ASU: Are they Simply Morons?

President Obama will give the commencement address at Arizona State University this year and, against all tradition, will not be given an honorary degree at the event. From Sam Stein at The Huffington Post:

Despite giving the commencement address at the university's Tempe campus on May 13, the president will not receive an honorary degree. The reason: "His body of work is yet to come," said Sharon Keeler, a spokeswoman for the university. "That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency."

ASU's decision, announced on Thursday, has already floored members of the academic, political and media communities. At once bizarre and insulting, critics are curious as to what, exactly, a sufficient body of work resembles under the university's standards. After all, in addition to being the first African-American elected to the office of the president in our nation's history, Obama has served in the United States Senate and authored two best selling books.

It takes a special brand of stupidity to be that tone deaf.

10 April 2009