When A University Stoops So Low into Politics
- Category: Governance
- Date 05-08-2007
- 264 views
Edinburgh University has withdrawn an honorary degree it had conferred on Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President, arguing that they were not aware of the “serious misrule in Zimbabwe at the time the award was made”. In July 1984, Robert Mugabe was his country’s Prime Minister and was invited to the University where he received the honour at McEwan Hall. A veteran teacher, he was being honoured for his “services to education in Africa”, but especially during the initial period of enthusiasm for Zimbabwe after it attained independence from Britain in 1980.
The Edinburgh honorary was not the last one. He got another one from America’s Michigan State University when he was revered as an outspoken opponent of apartheid in South Africa and a fighter for racial harmony within his own country. This was in addition to his honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) during a special convocation ceremony on the Amherst campus in October 1986.
A program for the Amherst ceremony referred to Mr. Robert Mugabe as a champion of human rights. "Your gentle firmness in the face of anger, and your intellectual approach to matters which inflame the emotions of others, are hallmarks of your quiet integrity," a copy of the program reads. "We salute you for your enduring and effective translation of a moral ethic into a strong, popular voice for freedom."
Today, all these Universities have clamoured to revoke the degrees they conferred with considerable pomp. Scotland’s Edinburgh University undertook to examine the original grounds that led to the 1984 award of their degree, alleging that there may have been objections against Robert Mugabe’s award but were disregarded. The decision to take away the degree however came after years of campaigning by politicians and students against the Zimbabwean leader and his regime. Edinburgh South Labour MP Nigel Griffiths tabled a motion in the House of Commons to have the Mugabe honorary withdrawn, and the University has abided. Michigan State University and the University of Massachusetts in the United States are also working to rescind Robert Mugabe’s degrees.
What is an honorary degree?
It is an academic degree awarded to an individual, as a decoration! Honorary degrees are often conferred by institutions which the recipients never attended, and other than a bachelor’s or master’s degrees, a doctoral is the commonest award. Usually, the degree is conferred with great pomp and ceremony as a way of honouring a famous or distinguished people’s valuable contributions to society and humanity, in general.
The honorary degree does not merely benefit the individual recipient of the award; also the awarding University does so to enhance its stature and publicity by associating itself with the famous person. Honorary degrees are reserved for popular icons, especially politicians.
Did Robert Mugabe have to lose his degree?
This writer believes that the socio-political and economic situation in Zimbabwe is too bad. It is a pity that innocent civilians are suffering without food, businesses have collapsed, political opponents are brutalised, and government is fanatical against dissent. The World Food Programme has declared that soon, it would provide assistance to over three million people, as vulnerable families might be forced to adopt risky survival measures, including eating potentially poisonous wild foods, selling their remaining household assets, and exchanging sex for food. No wonder many citizens are fleeing to South Africa; it is difficult to support what is happening in Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, how reputable Universities could stoop so low as to become political tools is amazing. It is believed that if Mr. Mugabe did not confiscate white owned farms for redistribution among black Zimbabweans, perhaps the worldwide furore against him would be less. None of these universities would be considering removing their degree from their past hero!
If Mr. Robert Mugabe’s degrees were truly given in good faith, the Universities were not really responsible for how later their idol grew to become. How could a University of Edinburgh’s stature award a degree without full facts about their candidate? They should apologise to the world for their pretence both at the time of awarding the degree and for their June 6th decision to retract it.
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Peering Eye, Sunday Citizen