SUBJECT: HONORARY DEGREE POLICY   

APPLICABILITY: TOTAL UNIVERSITY

I. PHILOSOPHY

A. Nominees for honorary degrees should have made meritorious contributions to society which have enlarged human understanding and enriched human life.

B. Categories of achievement from which nominees might come include creative and scholarly work, invention, accomplishment of outstanding merit, and distinguished or exemplary leadership or service.

C. Nominees may have rendered significant service in education; in governmental, political, international, civic, and community affairs; in industry, commerce and labor, the arts, particularly in activities related to the University's mission; and in philanthropy and sacrificial service or altruism to humanitarian causes.

D. The University of North Texas will confer honorary degrees sparingly and judiciously. The awarding of an honorary degree is recognized as a unique means by which the institution acknowledges high regard for individuals exemplifying vital human values.

II. NOMINATION

A. A nominee for an honorary degree to be granted by the University of North Texas shall be nominated in writing to the President of the University. The nominating document shall include a narrative statement delineating the qualifications and/or contributions of the nominee which justify awarding the degree. The nominating document may include any supporting material the nominator wishes to include.

B. Whenever possible, the nominating document shall be written in such a way that the identity and affiliation of the nominator is not revealed. Any nominations failing to meet this requirement shall be transcribed by the President's Office in a manner which will preserve the anonymity of the nominator and his affiliation. If such a transcript is not possible, the nomination shall be returned to the nominator with a request that it be rewritten in such a way that the identity and affiliation of the nominator is revealed only in the cover letter.

III. DELIBERATIVE PROCEDURES

A. Nominations meeting the anonymity requirements will be forwarded to the chairman of the Faculty Senate who shall refer them to the University Committee for consideration. The President's Office shall be the only office where a record of the nominator's identity is maintained.

B. Upon receiving nominations from the President's Office the University Committee will review the qualifications of candidates for honorary degrees. The University Committee will take particular care to insure that any candidate under consideration measures up to the philosophy guiding conferral of honorary degree. The University Committee will maintain confidentiality of the names of candidates being considered for honorary recommendations to the Board of Regents.

C The authority to confer honorary degrees rests with the Board of Regents.

IV. OTHER POLICY

A. Honorary degrees will be conferred at regular commencement ceremonies. No honorary degree will be conferred in absentia.

B. There should be no restrictions on candidates for honorary degrees as to race, religion, sex, or creed.

 

*Reviewed with no change.