Hesburgh to receive his 150th honorary degree
By HELENA PAYNE
News Editor
Just one day before his 85th birthday, University President Emeritus Father Theodore Hesburgh will receive his 150th honorary degree from the University of San Diego during May 26 Commencement exercises.
Hesburgh, who received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the school in 1980, will receive a doctor of humane letters degree and deliver the principal address during graduation.
Hesburgh currently holds the record for having the most honorary degrees, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
"I think the reason he's received so many honorary degrees is he's had a distinguished career in public service as well as education," said Richard Conklin, former associate vice president for university relations, who worked under Hesburgh from 1967 to 1987.
Conklin cited Hesburgh's national and academic work as reasons why he has stood out among other university leaders.
"There is hardly a university president, and certainly none alive, who can match that double career of [higher education] as well as public service," said Conklin.
Hesburgh, who still works for Notre Dame in several capacities, spends many of his days presiding over Masses, writing or autographing books and traveling for various international and national committee meetings.
Although Hesburgh sits high in his campus office on the 13th floor of the library named for him, he said he tries to remain humble. With 16 presidential appointments under his belt, and soon, 150 honorary degrees, he even commented with some sarcasm, "I think it's time to quit."
But Hesburgh was referring to receiving honorary degrees, not to the work that he has done to earn the distinctions. He said he was most proud of his role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
"I think that legislation changed the face of this country," he said.
Through that act, a civil rights commission was established. Hesburgh, who chaired the commission, said most of the credit goes to President Lyndon Johnson's leadership during the process of passing the act.
"I think no president before or after him could have done it," Hesburgh said.
In addition to working on the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, Hesburgh has also helped lower the number of nuclear arms in the world as well as reduce world hunger.
"He's an optimistic person at heart," said Conklin. "No matter what the issue, be it a civil rights issue or whether it be the proliferation of nuclear weapons, he's always been a person who would believe that you can make things better."
At the university level, Hesburgh was an instrumental force in elevating the national status of Notre Dame and overseeing its many changes. Under his 35-year tenure from 1953 to 1987, the University went from an all-male undergraduate liberal arts college governed by the Congregation of Holy Cross to a major coeducational research university governed by a lay board of trustees.
"His presidency saw the transition of Notre Dame from an undergraduate school to a university in the proper sense with a graduate and research component, and he's managed to do that without losing the Catholic character of the place," said Conklin.
He added that Hesburgh has garnered respect because of his willingness to take a public stance on moral issues.
"He was unafraid to speak out on moral issues, and he used the University presidency as a bully pulpit," said Conklin.
Hesburgh's involvement in public issues has received much attention. In addition to his honorary degrees, Hesburgh was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in July 2000 and the Medal of Freedom in 1964.
All News Stories for Friday, May 17, 2002
