Arizona State: Obama Doesn't Rate

“We have to learn how to communicate and teach between all ethnic and cultural perspectives. Not with a dominant cultural perspective and marginal alternative cultural perspectives, but across all of these. We have not figured out how to do this. We need to embrace cultural diversification in America and change the culture of the university as a critical first step.”

ASU President Michael M. Crow
(remarks delivered at the 2004 Educating for a Diverse
America: A Summit and Symposium, Austin, TX)

Perhaps Arizona State University Michael Crow forgot his own remarks excerpted from ASU's "Diversity Plan" when he decided the vice-minister of China was more accomplished than the 44th President of the United States.

Seriously though, was it a mistake? Perhaps an oversight? Or is a former US Senator who was recently elected to the most powerful position in the free world honestly not yet accomplished enough to receive an honorary diploma from Arizona State University?

Even conservative political analyst David Gergen (who served in the Nixon and Reagan White House) called it an "Embarrassment" to the University and to the people of Arizona. Play the interview to the right and listen for yourself.

In an act that has left many people of all races scratching their heads, Arizona State University, not exactly the intellectual/academic hub of US colleges, has come under scrutiny by mainstream media and the Blogosphere by deciding NOT to bestow an honorary degree upon President Barack Obama when he delivered the commencement address there on May 13th.

With the thoughtful laid back perspective that made him such an appealing candidate, the 44th President shrugged off the controversy and delivered a rousing send off to the 9,000 ASU grads in front of a crowd of 63,000 at Sun Devil Stadium.

University spokeswoman Sharon Keeler was quoted as saying "His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency," after the school's student newspaper first reported the decision.

Was race a factor? ASU gave the vice-minister of education in China an honorary degree on his visit there - think about it. Some ASU grads have called for university president Michael Crow to resign his position.

Regardless the decision has backfired for ASU. The media, as well as many ordinary citizens were left puzzled and many, outraged. One her return to the SNL Newsdesk on Saturday night, Amy Pohler ripped ASU in a blistering editorial commentary that mocked ASU's long-held reputation as a 2nd rate Pac-Ten university and a destination for partiers rather than scholars.

Among the biggest critics of the ASU - decision, ASU grads, hundreds of e-mails and letters from outraged Sun Devil grads have poured into Websites and newspapers around the country; some grads mailed their ASU diplomas to the president, many embarrassed that their school decided to withhold the diploma.

The snub raises deeper questions in the minds of many who recall that Arizona was one of the few states to openly OPPOSE making Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a paid holiday to appease it's ultra-conservative voter base; same state that sent Barry Goldwater, known as "Mr. Conservative" to the US Senate.

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) opposed the legislation to make MLK Day a holiday in support of Governor Even Meachem's staunch opposition to the bill - which was signed into law by the first President Bush.

Ronald Reagan, former North Carolina Senator and pro-segregationist/openly racist Jesse Helms also led opposition to the bill - some forget that the US was rife with protests over Arizona's reluctance to endorse the holiday in the late 1980's and earl 90's.

Arizona's tourist industry suffered and the NFL moved the 1990 Super Bowl XXVII from Tempe to Pasadena in protest of the states opposition and the underlying meaning.

Sadly, ASU officials decided to make a completely pointless policy gesture rather than stand up and help rehabilitate the state of Arizona's legacy as a region of intolerance and right-wing conservatism by suggesting that the 44th President of the United States, former US Senator and former president of the Harvard Law Review was not qualified to receive the same recognition given to other US presidents.

In all fairness to Arizona residents, I think ASU's decision does NOT reflect the state's zeitgeist - the decision did far more harm to Arizona's image and frankly, in the wake of the media wash; they came out looking pretty ignorant.

Go Sun Devils!