"There are reliable rhythms to the academic year: New and returning students energize the campus each fall, the winter (at least in Minnesota!) finds everyone hunkered down in a slog, and, as the trees bloom and the days lengthen, we rush to a conclusion full of senior banquets and no-longer-extendable paper deadlines. It's predictable and even comforting."
"The first such lesson is that awarding an honorary degree amounts to the university's implicit endorsement or approval of the recipient. Much the same could be said for handing over the podium for the principal address at an academic ceremony that marks and celebrates students' scholastic achievements. Bestowing the university's imprimatur in these ways is one form of an institutional "stance"-not entirely different from taking an official position on a political, economic, moral or social issue."
"And taking institutional stances is a very tricky business. Lesson number two-and the best way of navigating those tricky shoals-is to remember that the university should remain ever faithful to its highest values with a sustained focus on its fundamental purpose. It should also adhere to its side of the mutually beneficial social compact with the larger host society."
"Rolling these principles together, an academic institution should ordinarily decline to take stances on publi"
New and returning students energize campuses in fall, winter brings a slog, and spring brings deadlines and senior banquets. Each year, controversies recur around invitations to commencement speakers and honorary degrees, often accompanied by self-righteous remarks and performative gestures. Awarding an honorary degree functions as the university’s implicit approval of the recipient, and granting the principal podium similarly signals institutional imprimatur. These actions amount to institutional stances on issues, which are difficult to manage. A key lesson is to remain faithful to the university’s highest values and its obligations within the social compact with the host society. Universities should ordinarily decline to take stances beyond their fundamental purpose.
#academic-year-rhythms #commencement-speakers #honorary-degrees #institutional-endorsement #university-values
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