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The Queen’s Senate approved the Policy on Revocation of or Special Statement Concerning an Honorary Degree in March 2022 to guide the university in instances where an honorary degree has been bestowed on someone whose conduct or statements bring disrepute to the institution. The policy is now scheduled for its first review, which occurs every five years for all university-wide policies.

The policy lays out a process for issuing special statements that offer a contextual view of an honorary degree recipient’s contributions that takes into account both the perspective from the time of the award and a contemporary understanding. With a two-thirds vote from the Senate, an honorary degree can also be revoked, typically in instances involving fraud, fabrication, or the discovery of new information related to the reasons the degree was conferred. Under the current policy, honorary degrees may be revoked only from recipients who are living.

The policy has been used once so far, to issue a special statement regarding the honorary degree bestowed upon Duncan Campbell Scott in 1939. The statement discusses Scott’s involvement in Canada’s Residential School System and expresses regret for having honoured him. This statement is clearly linked and indicated whenever reference is made to Scott’s honorary degree.

The Senate Honorary Degree Committee is hoping to receive feedback on the policy from a wide array of members of the university community. To that end, comments on the policy will be accepted both in writing and verbally until Nov. 28.

Feedback can be sent to policies@queensu.ca, and requests to provide feedback verbally can be sent to senate@queensu.ca.