees, but after reading and hearing several people's life stories (i mean, summarised in interviews, i don't like biographies), they mean a lot to some people, so i think they can be given if 1) the person has some real local connection - lives there, lived there a long time, idealises the place and writes about nothing else etc and 2) really couldn't get a degree the normal way, for instance was too poor and working class in the 1960s to think of going
posted by maiamaia at 2:58 PM on October 8, 2015


I don't understand the impetus to revoke honors from people who have done something evil, as if they now have to be treated as complete pariahs. Bill Cosby was talented and well-liked enough to earn nearly 60 honorary degrees, and immoral and callous enough to rape over 54 women. Neither one cancels out or denies the other.
posted by Rangi at 3:44 PM on October 8, 2015


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