I am personally embarrassed and ashamed of the way my alma mater, Smith College, publicly humiliated one of our community’s outstanding citizens, when it took back the honorary doctorate from Evelyn Harris for not crediting the sources in her speech. Evelyn Harris is someone I have admired from afar for many years — originally for her part in that fabulous music group, Sweet Honey in the Rock. When we were lucky enough to have her settle in Northampton, it seemed that she was immediately everywhere with her gorgeous voice raised for justice, equality and peace. The honorary doctorate from Smith was earned by her years of devotion to change on behalf of those in need and I for one was delighted to learn that it was to be bestowed upon her. Others have written here to remind us that Evelyn Harris had turned in a draft of her speech more than two weeks ahead of time, so that it could be checked, edited and approved. Which it was. Perhaps the academic world looks at speeches as papers that must follow some set academic rigor, but the rest of us hear, in such a speech as Evelyn Harris’s, what we all need now: the passionate words of a human being with a generous heart, courageous spirit, and a mind that seeks a more just world. Smith College owes Evelyn a profound apology and should without delay restore to her the honorary doctorate she earned.
Patricia Lee Lewis
Northampton