BC Faculty Says "But Condi…"

Honorary Degrees are worthless documents, printed at a premium on fancy paper, and signed by the president of the university. Well, they’re not worthless. The honorary doctoral degrees don’t give the holder any academic credentials (they can’t use PhD after their name or call themselves Dr. whatever, either) but they do serve as official acknowledgement from the granting institution to an individual of their accomplishments in life that fit with the mission of the university. It’s a “see you can do this too” statement for all the graduates attending the spring ceremony – with a hope from the public relations teams that they’ll drop the reference on their CV and in some way be associated with the institution. BC officials are hoping that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will do that for them this year. Some faculty feel that providing the distinction of honoris causa (Latin, roughly translated: for the cause of honor) will misrepresent their values.

On to more of the honorary degree backstory...The procedure for granting an honorary degree varies with the institution. The registrar – who upholds the sanctity of each academic degree granted – has nothing to do with the honor. In most cases the faculty or some subset thereof with representative power (like a senate) approves the honorary degree nomination when it emerges from a committee. Somehow this process isn’t working at Boston College this year. Kenneth Himes, chairman of the department of theology, and David Hollenbach started a petition to which over 100 faculty have added their names in opposition of granting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice an Honorary Doctor of Laws. Condi, as announced Monday, will deliver the keynote address at BC’s commencement this year. While it is not necessary, there is strong tradition behind the granting of an honorary degree to the commencement speaker. Generally two or three other people are offered the honor at commencement as well – in rare occasions these degrees are granted outside of commencement season, especially to prominent world leaders who cannot appear at commencements but receive degrees in special ceremonies. Few enough honorary degrees are given out as to retain importance to the tribute.

The decision to award Condi an honorary doctoral degree (she holds seven from other institutions already) has stirred tensions at BC. The Heights editorial board boiled down the decision and essentially took the stance: dude, we beat Harvard – she’s important, can’t we just put politics behind us? In the Boston Globe this morning the opposing sides were exposed: theologians equating Condi’s support of the Iraq war as against the Jesuit values of BC and the supporters who are excited to have such a prominent figure address their graduation ceremonies. It’s unclear to us, and no one wanted to comment on anything, whether or not Condi’s honorary degree has been approved, signed, and sealed for imminent delivery, if it was used to draw her to the ceremony, or if the petition could ultimately block the degree – and if so would Condi still speak? We wouldn’t be surprised if tenure is threatened quietly and the whole issue dissolves. In which case, we’ll see Condi here in the Bay State by the end of the month.

Photo at top of Condi and Cardinal Sodano last year, showing that the Secretary of State for the USA and the Vatican can, indeed, get along. Illustration courtesy The Heights unscientific online poll, showing the results to the question "Should Condoleezza Rice speak at Commencement?"