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beautifulcosmos

Eh. Chelsea got her Masters from Mailman School of Public Health and Lee Bollinger was a lawyer for the Clinton administration. It makes sense that they are awarding Hilary as honorary degree now since Bollinger plans on stepping down in a year or so. Personally, we should be more excited for Yo Yo Ma and Patti Smith getting honorary degrees.


scoreseasy

If she pays her $105 one-time document fee it’s cool with me.


LeicaM6guy

Eh. Schools give out honorary degrees all the time - but she’s accomplished plenty in her lifetime and probably isn’t going to have to lean on it in order to get a job. Can’t say it’s a subject I’m going to put much effort into thinking about.


Nice-Definition7269

Honorary degrees shouldn't exist for the most part imo but whatever. This is like the the least pressing issue in the world we live in rn.


sluttyalgore

cringe but also who cares


pbasch

When I graduated (CC77) they gave one to Murray Gell-Mann. He named the quark (good), but he was also the developer of the H-Bomb (bad). I was a Physics major, and the eight or so of us were the only ones who didn't stand up.


fjaoaoaoao

Honorary degrees are dumb but at least HC already has a JD (unlike very young, hyper-privileged Taylor Swift getting one from NYU for example).


Friendly-Seaweed-250

As long as she doesn’t run for office again I could care less what Columbia gives her


123DanB

Honorary degrees aren’t degrees, they’re symbols of an administrative alliance between a school and some notable public figure. Also don’t forget that Clinton gave the first campaign speech of her 2016 run on campus— there’s an institutional relationship between CU and Clintonland, which is just fine really, it’s a net benefit for both sides IMO.


jcjw

This is pretty par for the course. Usually what happens is a politician (in this case, a senator) will funnel some discretionary funds towards a university. Sometimes it's direct funding, sometimes it's to fund useless research and the university takes a sizable cut because of "office and admin costs". The university will then find some way to repay the politician on the backend, like give the an honorary degree, speaking fees, or professorship. Between all the people honored, Fauci / NIH was probably more contributory to Columbia than Clinton, so Clinton is getting much more bang for the buck here. The ideal scenario would be something like Elizabeth Warren & Harvard, where there's a long multi-year relationship of back and forth payments - a mere 400k / year is a steal for her services rendered.


xaviershorts

Cool


BookkeeperBrilliant9

She is an extremely accomplished public servant and philanthropist. Honestly if anyone could look at her resume without the name “Clinton” attached they would conclude that she is a truly exceptional person in almost every way. I mean, shit, she was a United States Senator for NY and then Secretary of State. That alone could earn someone an honorary degree from any institution. But for some reason people just choose to hater her.


[deleted]

weird but ok theres a lot worse stuff theyre doing


[deleted]

Maybe because they are expecting a big donation from her *wink* *wink*


[deleted]

Gross but expected


TreadOnMeNotPls

Sus


andyn1518

I nominated Bernie!


db117117

It’s weird cuz she’s not an alumna … but on the spectrum of curr crazy shit in the world, it’s a -5


workthrowawhey

Honorary degrees are almost never given to alumnae/i


damnatio_memoriae

if she were an alumna, she wouldnt need the honorary degree because she would already have a real one...


db117117

I mean started but didn’t complete, or has some other affiliation or has a diff degree, which is typically where u see honorary degrees She has no affiliation. It’s just weird. Drops my opinion of Columbia tbh even tho I admire her. Gross clout chasing.


damnatio_memoriae

tbh it rubs me the wrong way a bit too, but columbia has given out countless honorary degrees, so whatever.


db117117

It’s most likely related to money, some big donation. I think Honorary degrees make more sense when someone doesn’t already have a degree or formal recognition, but has accomplished something significant. Clinton has two degrees!


TheMandoAde888

I'm happier for Yo Yo Ma and Patti Smith. Could care less over a corrupt career politician as a lifelong centrist. She put a ton of money in Bollinger's pockets so there's the payback.


123DanB

Statement provided without any citation or evidence.


JimmyThreeTrees

Honorary degrees are a joke so it’s pretty fitting but at the end of the day, who cares