ASU Apologizes, Establishes "Barack Obama Scholars" Program

TEMPE, ARIZONA - Arizona State University President Michael Crow apologized today for the "confusion" surrounding the customary honorary degree typically awarded to commencement speakers but originally denied to President Barack Obama who will be delivering the ASU commencement speech in May.

Still no official word on whether Obama will have the honorary degree conferred on him. With worldwide media attention focused on ASU, university officials are suddenly being atypically tight-lipped. Yesterday, though, the grapevine within the upper echelons of the ASU administration was surmising that the political snub was really a bureaucratic snafu.

Crow said this morning, in an official statement,

It has always been our intention to recognize and honor President Obama's accomplishments during his visit, but we had not yet determined the best or most appropriate way to do so. Although the focus and attention of the media and others has been on an honorary degree, we never felt that was the only or even the best means of honoring his tremendous service to our country.

Crow went on to apologize and said that ASU invited Obama to speak at the commencement "out of the greatest respect for him as an individual and world leader" and that "the entire ASU community has been electrified with excitement" since Obama accepted the invitation.

We hope that the recent discussion of honorary degrees will not detract from the honor and thrill that ASU and indeed all of Arizona is experiencing in anticipation of his visit. I am honored, as are our faculty, staff and students, that President Obama will give his first commencement speech as president of the United States at ASU.

ASU is naming and expanding the ASU Advantage program -- what it calls "its most important scholarship program" in honor of Obama. The program is part of the Sun Devil Promise that supports low-income students. Going forward, the program will be called the "President Barack Obama Scholars" and will expand to offer thousands of students with the greatest financial need the opportunity to go to college.

[The program] is an honor befitting not only the president's exceptional achievements but also his values as an individual. The President Barack Obama Scholars program will be a legacy that will endure and inspire others for generations to come.

ASU expects to enroll more than 1,000 Arizona students in the President Barack Obama Scholars program. The program will cover the full cost of tuition, fees, books, room, and board for students who come from families with the greatest financial need, typically those unable to attend a university.

Are you an ASU student or alumnus? HuffPost wants to hear from you. What are people saying on campus? As an alumnus, will this effect your decision to donate to your alma mater? Write us at [e-mail].

Comments

[Emmanuel Adjei]

shame on ASU. What is more of an accomplishment than someone becoming the Prez of the united states of america, let alone breaking the racial barrier to become the first african american to become the POTUS. the President of ASU should resign immediately.

[pamelagoodenough]

Heck, that's better than a fake degree anyday.

[noudidnt]

He should treat ASU, Notre Dame, and other rightwing institutions the way Dubya treated the NAACP.

[DoTheMath]

Naming scholarships after the president is a good gesture. As other commenters have mentioned, President Obama, no doubt, cares more about expanding educational opportunities than about an honorary degree from a less prestigious university than the two (Harvard and Columbia) from which he has already earned real degrees.

Still, whether or not ASU awards him the honorary degree after all, it's difficult to see how they live this thing down. Everything they do now just looks like damage control - better than digging in their heels, but still in the incompetent category. Probably the only person with the stature and skill to help them out with this problem is . . . President Obama.

[denlong]

The ASU Advantage program ... poor folk deserve the chance to PARTY too!

[mom2sons]

Damn, I go away for a couple of days and all hell breaks loose! LOL......He will go to ASU and deliver the commencement address. Although he has been through alot (slights, hurts, disrespect etc.) at some point you know this still wounds a person. Yeah, we always have to jump through specialized hoops as black people and we get sick and tired of it. Crow needs to be fired and everyone else who had something to do with this incident. They could have used it as an opportunity to do some good, and they blew the biggest opportunity that will ever come their way. Stupid is as stupid does. LOL....Their lost.

[rockyb26]

how fitting is it that his name is Crow?

[Horus45]

More fitting if his first name were Jim!

[jswpny09]

Am I missing something? After reading this article, what I take from it is not so much that ASU is back paddling (pedaling?) but that the media jumped in fast and hot and blasted ASU before all of the information was in. But maybe I wasn't following closely enough. Does anybody else see what I see?

[TheGuide]

I don't think the media jumped in too fast, at all. ASU has handed out honorary degrees like candy, but to the first African-American president they say he's not qualified to receive one? It was an intended slight by whoever told the media, and I would say gleefully, that Obama's "body of work" wasn't adequate enough for them to honor him with a degree. Intent plays a big part in how this went down, and I believe my assessment is accurate.

[greginwva]

The Guide is right on all counts but I would add that we are very lucky to have a President who would, by tons, much rather see ASU give more full ride grants to low income students.He's way too classy to ever admit to being insulted by ASU but you can bet he sees this development as a victory.The renaming of the program is nice but the funding for the underprivliged kids is what he cares about.

[vgirl1]

Glad to see more young people will have an opportunity to attend college by the creation of this scholarship. However it is NOT a substitute (or sufficient makeup) for the inexcuseable position taken by ASU to not bestow an honorary degree on the 44th President of the United States.

Nothing short of administering an honorary degree on President Obama will reinstate the honor of ASU.

Unless that happens, ASU will forever be known as the substandard state university whose red state politics could not allow it to honor the nation's first Black President just as the state's politics prohibited Arizona from declaring MLK day a national holiday for so many years.

ASU's explanation for not extending this honor to Pres Obama does not hold water, particularly when one considers what Pres Obama has achieved in his lifetime (including being elected President of the US) and when one looks at the list of people to whom ASU has awarded such a degree in the past.

ASU, you continue to look political, mean spirited, substandard and foolish.

[denlong]

exactly! ASU: political, mean spirited, substandard and foolish

[rockyb26]

this scholarship is not new. they just renamed an existing program

[Dailyfare]

The more they try to clean it up, the worse it gets.

[sammy77]

Obama has already made history. Now he has to make history again and refuse the honorary degree from ASU. He should not accept a handmedown degree because of ASU feels pressured to give him one., it was already decided that ASU will not give him one. Why the change of mind? ASU Keep your degree, Obama will do just fine without it.

Sammy- Fellsmere ,Florida

[human2008]

ASU gets a B- in college ranking by college prowler (http://collegeprowler.com/rankings/academics/). In Kiplinger.com, ASU is not even within the top 100 public schools - University of Arizona is 96th and Northern Arizona University is 97th. http://content.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/pubcollege.php?sortby=INRANK04&orderby=flip&states%5B%5D=AZ&myschool%5B%5D=none&outputby=table

It seems this university is more prominent in racism than anything else.

[rsprags]

This won't do; i'll be snding them and ND another email tomorrow!

[roshni]

I have a great idea for all students and alumnae offended by their administration. Why don't you get together and give our president an honorary degree from all of you? I'm sure it would mean more to him than one from this dinky adminsitration.

[sammy77]

That is a good idea. I think it would be degrading for Obama to accept it at this point. It is a slap.

Obama - Do not accept that honorary degree! Stand up for your values.

[dbawden]

The solution is simple Mr. Crow. Fire the persons responsible. This is not brain surgery. Your administration has diminished and politicized your standing in our community. We won't forget what Arizona State stands for...more bigotry.

[hearmeloudandclear]

I find it astonishing that no one has stepped down or been fired. The stain on the university will remain for a long time and contributors will diminish.

In order to mitigate the damage - someone should step to the plate...and just tell the simple, and sadly, obvious truth....

The world is watching....shame on those folks....these folks who are leaders??

[bdaved]

Somebody made a mistake. Other than that they may be a very competent employee. I have no idea who they are or what their situation is. I bet you don't really want to hurt somebody that bad. Have you ever read Mark Twain's "The War Prayer"?

[lib2dbone]

The "somebody" who made a "mistake" should hurt as bad as they've hurt others. They have mistreated many minority 17-18 year-olds from their perch of authority. These persons have stunted, blocked or at least put a hurdle in front of many of our sons and daughters, simply because of their race. This attitude re: President Obama did not occur in a vacuum. The John McCain-Arizona 'Martin Luther King' protest should give everyone a hint of the festering, conservative sores in that state.
For ruining countless lives, you do not get let off lightly.

[twofish]

The scholarship program is good. But at this point, nothing but the honorary degree will make up for the snub.

[k6007]

I wonder if they gave this guy one...
http://mission-not-accomplished.com/Bush_codpiece.jpg