After garnering national attention for deciding not to award an honorary degree to President Barack Obama when he speaks at commencement in May, ASU announced on Saturday that it will rename a scholarship to honor the president.

A University scholarship program will be expanded and renamed the President Barack Obama Scholars program, Crow said in a statement released Saturday.

The scholarship program will give thousands of students with the greatest financial need the opportunity to attend college, Crow said.

“It has always been our intention to recognize and honor President Obama’s accomplishments during his visit, … but we had not yet determined the best or most appropriate way to do so,” he said.

“Although the focus and attention of the media and others has been on an honorary degree, we never felt that was the only — or even the best — means of honoring his tremendous service to our country.”

The statement did not say how much the scholarship program will be expanded or when it will begin.

Crow apologized for “confusion” surrounding the honorary degree and said he hopes it will not detract from the honor of Obama’s visit.

On Friday, Crow told a Politico reporter that the University intended to recognize Obama in multiple ways, but added, “As to this issue relative to the honorary degree, we don’t know where it came from.”

After a committee meeting with the Arizona Board of Regents on Thursday, Crow confirmed the accuracy of the article published in The State Press on April 8, but then said he did not know how the information was released.

Crow first said that the University would not give Obama an honorary degree a week earlier, on April 3, in a meeting with University leaders, ASU spokesman Virgil Renzulli confirmed via e-mail.

Renzulli added that Crow’s statement to Politico was probably “that he was surprised the non-awarding of an honorary degree became an issue because there are other ways and sometimes better ways of honoring people.

“He never denied to anyone that he said we were not awarding one,” Renzulli said.

In an e-mail sent to all students Saturday, Crow defended the decision to not award an honorary degree.

“Since my appointment, we have not awarded honorary degrees to sitting politicians, a practice based on the very practical realities of operating a public university in our political environment,” he said. “We have not offered degrees to our sitting senators or our sitting governors as many universities do.”

Obama was invited to speak at ASU’s commencement in May in recognition of his achievements and his connection to the University’s mission of excellence.

Crow said in the statement on Saturday that the President Barack Obama Scholars program is a proper way to recognize the president’s achievements.

“Naming this scholarship program after President Obama that will affect the lives of thousands of students is an honor befitting, not only the president’s exceptional achievements, but also his values as an individual,” Crow said. “The President Barack Obama Scholars program will be a legacy that will endure and inspire others for generations to come.”

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.