American Notes

Dear Miss Manners:

As president of Harvard, I find myself in a rather touchy situation. While planning our 350th anniversary celebration, to be held a year from September, it occurred to me that it would befit tradition for the other President to make a speech. The White House people were very polite, explaining that the President liked the idea but that they could not confirm a date that far away. Assuming he could come, they added rather pointedly, would Harvard award him an honorary degree? Well. Such awards, of course, are decided by a sacred convocation and are hardly tossed around loosely. When word of the White House feeler got around, some of the faculty became rather petulant. John Womack Jr., chairman of the history department, said, "I'd feel ashamed if they offered him a degree." George Wald, our Nobel laureate biologist who also seems to have become an expert in political science, mumbled something to the New York Times about a "disgraceful necessity" and intimated that he might stay away. It reminds me of the quandary when President Jackson was given an honorary degree. John Quincy Adams, of the class of 1787, called it a disgrace. I am at a loss. Perhaps my only hope is that Reagan will emulate Grover Cleveland, who at the 250th anniversary declined an honorary doctorate, saying that he was unworthy.

Derek Bok