Graduation is arguably the most important and memorable day of anyone’s college experience — the final culmination of years of hard work, dedication and academic excellence. When graduating with a Ph.D., the hard work and sacrifice is only multiplied. Unless, of course, the degree is fake.
All degrees are nothing more than pieces of paper in the literal sense, but at least those actually earned carry the full weight of the granting institution. Honorary degrees, on the other hand, carry no weight whatsoever, do not allow the recipient to style themselves as “Dr.” and do nothing for career advancement. Yet, several thousand are awarded each year by universities across the country (in fact, only Cornell University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Virginia explicitly prohibit the practice). It is long overdue for this outdated and pointless tradition to be retired, returning the focus of graduation to the students who have rightfully earned their degrees through personal academic excellence.
To understand the absurdity of honorary degrees, a quick history lesson would be quite beneficial. The world’s first honorary degree, a Doctorate in Canon Law was awarded by Oxford University in either 1478 or 1479 to Lionel Woodville. The degree was little more than an act of royal flattery: Woodville was the brother-in-law of King Edward IV and was soon elevated to Chancellor. According to Oxford’s official historical record, Woodville’s degree was “clearly an attempt to honour and obtain the favour of a man with great influence.”
Over the next few centuries, the practice exploded, with honorary degrees being awarded to numerous members of the royal court. The royal diploma-mill reached a climax in 1642, when King Charles I attempted to confer 350 honorary degrees in the span of a few months. Oxford was finally forced to take a stand, and convinced Charles to withdraw his request, primarily by citing the financial toll of awarding so many unearned degrees. Nevertheless, Oxford continues to award honorary degrees each year.
The practice crossed the pond rather quickly, with Harvard University conferring an honorary doctorate on their own president barely 50 years after its founding. Other universities followed suit, and by the 19th century it was a standard activity for most American universities. As the number of honorary degrees reached new heights, however, opposition began growing among professors (who had earned their Ph.D.s), scientific and medical societies and even the New York State Board of Regents. This opposition was mainly centered around the growing trend of misrepresentation — those with honorary degrees masquerading as true doctors.
Today, the problem is not misrepresentation — although there have been some infamous cases, including Maya Angelou insisting on styling herself as Dr. despite never earning a doctorate degree from any university. Instead, and arguably more critically, modern honorary degrees dilute the celebration of academic excellence, seriously call into question university morals and are often used as blatant publicity or donation grabs.
A sampling of recent honorary degrees awarded by New York City institutions alone illustrates this dynamic. Taylor Swift, who never attended college, was awarded a Fine Arts Doctorate by New York University (NYU). Swift then used her commencement address as a chance to promote her upcoming album. Columbia University awarded Eric Holder, the first African American Attorney General, a Doctorate of Laws. Holder’s term as Attorney General, however, is much more widely remembered for his staunch defense of United States drone strikes in the Middle East, even against American citizens, and his dubious distinction as the first Attorney General to be held in contempt of Congress (by a bipartisan vote, no less).
Fordham University is no exception. In 2024, Joseph P. Kennedy III was awarded an honorary doctorate. Kennedy has led a relatively undistinguished political career as a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts, a failed Senate candidate who never made it out of the primary and special envoy for Northern Ireland. His only distinction? Sharing the greatest last name in American politics (which when leaned into was disastrous for his campaign). Fordham’s main reason for inviting Joseph Kennedy III was that he would be the third Kennedy to speak at graduation and the fourth to receive an honorary doctorate — an overt acknowledgement that he was only there as a vestige of an expiring political dynasty.
Ultimately, it is less about the problematic choices of recipients, from musical artists who never went to college to blatant political posturing, and much more about the practice itself. Honorary degrees are meaningless as documents, but incredibly weighty in other matters. They are often used to entice big donations, curry political favor or simply raise the profile of an institution by publishing a celebrity name and their university in the same headline (NYU-Swift is a prime example).
Graduation could and should be purely a celebration of all of the incredibly accomplished graduates. This seems too obvious to state, but it is not the case at most universities today. Honorary degrees and commencement addresses by the likes of Swift, Robert De Niro and Kennedy turn graduation into a spectacle of celebrity glamor and (implicit or explicit) self-promotion. To return graduation day to the students and their families, honorary doctorates need to go — there is no room for worthless degrees on the greatest day of academic celebration in America.
Domenick Fedele, FCRH ’29 is a political science major from Yorktown, New York.
