Policy Direction on Honorary Degrees
Adopted by the Board of Regents, June 14, 1995
Among the nation's public universities and colleges, Georgia's will be recognized for first-rate undergraduate education, leading-edge research, and committed public service. Georgians will appreciate the System's prestige and leadership in public higher education. . . .
To these ends, the University System of Georgia will be characterized by:
- Campus learning communities that engage students with the ideas that mark educated persons . . . and that celebrate and energize the student spirit. . . .
--"Access to Academic Excellence"
The University System of Georgia --which includes the Board of Regents, its Chancellor's Office, and all the institutions governed by the Board--
Shall stimulate Georgians' aspirations for higher education. . . .
Shall ensure that each of its institutions provides an educational, physical, and social environment that supports learning and growth. . . .
Shall promote to Georgians and the nation its commitment to service by supporting strong undergraduate, graduate and professional education; pathbreaking research and creativity; and other national patterns of academic excellence in its curricula and operations.
Shall promote the highest possible public opinion of its impact on the lives of all Georgians. . . .
-- Guiding Principles 1, 6, 8, 34
GOALS:
- To award honorary degrees, beginning in spring 1996 at the research and regional universities, that will highlight the University System's national prestige and its academic and service priorities.
BACKGROUND:
The awarding of honorary degrees to persons whose ideas and life work exemplify the highest standards of human achievement enhances a campus's cultural environment. The proffer of an honorary degree from an excellent university can be a powerful inducement to bring the nation's most outstanding role models and speakers to a campus. An honorary degree can establish a strong and continuing bond that will bring such persons back to a campus again and again, as consultants, as speakers, and guest faculty. In turn, well chosen honorees can affirm and dignify institutional priorities and achievements. National media reports of honorary degrees awarded nationwide during the commencement season can underline a university's national standing.
Most independent colleges and nearly all major independent universities--from Stanford to Harvard and Yale, from the University of Chicago and Notre Dame to Emory and Duke--award honorary degrees, often as many as six in any one year. Public colleges and universities are more divided as to the practice. Public universities that do award honorary degrees are generally careful to develop guidelines to protect the honorary degrees' integrity and avoid awards being misconstrued as political or economic favors. Prestigious public research universities from the University of Texas-Austin to Wisconsin, from Oregon to the Michigan to North Carolina at Chapel Hill all offer honorary degrees, while somewhat fewer--including the Universities of Virginia, Washington, and California at Berkeley--do not.
The University System's current policy--established in the early 1950s and amended in 1978--is that "honorary degrees shall not be conferred by institutions of the University System of Georgia," except in the case of a former student who becomes President of the United States. With this one notable and rare exception, then, the benefits of awarding honorary degrees are currently enjoyed by none of the institutions of the University System.
IMPLEMENTATION:
The Board of Regents therefore approves the following amendment to Section 307.03 of its policy manual:
HONORARY DEGREES:
Honorary degrees are subject to approval by the Board of Regents. Honorary degrees may be conferred by research or regional universities or senior colleges of the University System of Georgia to persons of notable achievement in an academic field, the arts and letters, the professions, or public service. An institutionally approved process for advancing candidates for consideration by the Board of Regents in a timely fashion shall include recommendations by a faculty committee and selection by the President of a candidate to be communicated to the Chancellor. Honorary degrees may be conferred upon candidates recommended by the Chancellor of the University System and approved by the Board of Regents. Current elected or appointed national office holders or officials of the state of Georgia to whom the University System and/or the universities or colleges are directly or indirectly answerable; as well as persons who are announced candidates for national or state elective office shall be considered ineligible for honorary degrees. Current Regents, administrative officers of the universities and colleges and the System, faculty members and other university, college and System employees shall also be ineligible.
To implement this new policy, the Board directs that the Regents Chancellor's Office solicit from each research or regional university that seeks the option of awarding honorary degrees a set of guidelines consistent with and supportive of the following basic conditions:
- Relatively few awards shall be given (normally no more than two per year for a university, no more than one for a senior college), and no individual shall ever receive more than one honorary degree from an institution or institutions of the University System. The recipient must be present to receive the degree.
- The basic criteria for an honorary degree recipient shall be notable achievement in an academic field, the arts and letters, the professions, or public service.
- An institutional nomination process shall be in place, and a faculty committee on each campus shall review the nominations and make recommendations to the President. While any member of the campus community may nominate a candidate, nominations must be in the form of a letter and must be from individuals who are in a position to judge the candidate's contributions and achievements. The nominations must contain compelling reasons why it is appropriate for the respective university or college to honor a particular individual.
- Upon receipt of a recommendation from the campus faculty committee, the President shall consult with the other research and regional university and senior college presidents to ensure that there is no duplication of candidates, select an honorary degree candidate from among those recommended, and communicate that name to the Chancellor, who shall make a recommendation to the Board of Regents. The final decision shall rest with the Board of Regents, and no announcement of a pending candidacy shall be made prior to its formal recommendation to the Board.
- Current elected or appointed officials of the state of Georgia (including Regents) to whom the University System and/or the universities or colleges are directly or indirectly answerable are ineligible for honorary degrees. The same exclusion applies to current elected or appointed national office holders and persons who are announced candidates for elective office in the state or nation. Current faculty members, administrative officers and other employees of the universities, the colleges and the System are also ineligible; other special awards, such as institutional teaching or service awards, or emeritus titles (under Board Policy 803.17, Appendix B), are the appropriate means of recognizing special achievements by such persons.
The Board also directs that the Regents Chancellor's Office, in consultation with the institutions:
- explore possibilities for other distinguished awards for recognizing persons of merit outside the University System, which could be endorsed by the Board of Regents for conferral by senior and two-year colleges as well as research and regional universities; and
- review this policy direction in summer 1998, such review to include an evaluation of the integrity of the awards made to date and consideration of any appropriate modifications in Section 307.03 of the policy manual (as amended herein) and in related procedures and practices, both at the institutional and at the System level.
The Board further directs that the awarding of honorary degrees be aimed toward helping the System to achieve its vision of "Access to Academic Excellence," and be guided by its Guiding Principles for Strategic Action, including, in particular, #1 and 6 on student access for success, #8 on academic excellence and recognition, and #34 on effective external partnerships.
