Edinburgh University to strip Robert Mugabe of honourary degree
The Senate of Edinburgh University has agreed to strip Robert Mugabe of an honourary degree that it granted him in 1984, according to BBC News. This came after a two year lobby campaign conducted by the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA).
The EUSA started lobbying for the withdrawal of Mugabe's honourary degree after students voted in a general meeting on November 9, 2005 to adopt this motion condemning Mugabe's reign of terror in Zimbabwe. Click here to read said meeting's minutes. The EUSA has also issued a press release celebrating the decision by Senate to withdraw Mr. Mugabe's degree.
The National Union of Students, which EUSA has been a member of since 2004, has not yet commented on this development.
Some Canadian students' unions have also been involved in the debate over honourary degrees. The University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS) considered in 2006, but ultimately declined, a proposal to lobby the UVic Senate to give an honourary degree to Canadian folk-rock musician Bruce Cockburn. Nine years earlier, the UVSS successfully prevented UVic from bestowing a degree on Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The EUSA started lobbying for the withdrawal of Mugabe's honourary degree after students voted in a general meeting on November 9, 2005 to adopt this motion condemning Mugabe's reign of terror in Zimbabwe. Click here to read said meeting's minutes. The EUSA has also issued a press release celebrating the decision by Senate to withdraw Mr. Mugabe's degree.
The National Union of Students, which EUSA has been a member of since 2004, has not yet commented on this development.
Some Canadian students' unions have also been involved in the debate over honourary degrees. The University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS) considered in 2006, but ultimately declined, a proposal to lobby the UVic Senate to give an honourary degree to Canadian folk-rock musician Bruce Cockburn. Nine years earlier, the UVSS successfully prevented UVic from bestowing a degree on Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
