Honorary degree

For other degrees, see Academic degree

An honorary degree ^[1] (Latin: honoris causa ad gradum) is an extra-ordinary academic degree awarded to an individual as a decoration, rather than as the result of matriculating and studying for several years. An honorary degree may be conferred by an institution that the recipient never attended. The degree itself may be a bachelor's, master's or doctorate degree – the last being by far the most common. Usually the degree is conferred with great pomp and ceremony as a way of honoring a famous or distinguished visitor's valuable contribution to society. The university derives benefits by association with the person's status and so enhances its networking and publicity.

Introduction

Honorary degrees are usually awarded at regular graduation ceremonies, at which the recipients are often invited to make a speech of acceptance before the assembled faculty and graduates – an event which often forms the highlight of the ceremony. Generally universities nominate several persons each year for honorary degrees; these nominees usually go through several committees before receiving approval. Those who are nominated are generally not told until a formal approval and invitation are made; often it is perceived that the system is shrouded in secrecy, and occasionally seen as political and controversial – in recent years a trend lamented by many has been to award degrees to popular icons, such as politicians and actors, rather than to scientists and scholars.

An ad eundem degree may also be considered a sort of honorary degree, although it is only conferred on an individual who has already achieved a comparable qualification at another university.

The first honorary degree was awarded to Lionel Woodville in the late 1470s by the University of Oxford. He later became Bishop of Salisbury.

In Australia, some "honorary" degrees are in fact earned. They are sometimes called higher doctorates by research, and viewed as well above a Ph.D. They are used for senior researchers who must submit a portfolio of research, usually comprising many years' work of significant published writings. These degrees are formallly assessed like any other earned degree.

Between the two extremes of honoring celebrities and formally assessing a portfolio of research, many universities use honorary degrees to recognize achievements of intellectual rigour that are comparable to an earned degree.

Practical use

Recipients of an honorary doctorate who do not also hold a bona fide doctorate often choose not to use the title of "doctor", though it may be appropriate to use the title provided it was conferred based on some tangible and relevant achievement. Even so, one who holds a honorary doctorate may use the title "doctor". In many countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, it is not customary for an honorary doctor to use the formal title of "doctor", regardless of the background circumstances for the award (the clergy being a notable exception: Robert W. Schuller, Robert A. Schuller, Billy Graham, Norman Vincent Peale and Jerry Falwell, just as examples, are all referred to as "doctor" and refer to themselves that way, even though none of them possess an earned doctorate but all have several honorary degrees, whereas Martin Luther King, Jr. earned a Ph.D. from Boston University). One other notable exception is Benjamin Franklin, who, in 1757, received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University for his scientific accomplishments, and from then on went by "Doctor Franklin."

The recipient of an honorary degree may add the degree title postnominally, but it should always be made clear that the degree is honorary by adding "honorary" or "honoris causa" or "h.c." in parenthesis after the degree title.

In recent years, some universities have adopted entirely separate postnominal titles for honorary degrees. This is in part due to the confusion that honorary degrees have caused. It is now common to use certain degrees, such as LL.D. or Hon.D., as purely honorary. For instance, an honorary doctor of the Auckland University of Technology takes the special title Hon.D. instead of the usual Ph.D. Some universities, including the Open University grant Doctorates of the University (D.Univ.) to selected nominees, while awarding Ph.D. or Ed.D. degrees to those who have fulfilled the academic requirements.

Many American universities only ever award the LL.D. (Doctor of Laws), the Litt.D. (Doctor of Letters), the L.H.D. (Doctor of Humane Letters), the Sci.D. (Doctor of Science), the Ped.D. (Doctor of Pedagogy) and the D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) as honorary degrees -- an earned degree in Law would be the J.S.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science), earned degrees in the Liberal Arts or Humanities or Sciences are generally the Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy), the Ed.D. (Doctor of Education) is the Education degree, and the Ph.D., Th.D. (Doctor of Theology), S.T.D. (Doctor of Sacred Theology) or D.Min. (Doctor of Ministry) are awarded in Religion and Theology depending on the particular program. American universities do not have the Oxford/Cambridge system of "higher doctorates" that is also used at other universities around the world: the earned Ph.D. is the highest formal academic degree offered.

It is typical that American graduate students earn their graduate degrees at institutions other than the one where they earned their bachelor's, and then join the faculty of yet another. This path differs from students with bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Oxford, who then join the faculty and petition for a "higher doctorate".

Customary degrees

Some universities and colleges also have the custom of awarding an honorary master's degree to every scholar it appoints as a full professor who had never earned a degree there. At the University of Cambridge all senior staff (whether academic faculty or not) are eligible for a special master's degree after five years of service, for instance, and at Amherst College all tenured professors are awarded a Master of Arts degree at academic convocation in the autumn even though the school only offers an earned Bachelor of Arts degree (Amherst awards honorary doctorates at commencement in the spring to notable scholars and other special invitees).

Controversy

Some universities and colleges have been accused of granting honorary degrees in exchange for large donations. Honorary degree recipients, particularly those who have no academic qualifications, have sometimes been criticized if they insist on being called "Doctor" as a result of their award, as the honorific may mislead the general public about their qualifications.

The practice of awarding honorary degrees to celebrities has also been criticised. Detractors argue that such honorary degrees debase the value of a degree and are an attempt by the university to obtain media attention. Various honorary degree recipients have been criticised for not being meritorious. On various campuses, the awarding of an honorary degree to a controversial political figure has prompted protests from faculty or students. In 2001, the conferment of an honorary degree upon George W. Bush by Yale University (where he had done his bachelor's degree) prompted a boycott of the university's commencement ceremony by numerous students and faculty.

A similar incident occurred in 2005 at the University of Western Ontario when Dr. Henry Morgentaler, the abortion doctor who had essentially decriminalized abortion in Canada in the case of R. v. Morgentaler, was made an honorary Doctor of Laws. Over 12,000 signatures were acquired on www.uwoprotest.com asking the UWO to reverse its decision to honor Dr. Morgentaler and several protest rallies were held, including one on the day the honorary degree was bestowed. This was Morgentaller's first honorary degree, although it has been rumoured that degrees from other university were vetoed due to the controversy the convocation was expected to produce.

Alternatively, few people objected to McGill University's decision to grant Joni Mitchell an honorary Doctor of Music in 2004, just in time to co-incide with a symposium about Mitchell's career. [2]

In 1996 Southampton College at Long Island University awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters to muppet Kermit the Frog. Although some student objected to awarding a degree to a puppet, Kermit delivered an enjoyable commencement address and the small college received considerable press coverage. [3]

Some universities, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [4], Cornell University [5], and the University of Virginia [6], do not award honorary degrees.

Footnotes

1. ^ The spelling honorary is predominant in American English and in Commonwealth English, although such an award is an "honour" rather than an "honor" in the latter!.

See also

• Freedom of the City
• Homage

External link

• Sunday Times article about inappropriate honorary degrees