尽管莫尔豪斯学院的一些教职员工和学生对总统感到沮丧乔·拜登在亚特兰大商学院周日的毕业典礼上发表演讲时，该学院于周四投票授予奥巴马荣誉学位。一些人表示，他们反对这一举措，以抗议奥巴马对以色列和哈马斯加沙战争的处理。
在周四上午的一次电话会议上，在场的88名教职员工中有50人投票决定授予拜登荣誉学位。一位消息人士告诉ABC新闻，教职员工有可能选择不授予拜登荣誉学位，作为抗议拜登演讲的另一种方式。
莫尔豪斯的抗议威胁上月底，拜登的露面开始升温。与此同时，哈马斯10月7日的恐怖袭击引发了美国大学校园对以色列加沙战争的广泛抗议。
荣誉学位程序通常在年初投票决定，在莫尔豪斯是家常便饭。每年，教员必须投票授予毕业典礼演讲人荣誉学位。今年，由于“过程中的疏忽”，教职员工直到周四才投票。
几名学生致信教职员工，恳求他们投票反对授予拜登荣誉学位。
“我认为学位是你应该得到的东西，”大二学生安瓦尔·卡里姆说，他是参与这封信的学生之一。“我没能找到任何能让拜登获得这一荣誉的资格。”
荣誉学位通常授予那些在其领域做出重大贡献的人。拜登因其在政治上的贡献获得了多个荣誉学位。
一名不愿透露姓名的教职员工在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时表示，他们投票支持授予总统荣誉学位——他们计划在11月投票支持拜登。
“我认为重要的是要考虑到你不只是为一个人投票，而是为整个团队投票。我信任这个团队，”这位教员说。
出席会议的卡里姆告诉ABC新闻，摩尔豪斯的董事会和来自亚特兰大大学中心联盟的学生被董事会主席威利·伍兹告知要找到一种“有品位的”方式来抗议拜登的毕业典礼演讲。亚特兰大大学中心联盟是该地区四所历史上的黑人学院和大学之间的合作，摩尔豪斯也在其中。莫尔豪斯董事会正在推动非暴力抗议。
拜登将在选举年在一个关键的摇摆州面对一个关键的投票集团发表演讲——莫尔豪斯是美国历史上最著名的黑人学院之一。拜登在大学校园的学生抗议活动中发挥了作用，他周三在亚特兰大当地的电台节目“杰兹·麦克比的大跳跳虎晨间秀”中表示，尽管美国人有权“和平抗议”，但大喊仇恨言论或参与暴力是“不可接受的”。
他补充说:“我认为，有很多合理的担忧，人们有权抗议，以和平的方式抗议，我尊重这一点。”
虽然拜登试图在同情加沙的巴勒斯坦平民与支持以色列抵御哈马斯的权利之间取得平衡，但他一直面临更年轻和更进步选民的批评，特别是美国对以色列行动的支持，尽管白宫谴责了以色列的一些行动。
上周，白宫公众参与办公室主任史蒂夫·本杰明(Steve Benjamin)与一些学生和教职员工举行了两个小时的会议，讨论他们有兴趣在拜登的毕业典礼上听到什么。
据一名白宫官员透露，这群学生和教职员工向白宫表示，他们不希望听到总统在11月与前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)对决时发表竞选演讲。本杰明向学生们保证，重点将是庆祝他们的毕业以及总统对学生们未来发展的希望。
大二学生卡里姆说，他不一定担心拜登会把他的毕业典礼演讲变成竞选演讲。
“我更关心的是，如果你要发表竞选演讲，你会说些什么可能对我们这些年轻黑人有用的话?”他说。
该校校长大卫·a·托马斯表示担心警方可能会对主要由黑人组成的人群做出回应。
在一个NPR访谈录托马斯说，如果警方不得不介入，他们将“当场”取消毕业典礼。
托马斯说:“我们最不想做的事情就是制造这样一个时刻:有人因为捣乱而被执法部门带离毕业典礼。”“面对让警察带人们打着拉链离开莫尔豪斯毕业典礼的选择，我们基本上会当场取消或停止毕业典礼服务。”
Morehouse faculty votes to award Biden honorary degree amid commencement controversy over handling of war in Gaza
Despite frustration among some Morehouse College faculty, staff and students over PresidentJoe Bidendelivering the Atlanta school's commencement address on Sunday, the faculty voted on Thursday to award the president an honorary degree -- an act some said they opposed in protest of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
On a call Thursday morning, 50 of the 88 faculty members present voted to award Biden an honorary degree. There was a possibility that faculty would choose not to award Biden the honorary degree, a source told ABC News, as an alternative way of protesting Biden's speech.
Threats of protests at Morehouseover Biden's appearance began to bubble up late last month -- amid a broader period of protests on U.S. college campuses over Israel's war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks.
The honorary degree process, typically voted on earlier in the year, is a regular occurrence at Morehouse. Every year, faculty must vote to confer the commencement speaker's honorary degree. This year, due to an "oversight in the process," faculty didn't vote until Thursday.
Several students sent a letter to the faculty pleading with them to vote against giving Biden the honorary degree.
"I think a degree is something you earn," said sophomore Anwar Karim, one of the students who joined in on that letter. "I failed to find any sort of qualification that earns Biden such an honor."
Honorary degrees are often awarded to people who have made significant contributions to their field. Biden has received several honorary degrees for his contributions in politics.
A faculty member who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity said they voted in favor of giving the president an honorary degree -- and they planned to vote for Biden in November.
"I think it's important to consider that you're not just voting for one person, you're voting for the team. I trust the team," the faculty member said.
Morehouse's board and students from the Atlanta University Center Consortium -- a collaboration between four historically black colleges and universities in the region, which includes Morehouse -- were told by chair of the board, Willie Woods, to find a "tasteful" way to protest Biden's commencement speech, Karim, who attended the meeting, told ABC News. The Morehouse board is pushing for nonviolent protests.
Biden will be making his speech in an election year in a key swing state in front of a key voting bloc -- Morehouse is one of the country's most famous historically Black colleges. Biden has weighed in on student protests at college campuses, saying on local Atlanta-based radio show, "The Big Tigger Morning Show With Jazzy McBee," on Wednesday that although Americans have the right to "peacefully protest," shouting hate speech or participating in violence is "unacceptable."
He added: "I think, a lot of legitimate concerns, and people have a right to protest, to do it peacefully and I respect it."
While Biden has sought to balance sympathy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza with support for Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas, he has faced continuing criticism from younger and more progressive voters, particularly, for America's backing of Israel's operations, even as the White House has denounced some of Israel's actions.
Last week, Steve Benjamin, who heads the White House Office of Public Engagement, held a two-hour meeting with a select group of students and faculty to discuss what they were interested in hearing during Biden's commencement address.
The group of students and faculty shared with the White House that they were not looking to hear a campaign speech from the president as he faces off against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in November, according to a White House official. Benjamin reassured the students that the focus would be on celebrating their graduation as well as the president's hopes for the students as they move forward with their futures.
Karim, the sophomore, said he is not necessarily concerned about Biden turning his commencement address into a campaign speech.
"I'm more concerned with if you are going to give a campaign speech, what are you going to say that might be of some use to us as young Black men?" he said.
The school's president, David A. Thomas, has expressed fear of a possible response from the police to a crowd that's largely comprised of Black people.
In aninterview with NPR, Thomas said that if police had to be involved they would "cancel" commencement "on the spot."
"The last thing that we want to do is create a moment where someone is taken out of commencement by law enforcement because they are being disruptive," Thomas said. "Faced with the choice of having police take people out of the Morehouse commencement in zip ties, we would essentially cancel or discontinue the commencement services on the spot."
