The issue has been under consideration for a year at the prestigious
American university.
“In the two decades that have passed since the honorary degree was awarded,
Robert Mugabe has pursued policies and taken action that are anti-ethical to
the values and beliefs of the University of Massachusetts,” Wilson said in a
statement.
“I must recommend that we sever the connection that was formed when Robert
Mugabe appeared to be a force for positive change in Africa. Today, that
promise no longer exists,” he said.
In April 2007 the student senate of the UMass-Boston campus passed a
resolution asking the university to revoke Mugabe’s 1986 honorary doctorate
of law, awarded by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The issue has
also arisen at several other universities.
Mugabe said last year through George Charamba, his spokesperson, “that
he won’t lose sleep if the university of Massachusetts and other universities
stripped him of honorary degrees over his appalling human rights record.”