Campus’s first honorary degree honored departing president
By Daniel J. Fitzgibbons
Over the years, the Amherst campus has used Commencement to bestow honorary degrees on a cavalcade of politicians, entertainers, scholars, musicians, scientists, activists and other well-known figures. But what seems to be part and parcel of graduation today wasn’t always a common practice.
In the 19th century, it was not unusual for colleges to award bachelor’s degrees to students who, for various reasons, left school and did not graduate. In 1885, for example, Massachusetts Agricultural College – the forerunner of UMass Amherst -- awarded degrees to four former students: H.S. Carruth, A.W. Dickinson, E.G. Howe and G.L. Woolson.
But it wasn’t until 1927, six decades years after Mass Aggie opened its doors, that the school’s leaders decided to bestow an honorary doctorate. The special surprise tribute was planned to honor a departing campus leader.
A former big league pitcher, Edward M. “Ted” Lewis had served at MAC since 1911, when he was appointed dean. Over the next 16 years, he held a number of key posts, including head of the Languages and Literature departments and head of the Humanities Division before being tapped as acting president in 1924. After being named president in 1926, Lewis struggled to re-establish the power of the Board of Trustees by easing the authority of the powerful state Department of Education and the Commission on Administration and Finance.
Lewis also campaigned for a five-year campus building program calling for nearly $1.25 million in improvements and new facilities such as a dormitory, a gymnasium for men and women, an administration and classroom building and a library. He also supported revisions in the curriculum and faculty programs for professional development.
But his efforts were stymied when the Legislature declined to grant the trustees full authority over college affairs and allocated a mere $38,000 for campus improvements. As the 1926-27 academic year wound down, a frustrated Lewis accepted the presidency of the University of New Hampshire.
One of Lewis’ last official acts as MAC president was to preside over commencement. On a sunny June day, Lewis and his designated successor, Roscoe W. Thatcher, watched as 89 students were awarded their degrees.
Then Lewis was caught off guard as trustee George H. Ellis arose “to make an announcement,” according to an account in the Springfield Union. “His ‘announcement’ was the official citation for the honorary degree of doctor of laws,” reported the paper.
“Edward Morgan Lewis,” said Ellis, “who as dean of Massachusetts Agricultural College displayed rare tact and good judgment in the performance of his official duties, whose efforts have been for the best interests of the college and who as president of the college brought the same high qualities to that office, in recognition of these high qualities of service the trustees have voted to confer upon you the honorary degree of doctor of laws.”
As the Springfield Daily Republican reported the next day:
“The conferring of the degree came as a great surprise to President Lewis and everyone on the audience except the board of trustees and some few members of the faculty. Dr. Henry T. Fernald, acting head of the graduate school, conferred the degree upon the president and George H. Ellis, president of the board of trustees, presented him with the credentials. The cap and gown, signifying the honor were placed on his head and shoulders by Dr. Charles A. Peters. President Lewis was greeted with tremendous applause lasting several minutes.”
The Springfield Union also noted a “college cheer leader in cap and gown leaped to the platform and led a ‘long yell for Lewis,’ followed by the time-honored yell for ‘Prexy.’”
After the applause subsided, reported the Union, “For fully a minute or more, Dr. Lewis was unable to speak and when he did it was to utter but a few low-toned words.
“‘I thank you,’ he stated feelingly; ‘I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I only hope that I may be worthy of this great honor you have done me.’”
Regaining his composure, Lewis introduced Thatcher to the college community and praised him as a “lover of mankind, a sound scholar and a wise administrator.”
“Immediately following the recessional scores of men and women from the audience flocked to the platform where, for nearly half an hour, Dr. Lewis was the center of an impromptu reception, which ended only when he was compelled to leave to keep a dinner engagement.”
Though the awarding of Lewis’ degree broke a 60-year campus tradition, honorary doctorates proved to be a fairly rare commodity in the years that followed. Between 1927 and 1934, just 12 degrees were awarded. It was not until 1942 that honorary degrees were revived as an annual component of Commencement, a ceremonial flourish that continues to this day.
Photos courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library
May 18, 2004.
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