The new Arizona State University theme song?

I think I have chanced upon Arizona State University’s theme song. With apologies to Edwin Starr it goes something like this:

O-ba-ma…huh…what is he good for? Absolutely nothing…sing it again..

You get my drift, which is to say that I was gob-smacked (increasingly my default expression here in the US) at the decision of the Arizona State to invite Obama to give the commencement address to the students. Let me explain further, it is not the invitation that which left me gaping in askance. Rather it was the decision not to honour Obama at the commencement speech by granting him an honorary degree. It is fairly common practice to give out honorary doctorates to the luminaries who grace such occasions. I certainly have no issue with Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney or Muhammad Ali receiving honorary degrees from various institutions (the Universities of St Andrews, Yale and Princeton respectively) and I have even raised a smile at the revelation that Stephen Colbert (satirist extraordinaire from the Colbert Report) received a doctorate in fine arts from Knox College (yes, I know, where?) Some of the awardees I did find a tad dubious though. I mean Steven Tyler? (Berklee College of Music, Boston) But leaving that aside, we are confronted by the decision of the ASU trustees not to award an honorary doctorate to Obama. The rationale, according to the mindless University bureaucrats who scrambled into damage control once the fire-storm (quite rightly) descended on their heads, is that according to a spokesperson:

”honorary degrees are given “for an achievement of eminence” and that Obama was not considered for an honorary degree because his body of achievements, at this time, does not fit within that criteria”

Well I suppose his c.v. is a tad light; first African-American editor of the Harvard law review while a student, constitutional law professor at Harvard, Chicago Senator and the first African-American president (but only, you might hastily add, for just over 130 days!)

The disingenuous response from ASU is revealed in all its tawdry glory by the knowledge that there have been awards given to Barry Goldwater in 1961 (three years before he even ran unsuccessfully for President), Sandra Day O’Connor (after three years into her term on the bench of the Supreme Court) and the former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, who received her award in 2005 although she was only in the office for 140 something days in 1993 before being voted out (what a difference those ten days make!!). Leaving aside these awards which would appear to contradict the ASU dictum that they are waiting to “judge his body of work”, Sam Stein of the Huffington Post has ascertained that Obama could fast-track his path towards that coveted ASU honorary degree if he were only to donate a piddling $50 million to the University, as has been the case with William P Carey, whose firm has global holdings of global and commercial properties.
(For the Sam Stein article go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/who-unlike-obama-actually_n_185546.html)

And of course he may well feel compelled to dip into his pockets and shell out the fifty million to be able to claim that association with such a venerable institution as Arizona State. It offers a range of um…globally recognized courses in…sports management. I have to concede that UCSD can hardly adopt the intellectual high ground on this point, however, given that the University proudly proclaims on its website that it was once again voted the best campus for surfing in the US!
(see it here: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/03-09SurfingCampus.asp)

But, returning to the increasingly dubious claims of ASU to intellectual credibility, it should not be forgotten that the campus was after all, listed as the number 1 party-school by Playboy magazine in 2005. A less desirable spin on this aspect of ASU came to light when it also was dubbed “The Harvard of Date Rape” by a reporter on the Daily Show, which was no doubt a reference to a 2004 settlement made by to a student by ASU after she was raped in her own dorm. In another inglorious footnote it was also ASU that, twenty years ago, refused to acknowledge the Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative holiday.

At this point I confess I am asking myself why in heaven’s name would Obama lower himself to be associated with a brand name that is so profoundly damaged (think along the lines of the academic version of AIG).

To prove that he is truly a glutton for punishment, however, the President is backing up the dubious honour of addressing ASU by giving the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. No problem with him receiving an honorary degree there. Tick. And it is also fairly noteworthy academic institution. Again, tick. But this address is probably even more controversial – with no less than 70 odd (and I use the term advisedly) Catholic bishops petitioning for the invitation to be revoked because of Obama’s stance on abortion and stem-cell research, which they view as contrary to church teachings. In addition there is now a web-site, titled “Notre Dame scandal”, which has attracted in excess of 350 000 signatures opposing Obama’s presence on campus. It is an interesting stand-off, given that Obama enjoys something like 53% support amongst American Catholics.

It is all a little sad, the manner in which an address to students can become so mired in partisan politics and intrigue. For me it reiterated the essential emptiness of the promise of freedom of speech and the role of academia that emerged at UCSD earlier this year when the Ethnic Studies department sought to convene a debate on the violence in the Gaza Strip. As with all things Obama has handled the minefield of religious and (I would argue) racial propagandizing with grace and aplomb. In response to the question as to whether he has done enough to warrant acknowledgment he responded, reportedly with a smile, that: "First of all, (first lady) Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home." If I were Obama I would forgo suffering the interminable slings and arrows and spend the weekend mowing the lawn, clearing the gutters on the White House and maybe shooting some hoops. I think it would be a lot more fulfilling.


PS For the Jon Stewart Daily Show “investigative journalism” piece on ASU have a look here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/13/daily-show-goes-to-asu-to_n_202839.html

PPS Only hours after I posted this blog I saw a news item the confirmed that the University of Southern California had awarded Arnold Schwarzenegger an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for his "inspirational realization of the American dream." Significant that it comes from a private institution that is uber-rich, so much so that the USC is alternatively interpreted as the "University for Spoilt Children". At a time when the Californian public educational sector is taking massive budget cuts it seems some how perverse that the architect of this academic vandalism is lauded for its contribution to the "American dream". Which begs the questions, of course, of what/whose dream?