All Posts Tagged With: "honorary degree"
To whom is your allegiance, professors?
STU profs who plan to boycott convocation should be wary of the message they are sending their students
A group of professors at St. Thomas University are protesting the decision to award an honorary degree to Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside, and some have now threatened to boycott the graduation ceremonies.
In an open letter to the Daily Gleaner, the professors at the liberal arts university objected to the decision to award the degree to a “sitting politician,” as well as because of Woodside’s “record on the environment and by his unwillingness to recognize gay and lesbian citizens.”
Back in the 1990’s, Woodside refused to declare a Gay Pride weekend in Fredericton until he was ordered to do so by the Human Rights Commission. However, since taking office again in 2004, Woodside has declared Pride Week and even participated in some of the events.
But for other professors, their decision to boycott the ceremonies has more to do with the ethics of awarding an honorary degree to a politician who is still in office. “There’s a general sense of unease about the kind of vulgarity and the crassness of that,” Ian Nicholson, an STU professor who signed the letter of objection told Global Saskatoon. “Of sorta paying up to power, of trying to buy favours from politicians by giving them one of these impressive sounding degrees.”
For these reasons, a group of STU professors may be absent at the convocation ceremonies of their students this weekend. And while I don’t agree with their position, it is understandable why they would choose to be so. The ethics of awarding an honorary degree to a sitting politician is undeniably complicated, and that decision is made even thornier when the recipient has held controversial opinions in the past, despite recent reforms.
But by boycotting the ceremonies, these professors are putting their own politics over their students. Which is fine, of course. But small liberal arts universities, unlike large, research-driven institutions, are driven by the reputation of having intimate classrooms and personal connections between students and professors. You go to the University of Toronto if you want to be lectured by a world-renowned theorist who probably doesn’t know your name, but you enroll in St. Thomas University if you want to develop a relationship with faculty and engage personally with your instructors. If these professors don’t show up to their students’ graduations, they will be inadvertently forfeiting one of the great merits of their institution.
Astronaut gets degree for out-of-this-world achievements
Thirsk says it would be hard to send his honorary degree through space
Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk is getting an honorary degree from the University of Calgary for his out-of-this-world achievements, but he won’t be able to sport a cap and gown.
Thirsk’s current six-month stint in space means the July 8 ceremony will be beamed aboard the International Space Station via a video link.
Astronauts train for decades for their shot in space, and it seemed only fitting to recognize Thirsk while he’s actually in orbit, University president Harvey Weingarten said Tuesday.
“We’re acknowledging the contribution this fellow has made to space exploration. We’re acknowledging a prominent Canadian we can all take pride in,” he said.
“It just seemed like a natural and neat thing to do, to recognize him while he’s actually doing his work in space.”
Thirsk, a native of New Westminster, B.C, earned his first degree at the University of Calgary in mechanical engineering. He followed that with two master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a medical degree from McGill.
The 55-year-old astronaut arrived at the station May 29 on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with a Russian and a Belgian, bringing the station up to a full-time crew of six.
He could soon be joined by a familiar face – Canadian Julie Payette and six other astronauts are scheduled to blast off Wednesday for a quick rendezvous with the station.
It will be the first time Canada has had two astronauts on board the space station at the same time, and will bring the number of people simultaneously to a record 13.
Thirsk is laying the groundwork for the deployment of Canadian robots on other planets and figuring out how to help people adapt to extreme environments.
Despite opposition, N.B. premier gets honorary degree
More than 100 faculty signed a letter of protest opposing the honour
To polite applause from the crowd, Premier Shawn Graham accepted an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of New Brunswick on Wednesday, despite earlier opposition from more than 100 members of the faculty.
Jack Gegenberg, a professor of mathematics at UNB, called it an insult to graduating students.
“By including him in that process of awarding degrees, then it’s a slap in the face to students who had to pay too much to get an education which is being squeezed by the government,” he said.
“Students have had to struggle too hard financially and in other ways to get the kind of education that they want, and it’s certainly because of government policies that maybe they aren’t quite getting their money’s worth.”
The profs are upset that a report sponsored by Graham’s Liberal government recommended major changes to the structure of UNB and the University of Moncton.
The government backed away from the changes as a result of widespread protest.
The open letter signed by the profs states in part that “regardless of any other contributions Mr. Graham might have made to this point in his career, his actions in this respect cannot be regarded as having made an outstanding contribution to our communities, nor do they show regard for higher education in the province.”
Graham, who graduated from UNB 18 years ago with a degree in physical education, told the commencement crowd that he’s pleased people can challenge him.
“What I learned here at UNB was that people who challenged my opinions weren’t enemies,” he said. “Those who made me think about my views did me a favour.”
Obama says he doesn’t deserve honorary degree
“One’s title…says very little about how well one’s life has been led,” says pres
U.S. President Barack Obama didn’t shy away from the “snub” by Arizona State University officials who said he hadn’t accomplished enough yet to deserve an honorary degree.
In a commencement speech Wednesday to a stadium full of young graduates, he said the officials were right.
“I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t yet achieved enough in my life,” Obama said. With a smile he added: “First of all, (first lady) Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home.”
“But more than that I come to embrace the notion that I haven’t done enough in my life. I heartily concur,” the president said. “I come to affirm that one’s title, even a title like ‘president of the United States,’ says very little about how well one’s life has been led.”
Obama challenged the graduating class to find new sources of energy, to improve failing schools and never to rely on past achievement. While he congratulated them on earning a degree, Obama told them that the next steps mattered more than a piece of paper or tassel.
“I want to say to you today, graduates, class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life – despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud – you, too, cannot rest on your laurels. … Your own body of work is also yet to come,” the president said, wearing a black gown with red embellishments.
Guests who deliver commencement addresses typically are awarded honorary degrees as a sign of respect and appreciation. Arizona State University officials, however, did not award any honorary degrees this year.
“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,” university spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said shortly after the school’s student newspaper first reported the decision.
To quell the controversy, the university instead renamed a scholarship for the 44th president of the U.S. At the beginning of his remarks, Obama thanked the school for the gesture.
- The Canadian Press
Despite controversy, N.B. premier will accept university degree
About 100 staff and faculty sign letter of protest
Premier Shawn Graham says he is humbled by the University of New Brunswick’s decision to give him an honorary degree, despite protests about the honour in the university community.
Graham says the debate around the degree is what universities are all about.
Robert Whitney, a professor at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, is one of the authors of a protest letter, signed by about 100 faculty and staff from the school’s Saint John and Fredericton campuses.
The letter states it would be “impossible” to forget Graham’s proposed changes to post-secondary education.
Graham’s government was forced by widespread protests to back away from changes recommended in a controversial report, including changing the UNB satellite campus in Saint John into a polytechnic institution.
Some of the recommendations would have seen major changes to the structure of the University in New Brunswick in Saint John and the University of Moncton.
- The Canadian Press
