I can remember exactly where I was: walking out of a downtown cafe when my eyes glanced at The State Press headline — “Obama won’t receive ASU honorary degree.”

I threw the paper across the hall with a howl, its starburst pages uncoupling as it traveled. A crushing weight settled upon me, and witnesses shook their heads knowingly, affording me the license to publically grieve.

At least that’s how I remember it now. I’ll admit, I have a tendency to interpret events based on the amount of hype they receive in the media. And I can be retrospectively melodramatic, as well. Maybe I wasn’t quite as affected at the time.

But lucky for me, CNN broadcasts and Politico stories have straightened my priorities. Now, I’m justifiably outraged that President Obama won’t be honored with an honorary degree for speaking at commencement. Doesn’t he deserve recognition for everything he’s accomplished, ASU?

More seriously, this past week’s ASU-Obama controversy held serious repercussions for our school. However, the real story here is one of politics and bad PR.

Here’s how we think it happened:

As they commonly do, The State Press reporters received info about the story and called ASU officials for a comment.

The statement originally given by ASU said, “Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time.”

Now, the story seemed innocuous enough, but it in fact painted a gigantic media target on the institution. Its contents combined to form a news-media producer’s fantasy — vague, political, marginally race related, controversial and Obama-centric.

But the story first had to be passed up and along. People tweeted, posted and blurbed until it caught on nationally two days later.

The statement, originally published last Wednesday in The State Press, appeared word-for-word all over the Internet and television. News outlets — particularly those with lots of time or content to fill — stretched and interpreted all the mileage they could get out of it.

Some reports have speculated that ASU wasn’t quite prepared for the gravity of its statements, thinking an interview with local student media was no big deal.

What a wakeup call.

While most ASU students slept in for the holiday weekend, it was obvious that ASU’s public-relations employees were hard at work. They quickly backpedaled, sending e-mails to all students and faculty with statements from President Crow apologizing and announcing Obama would be honored with a new scholarship program.

The idea actually seems well-suited to honor Obama; lower cost for higher education is one of his main platform planks. In fact, maybe we should work harder to inspire controversy if it means more scholarship programs.

But after the weekend’s media meltdown, the announcement appeared more like a rushed attempt to quell public sentiment and call off the media hounds than an honor.

“It has always been our intention to recognize and honor President Obama’s accomplishments during his visit,” Crow said.

I’d love to help you, President Crow. Things will blow over, but unfortunately, I think it’s too late to simply undo ASU’s damaged reputation.

Reach Channing at channing.turner@asu.edu.