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Short Stuff: Honorary Degrees · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to short Stuff. I'm Josh Clark,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and there's Charles Lubach Hook Brian, there's Jerry over there,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and we are right smack dab in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: entering graduation season, and we're three doctors. We are self proclaimed. Really,
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  Speaker 1: we didn't even have three honorary decreem exactly. Ours are
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: written in crayon in our own handwriting. Yeah, so this,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we talked about this in a recent episode
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  Speaker 1: about honorary degrees, and this ended up being kind of encapsulating.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: What's perfect about short stuff is we can explain everything
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  Speaker 1: you need to know about honorary degrees and like twelve minutes,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we can explain it in one second. Marketing. Yeah, that's
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: kind of that's kind of true, but it is a
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  Speaker 1: little more interesting than that. Uh, let's talk about the history,
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  Speaker 1: because not all universities give honorary degrees um very this
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  Speaker 1: The University of Virginia uv A, m I T, Stanford,
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  Speaker 1: and Cornell do not give honorary degrees um. William uh
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  Speaker 1: Barton Rogers, founder of m I T, said they are
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  Speaker 1: unfriendly to true literary advancement and of spurious merit and
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  Speaker 1: noisy popularity, and William Barton Rogers had graduated u v A,
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  Speaker 1: so that's where he was kind of located with the
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  Speaker 1: idea that you shouldn't have, you shouldn't give away doctorates.
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  Speaker 1: And uv A was founded by Thomas Jefferson, who was
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  Speaker 1: the one who put that ban on him, right, but
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  Speaker 1: he accepted an honorary doctorate from Harvard. It's a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a double standard, probably not the only double standard
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson's ever ever been involved with. Yeah, but here's
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  Speaker 1: the secret, Well, it's not a secret at all. Here's
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  Speaker 1: the very plain truth that everyone knows about honorary degrees.
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  Speaker 1: Since the beginning of time, they have been used. Two.
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  Speaker 1: They say, a to reward donors who have given money,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes to bring in celebrities for appeal for like media
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  Speaker 1: appeal for graduation ceremonies and such like that. But it's
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  Speaker 1: really just for whatever reason, it's a way to get
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  Speaker 1: some press by acknowledging someone that you think as a
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  Speaker 1: university somewhat aligns with your values as a university. Right. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Ultimately that's the goal is to it's not just somebody's
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  Speaker 1: but somebody who is doing something that your university values
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  Speaker 1: or everybody can get behind, right, Yeah. And it started
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  Speaker 1: in Europe, not even here in the US. No, no
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  Speaker 1: um over at Oxford, I believe the first one was
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  Speaker 1: handed out to a guy named lionel Um. That's a
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  Speaker 1: pretty good fifteenth century name. It was given out to him.
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  Speaker 1: He was an influential bishop and he he got his
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  Speaker 1: honorary doctorate unbidden. It was a bit of a surprise.
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  Speaker 1: From what I understand is just kind of showed up
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  Speaker 1: at his house and they say, so congratulations. Also totally unrelated,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: we were thinking that you might come be chancellor of
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  Speaker 1: the university. Now since you're a doctor, all al right,
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  Speaker 1: I can do that. I can bring some of my
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  Speaker 1: wealthy connections with me to to UM to Oxford, which
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  Speaker 1: by the way, was about four hundred years old by
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  Speaker 1: this time. In four so they were the first one
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  Speaker 1: to confer an honorary degree. And they kicked off a
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  Speaker 1: grand tradition that is basically just kind of waxed and
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  Speaker 1: waned throughout the years, but mostly waxed in in enthusiasm
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  Speaker 1: and abuse, I guess is the word I'm looking for. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: King Charles the first speaking of abuse, Uh, he really
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  Speaker 1: got honorary degree. Happy he handed up three hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty Oxford doctorates. Uh, two people that of course supported
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  Speaker 1: his court. All within one single year. That's a lot.
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  Speaker 1: That's a lot. Um, it's almost one a day by
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  Speaker 1: my calculation, almost took off Christmas and Thanksgiving? Right, oh
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: wait Thanksgiving? Uh not then no, maybe all Saints Day.
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  Speaker 1: So um, King Charles the first was the first to
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  Speaker 1: abuse it. He was far from the last. Um. By
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  Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, there were so many degrees being handed
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  Speaker 1: out left and right, honorary degrees, that they actually had
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  Speaker 1: a depressing effect on the importance of actual doctorates that
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  Speaker 1: were being earned, which is a big problem. Right and
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  Speaker 1: um the the president of the Northeastern Dental Association, who's
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  Speaker 1: typically a mouthpiece for um morality and in direction in academia,
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  Speaker 1: um famously warned in that the most dangerous, delusive, debauching
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  Speaker 1: and degrading the four d S thing in American educational
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  Speaker 1: life is the practice of granting unearned degrees. It's pretty harsh.
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  Speaker 1: It was very harsh, but you know, and the guy
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  Speaker 1: was obviously hysterical. But but it does get across, get
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  Speaker 1: across this point that that it was it was getting
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  Speaker 1: a little a little much I guess was the point
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  Speaker 1: by the nineteenth century, and it's calmed down tremendously, especially
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  Speaker 1: here in the States, but it's still going on. It
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  Speaker 1: just seems to be a little a little less problematic
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  Speaker 1: than I think it was before, because at some point
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  Speaker 1: somebody said, okay, all right, let's just let's just yes,
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  Speaker 1: you can keep giving out degrees, but people who are
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  Speaker 1: getting these honorary degrees do not attempt to use them
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  Speaker 1: like they're legitimate. And that seems to change the course
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  Speaker 1: of things. Yeah, alright, so let's take a break. We'll
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  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about how this happens. Who picks
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  Speaker 1: these people and some regrettable choices right after this. All right,
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  Speaker 1: So it is a big deal to do this. UM,
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  Speaker 1: A lot of times it is to get someone like
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  Speaker 1: a Jerry Seinfeld at your graduation ceremony. What these doctorates?
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, everybody. That was pretty good. UM,
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  Speaker 1: I'm trying to sound he sounded like not Jerry Seinfeld,
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  Speaker 1: David Brenner probably okay, sure, why not? Uh? And they
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  Speaker 1: do say, um, honorary degree serve as a way to
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  Speaker 1: inspire the students graduating that day. So that is, um,
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  Speaker 1: that is the reason most people do that, get Conan,
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  Speaker 1: get Jerry Seinfeld in there. Uh, and a lot of
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  Speaker 1: you know, most schools will have a board that decides
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  Speaker 1: this kind of thing, and they need to start well
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  Speaker 1: in advance, so typically you'll start like a year out, um,
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  Speaker 1: just seeing if the person is interested and if their
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  Speaker 1: schedule might ALIGNE. And I don't know if it's um,
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  Speaker 1: it probably works differently at every school. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if it's in writing as a requirement to come to
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  Speaker 1: graduation or more like and we'd like to give it
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  Speaker 1: to you in person on this date at our football stadium.
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  Speaker 1: They're like, come on, that's kind of the deal. As
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  Speaker 1: you're supposed to show up. And that's really I think,
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  Speaker 1: sort of the unwritten rule. Yeah, because I mean if
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  Speaker 1: you go to a college graduation, that's like, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that's the show stopper. That's the reason people sit there
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  Speaker 1: is because there's somebody very right. Yeah, it is very
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  Speaker 1: very boring. Um, it's just like can't you just like
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  Speaker 1: email this to these people? Um? There there there should
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  Speaker 1: be a very um, recognizable and or inspirational and or
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  Speaker 1: funny person speaking at a decent graduation ceremony. And it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily have to be a celebrity. UM. They do
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  Speaker 1: still give these two like big donors. But I think
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  Speaker 1: that that means that you have more of a mountain
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  Speaker 1: to climb to impress people because you're still expected to
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  Speaker 1: give like amazing caliber remarks at the commencement exercises. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and when you teased before the break about hey, everyone
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  Speaker 1: like you understand that you're not a real PhD or
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  Speaker 1: god forbid, a medical doctor. Um. That's the thing is
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  Speaker 1: like they know they're not. But there have been some
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  Speaker 1: notable people that have called themselves doctor of whatever after
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  Speaker 1: they got this. UM. Florida Atlantic University takes it very seriously.
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  Speaker 1: In their rules. They say, in no instance will the
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  Speaker 1: recipient of an honorary doctorate from f A you represent
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  Speaker 1: the award as being an earned doctorate or have earned
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  Speaker 1: academic credential of any kind. This award does not entitle
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  Speaker 1: the recipient to use the title of doctor or a
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  Speaker 1: pen PhD or any other earned degree designation after his
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  Speaker 1: or her name. And UM. Basically they say at the end,
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  Speaker 1: like if we get you doing this too, we could
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  Speaker 1: take it away. We're gonna take it away. We're gonna
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  Speaker 1: take this meaningless of paper right away from you. Don't
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  Speaker 1: even register at your hotel under doctor Bryant, which I
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  Speaker 1: haven't been known to do. Don't even don't even have
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  Speaker 1: your wife call you doctor, because we'll find out. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: because we're listening. So um, it's not just Florida Atlantic
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  Speaker 1: University takes it seriously. There is a Grove City College
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  Speaker 1: professor UM psychology professor Warren Throckmorton, who apparently one day
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  Speaker 1: realized that some general funding was about to run out,
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  Speaker 1: and he did a survey of university policy statements about
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  Speaker 1: the use of UM doctorates, of of of honorary doctorates,
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  Speaker 1: and basically to a to a university, it's like, let's
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  Speaker 1: just be clear here, this actually doesn't mean that you
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  Speaker 1: are a doctor of anything or that you have a PhD.
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  Speaker 1: Do not let us catch you using this. This is
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  Speaker 1: a this is a big deal because again, back in
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  Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, they were handing out UM m D
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  Speaker 1: s uh basically everything, and people were like, yeah, call me,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: call me Dr Dangerfield, you know, um, and it was
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  Speaker 1: it was a big problem. So now they seem to
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  Speaker 1: have it under under control, although there have been some
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  Speaker 1: people in recent years that still said, now whenever you
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  Speaker 1: gave me a doctorate. I'm gonna use doctor. I don't
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  Speaker 1: care what you think of me, because I'm my Angelou. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm a gift to the world. Ben Franklin did that
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  Speaker 1: after getting degrees from Oxford and University of St. Andrews.
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  Speaker 1: And like you said, with My Angelou, it's like one
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  Speaker 1: of those things where you know, it's not super cool,
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  Speaker 1: but who's gonna go tell my Angelou what to do? Nobody? Nobody.
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  Speaker 1: They'll get a palm in their face. Yeah. I mean
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  Speaker 1: I can imagine her speaking in that great voice of hers,
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  Speaker 1: and like I would just shrink, right, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: was about to dry do with my angel but there's
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: no way you would not rise. You would shrink. Look
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  Speaker 1: at the shrink. Uh. And then there have been some
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  Speaker 1: very regrettable and rescinded PhD s honorary PhDs over the year. Um.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, Bill Cosby has many, many of these, and
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  Speaker 1: they were I think probably all taken away, yeah, I believe,
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  Speaker 1: including from his alma mater temple. But the first one
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  Speaker 1: was Yale. With with Yale, he became the first in
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: three hundred years to have their his honorary degree taken
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  Speaker 1: away at least by Yale University. But yeah, everybody started
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  Speaker 1: following suit after that. Yeah, there's a few more uh
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  Speaker 1: legendary uh late DJ from England, Jimmy Seville. Oh, he's
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  Speaker 1: a terrible he was terrible human because it was exposed
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  Speaker 1: later in his life that he was one of the
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  Speaker 1: most prolific pedophiles in the history of Britain. They took
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  Speaker 1: away his honorary degree. Um Oscar Pistorius away? Um who
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  Speaker 1: else Donald Trump had one rescinded from whom university? You
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: say that as if it's a real thing. Um. I
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: had it written down, but I can't find it now.
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  Speaker 1: But he got an honorary degree that was taken away
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  Speaker 1: while he was running for president because of anti Muslim remarks.
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  Speaker 1: And they were like, no, we're taking that back. It's cool. Yeah,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and there's there's more and more. I don't Oh, I
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  Speaker 1: could listen to these all day. Well, I think we
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  Speaker 1: should campaign to get them from our own alma mater. Well,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: you know, a m somebody wrote in from an unnamed
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: they not by us, but they wouldn't name what college
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: they work at, but it's in Canada, and they said
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: they do honorary degrees up there too. And I believe
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  Speaker 1: it was that she said that she was working to
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: get us honorary degrees. So fingers crossed, yes, Um, I
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: will make fun of these up until and including when
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  Speaker 1: I have one. Okay, that's a deal. I'm going to
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: hold you to that. Well, I guess that's it for
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: honorary degrees. We got this article from how Stuff Works,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: so you can go check it out if you like,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: and in the meantime, short stuff out. Stuff you Should
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  Speaker 1: Know is a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works.
• 12:52
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• 12:57
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