Wilson favors revoking Mugabe's honorary degree

President Jack M. Wilson will recommend that the Board of Trustees rescind an honorary degree awarded in 1986 to the Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who has been accused of suppressing political opponents and human rights abuses.

Last week, Rep. Kevin J. Murphy (D-Lowell), House chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, urged Wilson and the trustees to revoke the honorary degree. In a May 9 letter to Wilson, Murphy said, “It is reprehensible that Robert Mugabe enjoys the same honor our university bestowed upon luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, and Toni Morrison.”

In a statement issued May 12, Wilson said, “In the two decades that have passed since the honorary degree was awarded, Robert Mugabe has pursued policies and taken actions that are antithetical to the values and beliefs of the University of Massachusetts,” Wilson said. “I must recommend that we sever the connection that was formed when Robert Mugabe appeared to be a force for positive change in Africa. Today, that promise no longer exists.”

Last June, after student leaders asked University leaders to rescind the honorary degree, the Board of Trustees voted to rebuke Mugabe for policies and practices that have “brought worldwide scorn” on him. At that time, University leaders agreed to look at further action. Wilson said he has been reviewing the Mugabe issue since then. “I now recommend that we take the next step and rescind the degree given in good faith and sullied by two decades of bad practice.”

Trustees Chairman Robert J. Manning said the board “will revisit this issue and will do what is appropriate and right” when it meets June 12 at UMass Lowell. The University has never rescinded an honorary degree.

Mugabe was awarded the honorary doctor of laws degree during a convocation held at the Amherst campus in 1986. At the time, Mugabe, who came to power in 1980, was seen as a force for democracy and reform. He had played a central role in the struggle to end white-minority rule in the former Rhodesia. In the intervening years, Mugabe has been linked to human rights abuses and has been accused of stifling political opposition. Mugabe and his government have been sanctioned by the U.S. government and the European Union, with the U.S. sanctions targeting “policies that have undermined Zimbabwe’s democratic institutions.”

Last year, the University of Edinburgh revoked an honorary degree it awarded to Mugabe and students at Michigan State University have been pushing school officials to take similar action on the degree it awarded the Zimbabwean leader in 1990.

May 13, 2008.

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