http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/05/25/umass_faculty_students_protest_cards_honorary_doctorate/?p1=MEWell_Pos3UMass faculty, students protest Card's honorary doctorate
May 25, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. --Hundreds of students and faculty erupted in a chorus of boos Friday when President Bush's former chief of staff Andrew Card rose to accept his honorary doctorate in public service at the University of Massachusetts, blaming him in part for the Iraq war.
The boos and catcalls -- including those from faculty who stood on stage with Card -- drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour's remarks as she awarded the degree. Protesters claim Card lied to the American people in the early days of the Iraq war and should not have been honored at the graduate student commencement.
Card smiled slightly while Seymour spoke and raised his hand in thanks, then sat down without speaking.
"It was a great honor and a privilege to be here," he said afterward, ignoring a reporter's questions about the protesters.
The protests were mainly contained to an area in the back of the campus arena and many of the faculty on stage who joined the three- to four- minute outburst.
One faculty member on stage held a sign: "Card -- no honor, no degree." Another sign said "War criminals go home."
Chancellor John Lombardi refused afterward to comment on the protests or Card's honorary degree.
Daniel Ball, a political independent who received a doctoral degree in industrial engineering, said he wouldn't judge whether Card should be given the degree. He thought the protesters were out of line.
"I'm definitely the minority here. But it turned into a circus, outside, inside, and it was a disappointment," Ball said.
Before the commencement ceremony, about 100 faculty and students sang anti-war songs, handed out leaflets and waved signs outside the arena.
Sigrid Schmalzer, an assistant professor of history, said she believes Card was honored because he's well-connected and UMass thought he could somehow help the school.
"For the university to so cynically disregard the question of intellectual integrity when it becomes convenient to pursue money and power is the wrong message to send," she said.
Card, a former Massachusetts lawmaker who received his undergraduate degree at the University of South Carolina, has said he was honored to be selected and is a supporter of UMass.
Opponents tried unsuccessfully for days leading up to the ceremony to get the university to change its mind.
"Andrew Card was Bush's chief of staff from 2000 to 2006. By about 2004, he should be saying 'Look, either these policies change, or I'm going to resign,'" said economics instructor John Stifler.
The controversy over Card's degree comes a month after students at the UMass-Boston campus began pushing for the school to revoke an honorary degree given to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
While he was hailed as a humane revolutionary when he received the degree in 1986, Mugabe has since come under international criticism for running a corrupt and oppressive government.
