That's not how [[Honorary degree]] has it (although that article makes a little too much use of the prescriptive "may" and "should" for my liking). Maybe Dr Wales should use whatever style the Wikipedia article dictates at any given moment ... -- Matt [[User:Matt Crypto]] P.S. Hearty congratulations to Jimbo, of course!

On 4/25/06, Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman(a)spamcop.net> wrote: Hmmm...does an honourary degree from an accredited university trump a "real" degree from a diploma mill? I think I have to vote "yes" Ian

It's generally a recognition of some achievement outside of a university, usually for people who have achieved celebrity in some way. It's a nice recognition of some achievement for the recipient, but it's also nice for the university, which has another celebrity to add to its "list of celebrity alumni." k On 4/24/06, Anthere <Anthere9(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

Frankly... Jimbo is sure enough the Foundator of Wikipedia. It does not make him a doctor of law. Or the board would not need to look so much for legal expertise from others.... Jimbo did not study and graduate from this university either, so I fail to see how it bring recognition to the quality of the university... I hope real previous students appreciate. ant Katefan0 wrote:

On 4/25/06, Pete Bartlett <pcb21(a)yahoo.com> wrote: And a doctors of law degree is almost always a honorary degree. I wonder why they picked law for that. The [[Doctor of Laws]] article doesn't explain it. Garion

On 4/25/06, Stephen Bain <stephen.bain(a)gmail.com> wrote: I agree - I was surprised that it was a JD and not an LLD. But I'm sure they have their reasons...though, despite all the wranglings, I would see Wikipedia as more of a revolutionary contribution to the world of writing than to the world of law (WP:NLT and WP:OFFICE aside) Ian

Pete Bartlett wrote: okay. thanks ant

On 25/04/06, Anthere <Anthere9(a)yahoo.com> wrote: An honorary degree is a degree "honoris causa", "for the sake of honor". The idea is that the university is recognising the achievements of an individual made outside of their system, but which they feel compelled to honour. (Think of it as like the academic equivalent of a governmentally-awarded medal) Historically these were simply recognitions of intellectual work by someone not involved with the university; of late, it's become more common to award them for general achievements. For example, in the 1750s Benjamin Franklin recieved one from Oxford for his scientific works; two hundred years later, his fellow-countryman Eisenhower was awarded the same degree by them for having won WWII. Some institutions give them to mark a visit by an important figure: http://www.gustavus.edu/events/nobelconference/nobelfoundation/degrees.cfm (It's also not unknown to award them to senior members of the faculty who unaccountably failed to ever actually study at the university, or to give them to people like governors or Visitors either when they take office or when they retire. But I digress.) Traditionally, honorary degrees are chosen from a small set of degrees; in the US, the "doctor of laws" degree is one of these, and it's rarely if ever awarded as an actual PhD-level award. (In the UK, the common one is the "doctor of letters"). Generally, a given institution will pick the most appropriate, but they're pretty broad groupings. (Again using Oxford, since I have their Calendar on my desk, it generally falls into "politicians", "artists/writers/actors", "scientists", with rarely awarded doctorates in Music or Divinity) In the case of Knox, they're awarding honorary doctorates of Fine Arts and of Laws, and have in the past awarded them in Humane Letters and in Science. This doesn't leave much to choose from - he's not a creative artist, and he's not a scientist. So it's "doctor of laws" or "doctor of humane letters". The definitions here are vague and fuzzy - they can vary from place to place, and are rarely explicitly written down - but you could make a decent case that "laws" is for contributions to society, and "humane letters" for contributions to the humanities. (In the example mentioned above, Eisenhower, the leading commanders in 1945 were awarded doctorates in Civil Law...) And is the project a contribution to society, or one to scholarship? Ay, there's the rub. -- - Andrew Gray andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk