These type of people don't have a positive side. Their life purpose is to find fault in other people.
Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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No he’s the top instate recruit for 2026 in football
Nas Rankin, Illinois Fighting Illini, Wide Receiver
Multi-sport athlete. –––– BASKETBALL Reports hoops offers from Illinois, Northern Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Grambling State. Averaged 23.2 ppg, 3.3...
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I don't agree with this reasoning for withholding an honorary degree, mostly because it was so long ago, but to be fair to her, other than getting first-hand accounts from employees, which is what it appears she did, how else would she have researched it?
Not really. They're called honorary because they are meant to honor the recipient, who in this case has a real, actual degree from the University anyway. They are also not only given to "rich people" but anyone who has contributed greatly to the important areas of society. It just happens to usually be wealthy people cuz that just what America is I guess.
Politics and economics aside, what Khan accomplished for himself is note worthy. If the University cant tell the difference between that and financial gifts it's a university problem. And I say this as someone who does not care for the influence of the ultra-wealthy.
How does it make you dumber? The honorary degree carries no weight or clout in the real world. But if you can give some rich alumni an honorary degree and in return get millions of dollars for your department or sports prgram, how is that not a win / win situation. The school can buy more or better equipment/curriculum/instructors. Or maybe it's going to a sports programs NIL. How is that not a good thing to improve that program, curriculum or team? That's how these other schools are getting such large NIL accounts.
I would argue that if she actually had first hand information from actual employees and did nothing about, then is guilty of negligence.
cuillini
- San Bernardino, Ca.
Apparently, she is like many professors who consider themselves capable of walking on water, and have egos the size of New York.
This true.
But honorary degrees are in fact stupid. The purpose of a University degree is to certify that you met certain requirements to attain the degree. First that you met the University's admission requirement, then that you met the academic requirements when there. Honorary degrees on the other hand are mostly a way to glaze a famous and/or important person.
Historically this practice really picked up in the Middle Ages, particularly during Royal visits to Oxford or Cambridge. Apparently, if you were part of the Royal retinue, there was a decent change you'd get an honorary degree as part of the visit. Why? Just because you were close to the King and probably of high rank yourself. Pretty stupid.
I get the idea if you make a particular academic contribution to a University. Let's say, for example, that Taylor Swift teaches a semester of music theory at Harvard. She should get an honorary doctorate in Music for that! Tarantino wants to teach a filmmaking course at NYU? Sure, here's an honorary degree! But that's not typically how it works.
That being said, I have no problem with Khan getting an honorary degree, as he seems as qualified for it as anyone that gets these things typically is, which is to say there are no real qualifications. I do think the whole thing honorary degree thing, in practice, is dumb though.
And she may well have done research. Was she reading from a prepared statement that she wrote after hours of preparation or just a quick interview. I’d guess the latter, so “Some of the things we heard about were, frankly, terrible,” could certainly have meant, some of the things we “learned.” How often do people say, “I heard X,” when they really mean “I read X”?
Agree that the honorary degree should not be withheld, but analyzing each word of someone’s two line quote is nearly just as silly.
1. That's not what negligence is, at all. Not even close, unless this were a mandatory reporter situation, which it very obviously was not.
2. It was all already reported to OSHA, which ended up fining Khan's company for safety violations after their investigation.
3. She did do something. She joined protests. That's really all a third-party can do in that situation.
A lot of freaking out today…calm down. lol
I didn't realize OSHA was involved. But my point was that if she had first hand into and did nothing, then she really no better than Kahn. But it sound like she did something.. so Bully for her.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
This isn’t our first time denying him an honorary degree, iirc. Basing a decision on hearsay is incredibly stupid and short-sighted. It sounds like the university vetted him already and closed the books so to say so why are people still caught up in the fact that accusations were ever made? Some people just hate money and those that have found a way to make some. It’s just ridiculous. The man has accomplished a lot in his life and yes - money matters. If he’s been vetted and wants to give money to the university, then by all means roll out the red carpet. And if that includes an honorary degree, who cares? If you’re that successful in life, perhaps he has something to teach us… Also, he’s been an avid backer / supporter of Illinois athletics and the university. So the faculty hates him…? WTAF?
Nothing exceptionally egregious. Especially when they're after you.
Have they not seen The BIG commercial with Khan and relation to Illinois, being a Pakistani man (I believe) and an NFL owner with diverse background? It’s a great story and great ambassador story for the university.
A real visible problem comes from the fact that a lot of academic based professionals & Professors are against Industry and Business professionals. In the Liberal Arts, Sciences and even some in the Engineering colleges (I remember first hand) hearing tone and verbal lectures differing between practices of "in theory" and in "the Industry" (aka, real world). The context was very much us (Academia) vs them - very off-putting.
Yeah but he might have donated a lot of money to an academic institution that's in need of financial gifts even with revenue sharing, so.... ixnay the egreeday
Brian Kelly’s wife to match the next 1 million dollars in NIL deals. That’s interesting
3 socialists who have this one golden opportunity to stick it to a billionaire. Mr. Khan donating even harder (Michael Scott meme) out of spite would be pretty poetic. Maybe name the updated horseshoe after his detractors.
These are all reports generated AFTER the protests in question, which appear to have happened in 2012. The company was fined by OSHA the following month. So unless she had a time machine these 2014-2022 OSHA reports could not have been part of any investigation she could have done at the time of the protests. Neither could the report about the violations they were protesting in April 2022, because OSHA did not make its determination until May 2022.
So the only info available to her was first hand reports of employees.
Supporters of Flex-n-Gate Unionization Rally at U of I Campus | Illinois Public Media
Supporters of Flex-n-Gate Unionization Rally at U of I Campus
EDIT to add: Also, if you've ever read government agency reports on stuff like this, it's always in the most sanitized, neutral language possible. So reading a report and talking to people involved is always going to feel vastly different. I suspect if you're in the world of labor rights these kinds of things are going to feel particularly serious, as you're versed on all the worst examples of corporate greed causing real harm to employees. I think it's fair to be skeptical about the how serious this is, while also understanding that someone in that position can conclude in good faith that this is a big deal.
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Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
For some reason I wasn’t able to access the details about the events but the decision to deny the honorary degree just happened this year, no? I mean wasn’t this all available for review when the denial decision was made?These are all reports generated AFTER the protests in question, which appear to have happened in 2012. The company was fined by OSHA the following month. So unless she had a time machine these 2014-2022 OSHA reports could not have been part of any investigation she could have done at the time of the protests. Neither could the report about the violations they were protesting in April 2022, because OSHA did not make its determination until May 2022.
So the only info available to her was first hand reports of employees.
Supporters of Flex-n-Gate Unionization Rally at U of I Campus | Illinois Public Media
Supporters of Flex-n-Gate Unionization Rally at U of I Campuswill.illinois.edu
EDIT to add: Also, if you've ever read government agency reports on stuff like this, it's always in the most sanitized, neutral language possible. So reading a report and talking to people involved is always going to feel vastly different. I suspect if you're in the world of labor rights these kinds of things are going to feel particularly serious, as you're versed on all the worst examples of corporate greed causing real harm to employees. I think it's fair to be skeptical about the how serious this is, while also understanding that someone in that position can conclude in good faith that this is a big deal.
Edit: I’ve also been involved with governmental agencies and some degree of criticism is virtually inescapable, although admittedly I know little about OSHA. Fines suggest something happened but these are all pretty small figures.
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