Oxford awards honorary degree to Faust
“Penetrating mistress of the craft of history, who have advanced learning alike in your books and by your actions, I on my own authority and that of the whole university, admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.” With those words, delivered in Latin, Harvard President Drew Faust was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University in a ceremony marked by traditions four centuries old on a campus at least twice as old as Harvard’s. The ceremonies, known as the Encaenia from the Greek word for “festival of renewal” and corresponding to the Latin-derived Commencement, span events at several Oxford colleges, with the conferral of degrees in the Sheldonian Theatre, which was the first important commission of a young Christopher Wren, and considered a great feat of design when it was built in the 1660s. Faust was among eight honorary degree recipients honored in yesterday’s ceremonies; others included neurologist Henry Barnett,...