Topic: Don Cherry to receive honorary doctorate from RMC

[bossi]

... there was a pretty brutal crackdown on opinionated comments a couple of weeks ago.

(chuckle) Before or after Catherine Lord mailed HER opinionated comments to the newspaper ... ?
Meh.
Here's another column in support of Don - fortunately, retired officers can voice THEIR opinion ...
(two thumbs up for General Lew, as well as Don Cherry of course!)

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=5672009&sponsor=

Cherry doesn't need an honorary degree
 
The controversial broadcaster was right to avoid a circus at RMC, Lewis Mackenzie writes. His devotion to the Canadian Forces speaks for itself

Having just returned from a weeklong conference in Los Angeles late Sunday night I sat down at my PC with a view to catching up with world events beyond Republican candidate Herman Cain and the sexual-harassment controversy which dominated the "news" on every U.S. channel for the entire week.

The No. 1 subject as I scrolled through my emails was Don Cherry's decision to pass on the offer of an honorary degree from the Royal Military College. His decision was of particular interest to my regiment, the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, as Don was made an Honorary Patricia, a rare honour, in 2009. The offer was made and accepted by an emotional Don out of respect and appreciation for his unwavering support of the regiment and the Canadian Forces in general throughout his high-profile media career.

In 1998, my son-in-law at the time was serving in the Balkans with UNPROFOR and he called me with a request that Don come over to the operational theatre to cut the ribbon and open a makeshift Don Cherry's Bar the soldiers had constructed. There was little discussion and no negotiation, just a "where and when?" question from Don. You can imagine the morale boost for the soldiers who never imagined such a treat on "opening night" - in spite of the sans alcohol regulation.

Don has an immense amount of respect for the Canadian Forces and it's not something he does to enhance his on-camera persona. It comes from the heart and it's undoubtedly that respect which prompted him to turn down the offer of the RMC degree. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding some recent comments he made during the ongoing discussion regarding concussions in the National Hockey League, and their long-term effects on hockey's enforcers - comments he admitted were wrong and apologized for without reservation on CBC. He knew the graduation ceremony at RMC would turn into a media circus. In other settings I would imagine Don would enjoy a media circus and most of us would enjoy watching it, but Don has too much regard for soldiers, and in this case a cohort of young future military leaders, to turn their ceremony of celebration into a sideshow.

Many years ago I was nominated for an honorary RMC degree on the heels of receiving numerous honorary doctorates from civilian universities thanks to the outstanding work done by soldiers who worked with me in Sarajevo. The nomination was rejected thanks to some objections by members of the RMC senate, but at least they didn't write letters to the Kingston paper elaborating on their bias as one French professor did in Cherry's case. Don Cherry earned better than that.

Don Cherry's standing with the Canadian Forces would not be measurably elevated with the acceptance of the RMC degree, but his decision to turn the offer down for all the right reasons certainly has. Good on him.

Major-General (Ret'd) Lewis Mackenzie, PPCLI, was UN Commander, Sector Sarajevo, in 1992.
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[gun runner]

An excellent article! The last sentence spells it all out.

[yoman]

I've also been kind of stumped by the lack of reaction from RMC.

Stay tuned...

[milnews.ca]

Great article. I've also been kind of stumped by the lack of reaction from RMC.

There's at least this ....

A representative of Royal Military College says he is disappointed Don Cherry has declined an offer of an honorary doctorate but the college has accepted Cherry's decision.

"It would have been our honour and privilege for Mr. Cherry to have received an honorary degree from the university, in recognition of his outstanding support for our Canadian Forces personnel and for his incredible charitable work," RMC principal Joel Sokolsky stated a release Saturday ....

.... and this so far.

Canada's Royal Military College defended its decision Friday to award an honorary degree later this month to colourful hockey commentator Don Cherry despite protest from at least one faculty member who said the choice sends the wrong message.

"People are entitled to their opinions obviously, but this is a decision that the (school) senate makes," said Capt. Cynthia Kent, spokeswoman for the Kingston, Ont., college.

"The senate stands by its decision to award this honorary degree to Mr. Cherry." ....

Stay tuned...

I wait with bated breath....

[Good2Golf]

Stay tuned...

Yoman, it will be a very nice gesture... 

[milnews.ca]

Interesting details and questions this writer brings up....

.... One teacher is not the principal villain here. The fault lies with RMC’s leadership for not rallying with a fighting spirit to defend its decision. One hopes that RMC has sufficient battlefield courage to see off the fabrications of a lowly French teacher. It was likely the motion of the faculty board, comprising all the professors and chaired by the principal, which cowed the administration. That poses a rather more disturbing question. Does the faculty board motion accurately express the professoriate at RMC? If so, our future officers are being trained by those significantly out of step with the Canadian people and the rank-and-file members of the armed forces.

It may be that the motion was passed by the perpetually disgruntled at a sleepy meeting that only a few professors attended. But RMC is being evasive about the whole matter, with its public-affairs office unwilling to say what the motion actually was, how many were present at the meeting, whether the principal was present or not, and what the actual vote was. No doubt Dr. Sokolsky is embarrassed by the faculty motion, but he needs to explain more fully what actually happened, if only to assure his own cadets that they are not being taught by people far outside the mainstream of Canadian society ....

[Rescue Randy]

Bottom line is that in situations like this, leaders like Lew Mackenzie and Len Birchall instinctively and quickly did what was right, not what was popular (or politically correct).  When the Royal Military College did not immediately react to this situation by doing what was right (ie, reinforcing the nomination and supporting Don Cherry), it raised concerns about the value of the College - if it is not there to set and defend the standard in leadership, morality, and ethics for our future leaders, why does it exist?

[Good2Golf]

Interesting details and questions this writer brings up....

...but misinformed.

The Senate is THE approving authority for the proposed honour doctorate.  The Faculty Board can come up with whatever vote it wants, but such a 'decision' is not any kind of a decision that binds the Senate to alter its original decision.

The salient points are that: a) the Sentate approved and intended to grant the degree, notwithstanding a non-binding 'decision' by Faculty Board that may or may not have actually represented the 'academic proletariat'; and b) it was indeed Catherine Lord's open letter in the Kingston Whig Standard making dramatic, unsubstantiated accusations that incited a media-accelerated informal campaign to reverse the RMC Senate's decision to award the honourary degree to Don Cherry.


 

Regards
G2G 

[Alex79]

Its senate — comprising the chancellor (Defence Minister Peter MacKay), the commandant, the principal, the deans of the faculties, the director of cadets, the academic director of RMC St-Jean, Quebec, and a faculty representative — has, as a body, if not unanimously, proclaimed to Canada’s future military elite that the college is A-OK with gratuitous violence, calling people pukes, trashing multiculturalism and left-wing pinkos who ride bicycles, describing men with long hair as girls, speaking derogatively of francophone Canadians, labelling someone with a non-anglo name as “some kind of dog food” and supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

 

[PMedMoe]

Its senate — comprising the chancellor (Defence Minister Peter MacKay), the commandant, the principal, the deans of the faculties, the director of cadets, the academic director of RMC St-Jean, Quebec, and a faculty representative — has, as a body, if not unanimously, proclaimed to Canada’s future military elite that the college is A-OK with gratuitous violence, calling people pukes, trashing multiculturalism and left-wing pinkos who ride bicycles, describing men with long hair as girls, speaking derogatively of francophone Canadians, labelling someone with a non-anglo name as “some kind of dog food” and supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

 

[Occam]

Its senate — comprising the chancellor (Defence Minister Peter MacKay), the commandant, the principal, the deans of the faculties, the director of cadets, the academic director of RMC St-Jean, Quebec, and a faculty representative — has, as a body, if not unanimously, proclaimed to Canada’s future military elite that the college is A-OK with gratuitous violence, calling people pukes, trashing multiculturalism and left-wing pinkos who ride bicycles, describing men with long hair as girls, speaking derogatively of francophone Canadians, labelling someone with a non-anglo name as “some kind of dog food” and supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

I don't suppose you happened to read any of the thread up until now, have you?  I didn't think so.

[Scott]

Go away troll.

[PMedMoe]

So, Alex79 (according to profile a US Army "lieutenant "), are you jmckee or did you just copy this:  Don Cherry’s Rock’ em Sock ‘em honorary degree     

[milnews.ca]

So, Alex79 (according to profile a US Army "lieutenant "), are you jmckee or did you just copy this:  Don Cherry’s Rock’ em Sock ‘em honorary degree     

Ah, but the blog entry appears to be signed by Michael Valpy ("~mgv"), and I'd be shocked to see anyone working on  their doctorate cutting/pasting someone else's work without a footnote, acknowledgement or even link to the original post, presenting it as their own work.  Wouldn't you?

[PMedMoe]

Ah, but the blog entry appears to be signed by Michael Valpy ("~mgv"), and I'd be shocked to see anyone working on  their doctorate cutting/pasting someone else's work without a footnote, acknowledgement or even link to the original post, presenting it as their own work.  Wouldn't you?

Nope, not much shocks me anymore.

Here's what it says about James McKee:

James McKee is  a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto. HIs doctoral work considers the role of public emotions in political mobilization and public policy. He also writes on humanitarianism and pretends to know about other things.

 

[Danjanou]

Well Moe he can't be a real PhD candidate in Poli Sci at U of T then. Everyone knows they "do know about (all) other things" not just pretend. Trust me they'll tell you this at every opportunity. 

[Scott]

My money is on troll.