That's Dr. Bon Jovi

By AnnMarie Bonardi, Amanda Bower, Ellin Martens, Joseph Pierro, Alex Smith, Sora Song, Heather Won Tesoriero and Josh Tyrangiel

Doesn't seem fair. Bust your butt for four years, your heavily mortgaged parents drive up for graduation in the old Dodge Dart, and out walks some actor or seedy politician for an honorary Ph.D. But colleges have their reasons--some of them justifiable:

ANDIE MACDOWELL Actress Lander U., S.C.

HUMANE LETTERS For charity work with hospitals and housing; success in her acting career

JON BON JOVI Singer/Actor Monmouth U., N.J.

HUMANITIES For his generosity to the Jersey Shore and adding to its "rich tradition of great rock"

FRED ROGERS TV Host Middlebury College, Vt.

LETTERS Exact citation not yet written. Suggestion: "Won't you be our donor? doctor?"

BOB NEWHART Actor/Comedian Loyola U., Ill.

HUMANE LETTERS For having "enriched our lives through his comic genius"--plus longtime Loyola links

WILLIAM SHATNER Actor/Horseman William Woods U., Mo.

LETTERS For achievements in entertainment, horse breeding and tinnitus awareness

NICOLAS CAGE Actor, Cal State Fullerton, Calif.

FINE ARTS For "his integrity, his humanitarianism, his risk taking to become better"

ERIN BROCKOVICH Legal Investigator Jones Int'l, Cyberspace

BIZ COMM. (MASTER'S) For life experience--balancing work and family with a "passion for lifelong learning"

DON MCLEAN Singer/Songwriter Iona College, N.Y.

HUMANE LETTERS For using "language of song as a weapon against isolation and indifference"