I was told by a friend who just graduated from AUB that there was a brief protest during the commencement against giving a certain Donna Shalala, whose from Lebanese descent, a honorary degree. I found the video this morning and looked up Donna Shalala to see what this is all about.
From what I read, Donna is a highly respected Lebanese-American who has “four dozen honorary degrees and a host of other honors, including the 1992 National Public Service Award, the 1994 Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award; in 1992, Business Week named her one of the top five managers in higher education; in 2005, she was named one of “America’s Best Leaders†by U.S. News & World Report” [Miami University]. Added to that, “President Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award; and in 2010 she received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, which recognizes individuals for outstanding dedication to improving the health and life chances of disadvantaged populations in South Africa and internationally. In 2011, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.”
She’s one of America’s best leaders, President of Miami University and a member of three corporate boards. She’s the first Arab-American to serve in a Cabinet position and the USA’s longest serving Health & Human Services Secretary and we are labeling her as a Zionist because she visited “Israel” and has honorary degrees from there??
I don’t get it.