ASU Official: We'll Consider Giving Obama A Degree When He's Out Of Office

UPDATE: Mike Allen reports:

Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, tells POLITICO that the school is reconsidering its widely mocked plans not to give President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he speaks at commencement on May 13 and will “honor him in every way possible.”

“There was no intended slight,” Crow said by telephone from his office in Tempe. “We had not yet talked about what honors we might give him as our commencement speaker, and we still have a month to work all that out. We don’t want anyone to think we do not recognize what he has achieved and what he means in America.”

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Arizona State University's decision to not award Barack Obama and honorary degree despite his role delivering the university's commencement address has left a lot of people puzzled and posing questions: Is politics at play? How will this be resolved? Why would the university invite him in the first place?

Well, here, apparently are some answers. A reader sends over a response she received from Emily Dalton Smith, the director of communication at the Office of the Provost.

The university, it seems, has recently decided to stop giving honorary degrees to major donors or sitting politicians. But the best line comes near the end: "We will be delighted to consider him for an honorary degree once he leaves office at the end of his presidency," Dalton Smith writes.

Mind you, they won't give him the degree once his time in office is over. They will "consider him" for it.

Multiple calls and an email to Dalton Smith went unreturned.

HERE IS THE EMAIL:

Dear xxxxxxxxxxxx,

We have tremendous respect for President Obama, and that is why we invited him to speak at our graduation ceremony. We are honored that he accepted our invitation, and that we will be the first university in the nation to host him for a commencement ceremony.

In recent years, we have determined not to give honorary degrees to sitting politicians or major donors, but to do so based on an individual's body of work. While President Obama has already achieved remarkable success--including becoming the first African-American president--his greatest work is yet to come. We will be delighted to consider him for an honorary degree once he leaves office at the end of his presidency.

Sincerely,

Emily Dalton Smith
Director of Communication
Office of the Provost

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