Introduction
A couple of weeks ago it was announced that Bill Nye would be receiving an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University.
Best known as the host of the ‘90s American educational TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, Nye is the CEO of The Planetary Society, and was recognized in 2010 with the Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association.
He will be among four individuals who will speak at SFU’s convocation ceremonies this October, and in exchange for his words, he will be given an honorary doctorate in science from our school.
The announcement was met with a lot of excited buzz from many students, who were undoubtedly entertained and educated by Nye during their formative years and who are now relishing the opportunity to see him in the flesh.
Although Nye may be one of the biggest names to receive this distinction in recent memory, SFU hands out a number of honorary degrees during every convocation ceremony. Since our school opened in 1965, 296 have been given out.
Over the years, this practice has been met with scrutiny from some members of the SFU community who question whether it is appropriate to hand out degrees to people who have little to nothing to do with the school, and have not acquired them through the same hard work as students.
Since honorary degrees are an SFU Senate decision, criticism also occassionally emerges over whether these honours are perhaps just presented to the highest bidders. This sentiment was made clear in a letter to the editor in The Peak in 1968 that stated“a lot of students bitch about having to pay too much for their university degrees, but has anyone thought about how much H.R. MacMillan and the others who will receive honorary degrees from Simon Fraser have paid or will pay for them.”
Nevertheless, whether for good or bad, there are many SFU honorary degree holders who are quite notable. The following people may all come from different walks of life and have made their living in a number of different ways, but they all share one thing in common: they got degrees from SFU without having to do this whole ‘attending the school’ nonsense.
1965: The Rt. Hon. Lord Lovat
Before a single student was even given the chance to earn a legitimate degree from SFU, five people were given honorary titles. Four out of the five, including BC premier W.A.C. Bennett, were instrumental in the creation of the new university. The fifth, however, attended the school’s official opening ceremony on a rare visit to Canada.
The Rt. Hon. Lord Lovat was born in Inverness, Scotland in 1911. As a commanding officer in the Dieppe Raid during World War II, Lovat was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He later joined the British Government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, but resigned upon Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s election defeat. He formally retired from the army in 1962 but retained the honorary rank of brigadier.
His connection to Simon Fraser? His name was Simon Fraser. Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat and 4th Baron Lovat, DSO, MC, TD, to be precise. Although he is not the Simon Fraser for whom the school is named, he attended SFU’s opening ceremonies as a representative of the Fraser Clan, the Scottish family the school is named after.
He didn’t get his degree for free, either. He donated a claymore — or great sword —to SFU. It was first used by a Fraser at the Battle of Culloden Moor in 1746, and it quickly found a use at SFU as an intramural sports trophy during the school’s early years. It remains a part of convocation ceremonies to this day, as the claymore bearer is the one who leads all graduands to Convocation Mall.
1967: Marshall McLuhan
While today the words “the medium is the message” are certainly spoken several times a day within our school’s communication department, back in 1967, the concept was still relatively new. In the very same year that famed communications philosopher and professor, Marshall McLuhan, published The Medium is the Message, he spoke at SFU’s very first-ever convocation ceremony.
Born in Edmonton in 1911 and raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan enrolled in engineering at the University of Manitoba but quickly switched faculties and earned his BA in 1933 and his MA in English a year later. He proceeded to study at Cambridge, where he received his PhD in 1943, before returning to North America to teach, at which point he began to focus intently on media studies. He published his most famous book, Understanding Media, in 1964, and was a fixture in media discourse in the late ‘60s, returning to relevance with the rise of the Internet.
Two thousand guests were on hand to watch McLuhan deliver his convocation speech, and he shared the spotlight with fellow honorary doctorate recipients Madge Hogarth and Leon Koerner, as well as 12 graduating students, SFU’s first student to receive a PhD and, according to The Peak’s coverage, the “curious mall roof” — which, despite fears to the contrary, did not collapse and crush the entire audience.
1971: Daniel George
A longshoreman, a construction worker, a school bus driver, the band chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, an Academy Award-nominated actor; Daniel George wore a lot of hats over the course of his lifetime. One of those hats ended up being the funny ones you have to wear at SFU graduation ceremonies, where he was presented an honorary degree in 1971.
Born as Geswanouth Slahoot in North Vancouver in 1899, George originally went by the English name Dan Slaholt until it was changed upon his arrival at residential school at age five. After spending most of his life working odd jobs and being a band chief, in 1960, at age 60, he picked up his first acting job on a CBC television series called Cariboo Country. After a few other minor roles in TV and film, George was offered a major part in the revisionist Western comedy Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman.
George received acclaim for his performance in the film and won several awards, including the Producers Guild of America Award, the National Society of Film Critics Award, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award. His introduction at the 1971 convocation ceremony, however, made it clear that he was being honoured for more than just his acting. It was written that “it is the man himself rather than the actor we chose to honour: a man of dignity, wisdom and gentleness, a leader well qualified to guide his people caught in the throes of transition.”
1983: Jack Webster
Perhaps the most prominent and most controversial journalist to ever work in BC, Webster’s honorary degree is especially significant in that his nomination sparked contention within the SFU community.
Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Webster grew up with an incredible work ethic: by the time he was 16, he had already dropped out of school and was working three newspaper jobs at once. He worked 14-hour days, including weekends, and often covered the city’s roughest crime beat, Gorbals, an area in which “policemen go in threes.” In 1939 he joined the British Army, served for four years, became chief reporter for a London tabloid and then packed up and moved to Vancouver.
After six years at The Vancouver Sun, Webster switched over to radio, a medium he would continue working in for essentially the rest of his life. He began his own hotline show in 1978, and was still working on it when he was honoured by SFU.
This honour was challenged by SFU’s student society president, Ross Stewart, who believed Senate’s choice was politically motivated. Stewart stated that “a lot of the selection process is political, as well as due to lobbying,” and that Webster’s selection was “at least in part” an attempt by the university to secure better press treatment. Webster flat out denied the charge, and told The Peak to give Stewart “my worst possible regards.”
1991: Bill Reid
One of the greatest North American artists of all time, SFU was just piling on when they finally awarded Bill Reid with an honorary degree in 1991. He already had five from other institutions, including UBC, and had received countless awards for his artwork.
Born to a Haida mother and a European father in Victoria, BC, Reid was not conscious of his native heritage until he was a teenager. At age 23, he visited his mother’s home village in Haida Gwaii, BC, where he met his grandfather, Charles Gladstone, and learned that he had been a carver of argillite and an engraver of silver bracelets. Gladstone had learned his skills from his great-uncle Charles Edenshaw, a renowned Haida artist.
After seeing Edenshaw’s work, Reid declared that “the world was not the same” and soon dedicated his life to art with Edenshaw as his inspiration. Reid created over 1,500 works over his illustrious career. His most famous pieces are two twin statues: The Jade Canoe, which is located at the Vancouver International Airport, and The Black Canoe, which was placed at the Canadian Embassy in Washington shortly after Reid earned his honorary degree from SFU.
Reid was responsible for reviving a great deal of Haida art and culture. He was pivotal in introducing the world to the great art traditions of the indigenous people of the Northwest Coast. According to the biography written by the Bill Reid Gallery, “his legacies include infusing that tradition with modern ideas and forms of expression, influencing emerging artists, and building lasting bridges between First Nations and other peoples.”
2000: David Suzuki
Fifteen years before Bill Nye’s honorary degree was announced, SFU recognized another ‘science guy’ who starred in his own television show.
A third-generation Japanese-Canadian, David Suzuki was born in Vancouver in 1936. In 1942, during the Second World War, he was sent to live in an internment camp at Slocan, in the interior of BC, along with his mother and two sisters, while his father was forced into a labour camp. After the war, the family moved east and eventually settled in London, Ontario.
Suzuki attended university in the United States, acquiring his BA in Biology in 1958 from Amherst College in Massachusetts, and his PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961. He soon returned home to work as a professor in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia, a post he held for almost forty years. While at UBC, he had a major influence on the careers of many young scientists, some of whom would go on to teach at SFU.
Suzuki began his broadcasting career in 1970 as the host of the weekly children’s show Suzuki on Science on the CBC. Although the show only lasted a couple of years, he continued to work in TV and radio and eventually took over as host of The Nature of Things in 1979, which he hosts to this day.
Beyond his academic and television work, Suzuki is an outspoken activist for protection of the environment and is well-known for criticizing governments for their lack of action on the issue. According to his introduction at the 2000 convocation, “Dr. David Suzuki has worked to make this world a better, safer place for everyone.”
2004: Special Convocation: The Dalai Lama, Shirin Abadi, Desmond Tutu
During a historic visit to Vancouver by three Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2004, SFU presented honorary degrees at a special convocation held at the newly restored Christ Church Cathedral on April 20. While the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, made all the local headlines, he was also accompanied by two other notable figures.
Shirin Abadi, an Iranian human rights activist, gave an address in which she called upon our youth “to tolerate and to listen to the opposing opinions and take them to heart,” and also emphasised the importance of the role that governments have in supporting education.
Desmond Tutu, the first black Archbishop of Cape Town and bishop of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa — famous for his campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia — followed her speech and apparently “had the audience in stitches with his good-natured wisecracks,” according to The Peak. “By the end of his address,” the article continued, “several observers were seen wiping tears from their eyes.”
For his part, the Dalai Lama also entertained the crowd, which had a ticket lottery due to high demand. He noted that a church was an interesting venue for the ceremony, and that the event was a fine example of religious harmony. While he joked that “of course, I’m Buddhist. To myself, Buddhism is best,” he clarified “that doesn’t mean Buddhism is best religion of the world.”
2011: Sarah McLachlan
While it is common for recipients of honorary degrees to treat guests of that year’s convocation ceremony with a speech, it is rare that they also sing them a song.
When singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan was given an honorary doctorate in fine arts in recognition of her charity work in 2011, she serenaded the audience with two songs that were met with a standing ovation from a large part of the crowd.
Born in 1969 and raised by adoptive parents in Halifax, Nova Scotia, McLachlan took to music at an early age. As a child, she took vocal lessons, as well as lessons in classical piano and guitar. While her high school bands were short lived, her school’s yearbook predicted that she was “destined to become a famous rock star.”
After signing a record label in 1988, McLachlan moved to Vancouver, and with the release of her second album Solace in 1991, she had her mainstream breakthrough in Canada. She has since released six more studio albums and has earned multiple platinum certifications.
In 1996, she co-founded Lilith Fair, a unique concert tour and travelling music festival which consists solely of female solo artists and female-led bands. The festival ran for three summers before being revived in 2010.
McLachlan has become notable for her charity work, and has raised millions of dollars for women’s charities, AIDS sufferers, and inner-city kids, not to mention her work for the ASPCA, to which she leant her song “Angel” for a commercial that is impossible to watch without being brought to tears. While her convocation speech was brief, she told graduates to “dream big” before launching into a performance of her song “World on Fire.”
