Wright's School Daze - Northwestern Yanks Honorary Doctorate

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is back making headlines and he hasn't even said a word. This time it's what being said about him.

Earlier this year, the faculty at Northwestern University recommended that Wright receive an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology. Wright accepted the invitation from Northwestern President Henry Bienen. The honorary degree was scheduled to be conferred at next week's commencement. But then the sh stuff the fan.

Rev. Wright Pictures

Earlier this year, the faculty at Northwestern University recommended that Wright receive an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology. Wright accepted the invitation from Northwestern President Henry Bienen. The honorary degree was scheduled to be conferred at next week's commencement.

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Back in March, the invitation was yanked, saying: In light of the controversy surrounding statements made by you that have recently been publicized, the celebratory character of Northwestern's commencement would be affected by our conferring of this honorary degree. Thus I am withdrawing the offer of an honorary degree previously extended to you.Wright addresses the National Press Club

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Wright said that the negative attention was not about politics or politicians. "This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright," he said. "It is an attack on the black church."

Wright was Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama's pastor for many years and he came under scrutiny when excerpts of one of his sermons showed him saying, "God bless America... No... God Damn America"

Wright delivers the keynote address at the Detroit NAACP annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner April 27, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. Rev. Wright was Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's (D-IL) pastor for twenty years until his recent retirement.

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Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, addresses the National Press Club April 28, 2008 in Washington, DC.

MODERATOR In light of your widely quoted comment damning America, do you think you owe the American people an apology?
REV. WRIGHT I said to Barack Obama, last year, "If you get elected, November the 5th, I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people." All right? It's about policy, not the American people.
And if you saw the Bill Moyers show, I was talking about -- although it got edited out -- you know, that's biblical. God doesn't bless everything. God condemns

MODERATOR Do you think people of other races would feel welcome at your church?

REV. WRIGHT Yes. We have members of other races in our church. We have Hispanics. We have Caribbean. We have South Americans. We have whites.
The conference minister -- please understand the United Church of Christ is a predominantly white demonstration. Again, some of you do not know United Church of Christ.

Back in March, Bienen rescinded the invitation, saying:

In light of the controversy surrounding statements made by you that have recently been publicized, the celebratory character of Northwestern's commencement would be affected by our conferring of this honorary degree. Thus I am withdrawing the offer of an honorary degree previously extended to you.

This is the first time that Northwestern has taken back an honorary degree. The university is located in Chicago so presumably the faculty was aware of Wright's flights of incendiary rhetoric. Indeed, Diane McClure, a Northwestern alumna, told BlackAmericaWeb.com:

Nothing that Rev. Wright has said changed between the time Northwestern University considered him for an honorary degree, offered it to him and now. For Northwestern to withdraw it says it didn't do its research before the decision was made. Now Northwestern is running away as fast as it can, causing as big a controversy as it would have had the university gone ahead and given Rev. Wright the degree.

The Northwestern University Black Alumni Association is circulating a petition calling on Northwestern to reinstate Wright's honorary degree:

Reverend Jeremiah Wright has dedicated his life's work to serving those that society has left unequal and excluded. After a review of his life's work, and a vote of the appropriate faculty committee, Reverend Wright's service with distinction to his community merited reward with an honorary degree in Sacred Theology from Northwestern. After the degree was approved by the faculty, and approved by the Board of Trustees, the degree was rescinded. This decision is not in the spirit of the academic tradition, is embarrassing for a university of Northwestern's stature, and is unprecedented.

The undersigned, including the black alumni community, the black undergraduate community, and the larger community of intellectuals and concerned citizens are outraged at the University's unilateral and unprecedented action to rescind the award of a degree offered to and accepted by Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

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