President Obama deserves better
When President Obama was announced as the guest speaker for the ASU commencement ceremony last month, I was proud to say that the 44th President of the United States was going to speak at my university, and to my peers.
May 13 is going to be a shining moment for ASU, or at least it was going to be, until the University chose to disrespect the accomplishments of our president and deny him an honorary degree. ASU attempted to explain this rejection by explaining that the president’s body of work has yet to be seen.
With that type of response, I must ask the following question: What makes ASU so special? The University of Notre Dame finds it fitting to give the first black president an honorary degree, and President Obama’s accomplishments stretch beyond the office of the presidency.
Not only is he a best-selling author, he was president of the Harvard Law Review, received a degree from Harvard Law and spent many years of his life dedicated to community organization in Chicago.
In the past, ASU’s honorary degrees have been given to people with a career in education, but if a speaker lacks a career in education, does that mean he or she is less worthy of an honorary degree? I’m not saying that it is wrong for the University to deny an honorary degree to a president who has yet to complete 100 days in office. However, to invite the president of the U.S. to speak at a commencement ceremony and then to deny him an honorary degree is insulting.
Not only does it insult President Obama and his accomplishments, but it also insults our institution and the image of our University. It is an honor to have President Obama speak at ASU on May 13, and we, as a university, should return that honor through a degree that recognizes our president’s accomplishments in his life thus far.
Chase Williams
Undergraduate
I am an alumnus of ASU and a 20-year veteran public-school teacher.
Never have I been so ashamed of my university. To not cite our president as qualified to receive an honorary degree is an international embarrassment for Arizona State.
Enough said.
William Douglas
Alumnus
