The UMass Board of Trustees lists the criteria for honorary degrees as someone who has "national or international, artistic, cultural, or public service distinction in a particular field," or someone who has shown "outstanding achievement which the University wishes to acknowledge," or finally, someone who has made an "outstanding contribution to the University and/or the Commonwealth." These criteria make it seem as if we want to honor those who have really made a true impact on society, but what happens when the evil acts someone has committed outweigh the good they have done?
In 1986, Robert Mugabe was considered a humanist. Seven years prior, Mr. Mugabe had successfully freed the country of Zimbabwe from an extremely oppressive white regime. As a way of marking this achievement, the University of Massachusetts bestowed an honorary degree upon Mr. Mugabe. Unfortunately, Mugabe has changed quite a bit in the last 20 years, a change which the University of Massachusetts system should recognize by rescinding his honorary degree.
In the last 20 years as President of Zimbabwe, no one could call Robert Mugabe a humanist. He has suppressed fundamental rights and has asserted that "the police have the right to bash" protesters. He has quashed any opposition to the government by not just arresting dissidents, but beating them senseless. He has committed a war on free speech and free press and has now become the oppressor in a country he worked so hard to free.
Many people have argued that this degree was given to the Robert Mugabe of 1986, and while he has become a tyrannical dictator, he deserves to be recognized for his role in creating an independent Zimbabwe. It may be true that Robert Mugabe did deserve to be honored in 1986, but history cannot be considered to exist within a vacuum. It is impossible to ignore the man Robert Mugabe has become and because of this, he should have his honorary degree revoked.
Allowing Mr. Mugabe to keep his honorary degree devalues the ability of the University to honor deserving people and demeans the honorary degrees which have already been given out. The people who receive honorary degrees become de facto representatives of the Universities which decided to honor them. Because of this, the University should be much more selective about the candidates they choose.
As it stands now, the process for obtaining an honorary degree is complicated and bureaucratic. A nominating committee on campus accepts nominations for candidates from anyone. This committee parses the list down to eight or 10 candidates and sends it to the Chancellor. The Chancellor adds or subtracts names at his discretion and then sends it to President Wilson. President Wilson then adds or subtracts names and sends it to the Board of Trustees, who create a finalized list (after, of course, adding or subtracting names). In the end, there is a possibility that the final list could look nothing like the original compiled by the nominating committee.
A lot of people wonder why anyone should care about this issue. The question of revoking the degree is not if it will affect Robert Mugabe; odds are that he won't be distraught at the prospect of losing an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts. The real issue at hand is whether or not the University of Massachusetts believes in the criteria it set forth for honoring those who have done good for the community. Revoking this honorary degree would show they are committed to being an institution which takes principled stands on issues it believes are right and just. Allowing Mugabe to keep his degree shows that the University is perfectly fine closing its eyes to horrible realities going on in the world.
Is that the kind of University you want to attend?
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian Editorial Board.
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