A little over a decade ago, Arthur E. Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University admitted that honorary degrees are about two things: money and publicity. “Sometimes they are used to reward donors who have given money; sometimes they are used to draw celebrities to make the graduation special,” he told The New York Times.
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“I’ve always viewed it as a last lesson a college can teach, by showing examples of people who most represent the values the institution stands for.”
