Colleges: Kudos

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Much like the laurel wreath of ancient Greece, the honorary degree is to some extent a measure of the nation's esteem for human achievement. This year the man most voluminously laureled by the U.S. academic community was Jesuit Theologian John Courtney Murray (TIME cover, Dec. 12, 1960), chief architect of the Vatican Council's historic declaration on religious liberty. He received six honorary doctorates, from Yale, Columbia, Fordham, Gonzaga, Fairfield and Detroit universities.

Government leaders also rated high in the judgment of colleges, both great and small. Winning five honorary degrees each were Robert Weaver (Columbia, Illinois, Duquesne, Pennsylvania, Delaware State); Sargent Shriver, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (Ohio Wesleyan, Fairleigh Dickinson, Oakland, Morehouse, Loras); and Oregon's Governor Mark Hatfield (U.S.C., Lafayette, Ottawa, Spring Arbor, Monmouth).

Four awards went to Vice President Hubert Humphrey (Michigan State, Minnesota, Temple, Huron); U.N. Secretary General U Thant (Fordham, Windsor, Manhattan, Hamilton); U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Arthur Goldberg (N.Y.U., Brandeis, Catholic University of America, College of Jewish Studies); New York Education Commissioner James E. Allen Jr. (N.Y.U., Yale, West Virginia, Pace); and former U.S. Education Commissioner Francis Keppel (Brandeis, Carnegie Tech., Clark, Providence). Last week's honorees:

BOSTON COLLEGE

Edward Moore Kennedy, LL.D., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Boston College salutes the indomitable Kennedy spirit with pride and gratitude too deep for tears.

BOWDOIN COLLEGE

James McCormack, LL.D., board chairman and chief executive officer, Communications Satellite Corp. Like the forehanded avian who catches the worm, you are the Early Bird who catches the rewards of intercontinental communications to the benefit of all nations and all men.

Carl Ruggles, D. MUS., composer and painter. As an artist as well as musician, you have truly earned the attribution "a 20th century Leonardo."

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

David Dubinsky, L.H.D., retired president of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. His prophetic fury in a righteous cause is as legendary and as potent as a summer storm, a whirlwind followed by lambent sunshine.

Erwin Dain Canham, L.H.D., editor in chief of the Christian Science Monitor and new president, the First Church of Christ, Scientist. Tough-minded but temperate, he authenticates the essential spirit of the encomium—a Christian gentleman.

Henry Townley Heald, L.H.D., former president of the Ford Foundation, former chancellor of New York University.

CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND CRAFTS Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington, D.F.A., composer and jazz musician. For teaching the whole world that "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing."

CASE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY J. Irwin Miller, L.H.D., board chairman of Cummins Engine Co., Inc., former president of the National Council of Churches.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Frank D. Gilroy, D. Let., playwright (The Subject Was Roses).