From today's Chronicle of Higher Education, discussing the practice of awarding honorary doctorates: "...sometimes honorary degrees are bestowed upon people whose accomplishments are slightly less stellar. Mike Tyson, Kermit the Frog, and Bruce Willis have all been given honorary degrees. Mike Tyson was a great boxer, Kermit is a hero to millions of kids, and Bruce Willis has been in some action movies — but they're not exactly Father Hesburgh. That's part of the problem with honorary doctorates, says John Bear, who has written at length about them in his well-known distance-education guides. He first became annoyed with honorary degrees when, soon after earning his own, real Ph.D. from Michigan State University, he learned that Southern Methodist University had given one to Bob Hope. While Mr. Bear had spent years studying, Bob Hope had written a check for a new campus theater. Those two things did not seem equivalent. "The real problem is the use of the word 'doctorate,'" says Mr. Bear. "We give people awards all the time, but to use an existing title is very strange."
Dr. (hc) Hope also entertained millions of people, furthered film and radio as platforms for social commentary, and dedicated much of his life to helping others. Besides an honorary doctor, he also has an airport named after him and a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. No offense to anyone holding a doctorate degree, but people shouldn't be too proud of studying a few years and writing a couple hundred pages of boring text. There are lots of people with realdoctorates out there who shouldn't have them. An HC for someone like Bob Hope should be the least of our concerns.
Hope had more than 50 honorary doctorates. The president of a small college in New England once told me that he was taken aback when one of Hope's people called him and said Hope would be willing to speak at their commencement in exchange for an honorary doctorate. (And he did, and they did.) There was a plan in the works, orchestrated by Hope's people, to have him be awarded 100 honorary doctorates on his 100th birthday. Although he did reach 100, his health had declined so much that the plan was not implemented. More power to all of 'em. But I still think that it is very silly to use the word 'doctor' to thank people for their humanitarian work, their donation, their appearance at the ceremony (Doctor Mike Tyson; Doctor Michael Jackson, etc.)
That is indeed more than questionable marketing. But on the other hand, in order to get universities to agree on such a deal, one has to have accomplished a few things in life. I think most people are aware that honoris causa doesn't have anything to do with academics.
I take offense to the boring comment - mine is exciting! Who has real doctorates that shouldn't have them and why shouldn't they have them?
Mine is exciting as well - to two people: my professor and me. People with a proven track record of idiocy: CEOs who risk thousands of jobs for a small personal profit, politicians who use tax payers' money to finance their vacations, researchers who alter results in their studies, and from my very own alma mater, university professors who damage the world-class reputation of their institute by doping Tour de France athletes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Freiburg_Faculty_of_Medicine) The list is long...
Go Fishy: "I think most people are aware that honoris causa doesn't have anything to do with academics..." John Bear: I disagree. As I point out in several of my honorary doctorate chapters, it is generally accepted that between half and 2/3rds of honorary degrees go to senior and renowned academics. The balance go, very roughly evenly divided, to donors, businesspeople, social activists, and artists/celebrities. This year, for instance, Harvard and Yale each gave 10. Harvard gave three to people in the arts (Wynton Marsalis, Joan Didion, Pedro Almodover) and seven to well-known academics. Yale gave four to people in the arts (Richard Serra, John McPhee, Sofia Gubaidulina, Bill T. Jones), the rest to academics, one social activist, and one Secretary of State. Princeton generally gives more to well-known non-academics. Two years ago, Muhammad Ali. This year, they gave 5, including Meryl Streep, Ruby Dee Davis, and Alice Waters. Once again, Stanford gave none.
Why don't we also say they should not have a masters either because they have mastered nothing but screwing up!
