Maggie's Farm

On 5 May, CUNY released a statement that "The Board of Trustees is an independent board, and acted independently in exercising its judgment and authority."
I interpret this as "don't blame us, the university professionals, because we can't tell this board who to do".

Only now, they are going to convene the executive committee to overturn the decision. And all the press is saying that the results of this new vote will be to overturn it. I love it when the results of a vote are announced before it takes place.

I find this whole thing very odd. No one suggests that the power to grant a degree honoris causa rests with anyone other then the board, and yet when a college suggests granting a degree to someone with controversial politics and the suggestion is not rubber-stamped, it is somehow a great threat to academic freedom, free speech, and the honor of the institution.
If the trustees cannot make an independent evaluation about whether granting a degree honoris causa might damage the university, then there is not much point in having the board, is there?

It seems to me a pretty bad precedent to set that if the administration and faculty don't like a decision of the board that they work for, that the board can be pushed around until they come up with the right decision.