Honorary PhD for Edward Snowden

Since the plagiarized dissertation of an aristocratic minister was accepted, we know now how generous German universities deal with their doctoral degrees. But not only plagiarism cases show how recklessly universities use their privilege to award the coveted doctorate. They are also generous when awarding honorary doctorates. You do not even have to research or write a dissertation; however, you should have money or a well-known name.

The honorary doctorate degree is an honor, not an academic level. Only universities are allowed to award the honorary doctorate. They do this willingly and often in order to thank their patrons or get a bit of celebrity glamor in the house. For example, Tagesthemen anchor Ulrich Wickert, actor Mario Adorf and entrepreneur Carsten Maschmeyer are allowed to carry the title.

Two cases are currently causing a stir. Last week, the University of Rostock decided to award whistleblower Edward Snowden an honorary doctorate. The university wants to honor his moral courage because he revealed injustices. It is certainly true that we should recognize him for revealing the National Security Agency’s wiretapping practices, but must we award him an academic title for that?

What Snowden did has nothing to do with research. It may be assumed that the University of Rostock’s main concern is to use the personnel decision for the sake of publicity.

Another case: Last Friday, the University of Lübeck awarded former German Secretary of Education Annette Schavan an honorary doctorate for her “service to science” — above all, because she protected the university from closing down in 2010. And to be sure, it was with a financial trick: The federally financed Helmholtz Association had largely taken over the Kieler Leibniz Institute for Oceanography, saving the state of Schleswig-Holstein a good 25 million euros annually — exactly the amount that the University of Lübeck needed to save, and so, the university could be rescued. Since Schavan recently lost her right to her [original] doctorate because of scientific misconduct, this honorary doctorate award is not only a juicy matter, but it’s also a bit shady because in this case, a politician is receiving an award for redistributing tax money. An honorary doctorate as a reward for a donation?

In the United States, such a tribute would be unthinkable. When alumni donate millions, an American university shows its gratitude by writing their names in stone, not by awarding an honorary doctorate. Naming an auditorium after a benefactor is a clean solution.

The award of an honorary doctorate harms the entire academic life and discredits those who honestly struggle with a dissertation. The universities that have already been criticized because of plagiarism cases should be more careful in dealing with the privileges they have. Otherwise, they will be taken away some day.