Arizona State University President Michael Crow suggested Saturday in an email to faculty and students that he was hesitant to award President Obama an honorary degree because of potential political consequences to the state-supported school."Since my appointment we have not awarded honorary degrees to sitting politicians, a practice based on the very practical realities of operating a public university in our political environment," Crow wrote in the message, obtained by POLITICO.
He added: "We are a young and emerging university in a new and politically complex state."
Arizona is home to Obama's 2008 opponent, Sen. John McCain, and also has a Republican governor and GOP-controlled legislature.
Stung by the embarrassment surrounding his school's initial refusal to award Obama an honorary degree, Crow issued a statement Saturday apologizing for "the confusion" and announced the school would designate a group of scholarship students as the "President Barack Obama Scholars."
But Crow still didn't say whether the president would receive an honorary degree when he speaks at the school's graduation ceremony on May 13th.
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