Dawn Teo’s initial post about the Arizona State University honorary degree situation was an example of speculation and inflammatory editorial license entitled misleadingly “ASU Stiffs Obama, Claims Too Inexperienced For Honorary Degree.” People have been posting all over the internet about how ASU said Obama is “too inexperienced” for an honorary degree, something that was never said by the University, only by Teo.

Since then the Huffington Post has been riding high on their ASU/Obama click bait, posting no less than five articles about the situation in a couple of days, resulting in thousands of comments by people who call themselves progressive, but more accurately resemble elitism.

The comments, some of which I compiled in a post yesterday, overwhelmingly attack Arizona State’s quality of education, the students, faculty, and alumni.

I commented on that initial post:

Seriously, I get it. The ASU administration screwed up, but it was most likely a PR screw up. This happened probably because we don’t normally have such high profile commencement speakers and there isn’t an automatic conferment hearing on honorary degrees for them, and instead of ASU media relations saying that, they came up with the stupid inexperience excuse to try to cover their tracks. To be clear, Obama wasn’t rejected for a degree by the committee, there was never a hearing. It is a case of bad PR, and especially stupid when you consider the state’s history with MLK day.

But trashing Arizona State University and its alumni isn’t fair, and isn’t the point. ASU was one of the first universities with a Gay and Lesbian Studies certificate program, one of the first to include transgendered staff in their employment non-discrimination policy, and has actually made a number of progressive moves in the past.

ASU is not a joke school. It is home to the Arizona Solar Power Laboratory, which is leading research efforts that could make a huge difference in the adoption of solar energy over fossil fuels. It is the location of the Mars Space Flight Facility which was involved in the Mars Rover and other missions that everyone was so excited about. And yes, we even have a Nobel Laureate.

So please, stop bashing my alma mater because it isn’t in the Ivy League. Our side isn’t supposed to be the elitist one.

And on another post about the situation, which listed the apparently unworthy people ASU has given hon. degrees to in the past:

Mocking an entire university’s faculty, student body, and alumni over this doesn’t solve anything and is completely unfair. And ASU is not a Republican school. ASU students have elected a Democratic member of Congress and two young Democratic state legislators in the district, as well as winning university precincts for Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008.

Now let’s look at Teo’s post today:

So, the question keeps cropping up, is ASU’s decision based on race? Anything is possible, but it is not probable. ASU faculty and staff overwhelmingly donated to Obama over McCain. Tempe and the ASU campus within it are a bastion of blue within a sea of red in Arizona. President Michael Crow has been a strong advocate for diversity and equality, as have other administrators, faculty, and staff. ASU also granted an honorary degree to the first African American governor of Virginia in 2004. ASU is also famous for its efforts to integrate its education into the larger global community.

So, why then?

After a day of digging and talking to ASU staff and faculty, it seems this may have been more of a bureaucratic snafu than a political snub.

The Honorary Degree Committee does not work in concert with those who search out commencement speakers. During a normal year, they would probably talk to each other during the process, but this year was different. When Obama accepted the invitation to speak at the ASU commencement, the news was top secret. People normally in the loop were frozen out. Those kept in the loop were sworn to secrecy. The Obama press team wanted to break the news themselves, together with the other commencements at which Obama would be speaking.

Wow, Dawn. That sounds a lot like what I was saying yesterday. Maybe next time you could spend that “day of digging and talking to ASU staff and faculty” before you post an incorrect and inflammatory story.

But then again, what do I know? I graduated from a “third-rate party school.”

UPDATE: After hearing back from Dawn Teo about the situation it looks like this has just been a perfect storm of miscommunication. I was overly harsh in this response and hopefully this situation will clear up soon. I still believe that the responses from many progressives attacking ASU students, faculty and alumni are uncalled for and destructive.