Recipients of honorary degrees from UNM no longer have to attend commencement to get their degrees, according to an agreement reached at the Board of Regents meeting Tuesday.
The University awards honorary degrees to people who have made significant contributions to a certain field but don’t have the ultimate degree in that subject area. A University tradition required individuals to be present at commencement to receive honorary degrees, but the Board of Regents and President David Schmidly agreed that, should unforeseen circumstances prevent recipients from going to commencement, the University will still award them the degree.
Schmidly said that despite the change, those who get honorary degrees should still make time for the event.
“The expectation is that the individual will be there to accept the degree,” he said. “However, if you are approving something months in advance of an event, you can’t control the fact that there may be illness or personal situations that may prevent them from being there.”
Regent Jamie Koch said mandatory attendance became an issue in 2005 when Ricardo Montalban, who was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, was unable to go to the ceremony.
“We had a problem a number of years ago regarding a candidate that was supposed to get an honorary degree. I think there was a big illness that happened and he couldn’t show up,” Koch said. “It was not very pleasant. It was a real mess.”
Regents’ President Raymond Sanchez said the board does not anticipate a similar incident this year.
“I’m not sure why it became an issue relevant to the fact that Montalban could not be there present to accept the degree,” he said. “I doubt very seriously that we are going to have that problem this time.”
The controversy about Montalban’s degree eligibility was a factor in the decision to change attendance practices, Koch said.
“When one of these people accepts, they should know other stuff goes along with it,” he said. “The question is if the person is on their dying bed and can’t come. Do we yank the promotion?”
Regent Don Chalmers said the degree will be given to the intended individual even if unforeseen circumstances prevent attendance.
“Once they accept, they get the degree one way or the other,” he said. “It is sent to them if they don’t show up, or after they die, if that is the case.”
Awardees of honorary degrees will have the same privilege as other graduates, Koch said, even though giving such lenience could backfire.
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“(There are) 2,342 people that are going to get a degree at commencement. How many of them are going to show up?” he said.
There are three candidates for honorary degrees, and their names will be released pending official acceptance, Sanchez said.
“At this time we are not making it public until each of them accepts the honor,” he said. “They have to be available for the commencement in 2010.”
