School Gate: the most embarrassing honorary degrees

President Obama spoke at a graduation ceremony at Arizona State University last night, despite the institution deciding that he was not worthy of its traditional honorary degree.

University officials said that the President had not done enough in his career to merit the honour, but Mr Obama took the snub in his stride as he addressed 63,000 in the Sun Devil Stadium.

“I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t yet achieved enough in my life,” he said. “First of all, Michelle concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home.”

“But more than that I come to embrace the notion that I haven't done enough in my life. I heartily concur . . . I come to affirm that one’s title, even a title like ’President of the United States’, says very little about how well one’s life has been led.”

The President challenged the graduating students to find new sources of energy, improve failing schools and never to rely on past achievement. He congratulated them on earning a degree and said the next steps mattered even more.

“I want to say to you today, graduates, class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life — despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud — you, too, cannot rest on your laurels,” the President said.

Commencement speakers are usually awarded honorary degrees as a sign of respect and appreciation. Arizona State officials did not award any such degrees this year. A university spokeswoman said: “His body of work is yet to come. That’s why we’re not recognising him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency.”

To quell the controversy, the university renamed a scholarship after Mr Obama, the 44th US President. He met six recipients of the scholarship last night.

An official at the university’s emergency operations centre said that about 95 people were treated for heat-related illness while waiting for Mr Obama’s address, as temperatures in the southwestern state hovered just below 40C.

Mr Obama acknowledged that the graduates were leaving college during a difficult economic time, a period that has shaped the first months of his presidency. He suggested that leaving college campuses for a job market was, in many ways, a privilege.

“Because it’s moments like these that force us to try harder and dig deeper and to discover gifts we never knew we had, to find the greatness that lies within each of us. So don’t ever shy away from that endeavour,” he said. “Don’t stop adding to your body of work.”

The President said that the current economic climate opened an opportunity not only for individuals, but also for the country.

“As a nation, we’ll need a fundamental change of perspective and attitude,” he said. “It’s clear that we need to build a new foundation — a stronger foundation — for our economy and our prosperity, rethinking how we grow our economy, how we use energy, how we educate our children, how we care for our sick, how we treat our environment.”

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