Breaking The ASU Story
Adam Sneed, writing for The State Press, broke the ASU story that made headlines in early April.
The firestorm following Arizona State University's decision not to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he speaks at commencement in May still has criticism pouring into Tempe, Arizona, but much of it is going to the wrong place.
The Honorary Degrees Committee has been ridiculed for overlooking Obama as a recipient ever since The State Press reported on April 8 that the president would not receive a degree from ASU. But the decision was made by university administration before the committee was ever able to consider him.
A university policy, supposedly in place since ASU President Michael Crow took over in 2002, barred the committee from reviewing the president because he is a sitting politician.
As soon as the original story ran, committee members came under fire for a decision they were never able make. Over the next few days, e-mails flooded inboxes with unsubstantiated accusations of the committee's elitism, racism and partisanship.
Dr. Laurie Chassin, who served as the committee chair before taking sabbatical back in August, said it must be clarified everywhere that the committee was never asked to consider Obama because this policy was in place. As her name became associated with the story, Chassin received several angry e-mails - though no threats, to her knowledge - from people who were mad at her for a decision she had no control over.
Committee member Paul Patterson also drew criticism for saying the committee did not have enough time to consider Obama for an honorary degree even if it could. Ultimately, the amount of time didn't matter. Crow had made the policies for consideration clear to the committee beforehand.
But that's where the administration's mistakes come in.
The university's original defense of its decision was that Obama had not completed his "body of work." Nobody ever said he had not achieved enough in his career or that he was less worthy of an honorary degree than past recipients, but officials waited too long to link the sitting politician policy to the incomplete body of work policy.
On top of that, they did not stick with one explanation.
"We've gotten a huge reaction from a lot of folks as if some decision was made not to give him one. Far from it," Crow told Politico one day after confirming the accuracy of The State Press' original story.
Crow himself announced the university's decision in a large meeting with ASU faculty, staff and administrators on April 3 when someone attending the meeting asked him if Obama would receive an honorary degree.
When Crow's answer - "no" - worked its way through the grapevine to The State Press newsroom, it was clearly a valid question to ask directly. I called media relations at ASU on April 6, needing an answer for deadline the next day and with a story to run in print the day after that, April 8.
The university's decision at that time did not seem as important as it was about to become.
ASU spokespeople were straightforward and helpful in getting information for the story and the final product appeared in the paper just like any other. No significant response came the day it ran, but the next day was different.
That morning in class I saw the same story on the Web sites of local newspapers and the Chicago That afternoon, as it hit The Huffington Post, my inbox was overflowing with responses from Tribune readers.
National attention focused in on ASU and people wanted answers.
The administration's back-and-forth explanations that followed suggested the university was ill-prepared to address its decision, and a Saturday afternoon announcement that ASU would name a scholarship program after Obama didn't seem to help.
By that time, the entire ASU community was feeling the impact. On campus, it never became a huge issue, but people wanted the national embarrassment of our school to end. News channels mocked ASU, an MSNBC commentator called it a place "where you get a degree in lawn mowing," and alumni threatened to stop donating.
The criticism continues to fall on ASU, but perhaps the university's truest critic was one of its own. As Terri Shafer, associate vice president of marketing and communications, said in an e-mail, "We blew it."
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I would transfer to another school out of prinicple and out common sense.
Just as I would never hire someone who went to a fake school like the Roberts and Fallwell schools, I would do the same for yours.
Not trying to be mean, just saying as people will not forget this (especially the bit Comedy Central did).
The flaw with this argument is that political office holders have reveived an Honorary Degree from ASU after 2002. WU Qidi was the Vice-Minister for the Ministery of Education and an alternate member for the Communist Party of China's Central Committee at the time she received the Honorary Degree from ASU.
So, politicians in China get Honorary Degrees from ASU but the President of the US is left off the list. This is nuts.
Does Obama need to be given a trophy every time he speaks to a crowd?
I don't understand the outrage at all here
There are about 300 million americans who also didn't get an honorary degree from ASU
They said "He has accomplished enough yet" That is what set people off.
Only 1 in 300 million Americans ever get to that position. 1 in every 40 years or so get to be as inspiring as he is. And that is nothing?
That's fine
But that's not what earning a college degree is about
And Obama already has a few anyway
The idea of revoking Az's state hood or giving Az back to Mejico won't fly. But encouraging Az & NM to merge is worth a try. Money always has been short for the states of NM & Az.. Pres Crow resembles a university president in the H L Mencken mold. Pres Crow is agile. He had to be agile to put his foot in his mouth while he has his nose in his navel--from the inside. Pres Crow is no 1/2 @$$ed, 1/2 wit. He is a complex, complete, experienced administrator, a complete @$$. Pres Crow is no tyro.
He deserves a statue. Birds in Az need more places to defecate.
Good work, Adam! Honest journalism is a critical function in society, keep up the diligence!
Oh damn. Look at you. Fancy. Great job, Adam. Has anyone told you that you're awesome? Because you are.
State Press represent indeed. Way to be on top of this complicated, national story. And at the same time, prove that lawn-mowing is just our other major.
See Dawn Teo's Profile
Excellent job reporting Adam. I think you did a very good job reporting the sequence of events, and I think you are correct in surmising that much of this could have been avoided if the university had been more prepared to deal with the questions when this issue first came up.
Why is anyone surpised that Crow disrespected our first African American president? Look at his history snubbing minorities at Columbia where he was vice provost. He tried to annilihate Latina Prof. Graciela Chichilnisky in a bitter discrimination lawsuit that dragged on for 16 yrs. Columbia spent millions due to Crow's bad boy behaivor. The prof. won and Crow had egg on his face.
Crow does the same thing to African Americans at ASU. In 2002 according to their own records 13 African American women held tenure, the year Crow was hired. In 2007 that number was unchanged. Crow fired 1/3 of the minority faculty at ASU West for no good cause. He fired a tenured African American professor in spite of a unanimous ruling of a faculty committee that the prof. be reinstated. No African American ever worked as dean or vp under Crow.
I could go on but what's the point. The Arizona press refuses to print this stuff. They're just as bigoted as he is. It's a disgrace that the university faces a crushing budget deficit and Crow spends $3 million a year to defend ASU against lawsuits because of him.
Obamacrats hurled some pretty nasty stuff at ASU students and faculty.
All of it true.
God bless, schools like ASU are embaressing for our country.
We are SUPPOSED To produce the best and brightest.
A school with Golf and Pool management degrees serve only one purpose to give pieces of paper to rich kids too lazy to learn.
'university's truest critic was one of its own. ... Terri Shafer, [wrote] in an e-mail, "We blew it."' That is an observation, a statement of fact - not a critical statement at all. And we wonder why journalism is dying.
I called Crow's office directly and complained specifically about him, not the committee.
ASU's decision was baffling enough but how could they fail to realize that an appearance of a sitting President confers prestige on an institution that is in the prestige business?
Advanced degrees mean nothing when it comes to common sense.
Thanks for clarifying this issue.
The buck stops at Crow? Good - that's where I sent my complaint.
There would have been nothing difficult about stating that the policy is not to award honorary degress to sitting politicians, which is not such a bad rule and apparently is actually true. So how did they get so far off message?
There's apparently no written record of such a policy. It seemed to have only become true at about the point at which Obama was to speak there, which is, to say the least, odd. ASU has given honorary degrees to sitting politicians repeatedly in the past. And Kermit the Frog, for that matter.
As an ASU graduate, this whole episode is embarrassing. Give the guy his degree or don't invite him, why create an incident? He is a graduate of Harvard Law and only the 44th president of the United States. ASU needs him more than he needs ASU.
Obama already got what he wanted. The commencement address in a swing state for 2012. You saw Steve Schmidt said Obama would have won Arizona if McCain wasn't on the ballot for President.
McCain barely won in AZ. Everywhere you look there are Obama/Biden bumper stickers...Nary a McCain/Palin bumper sticker...anywhere.
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