Graduation Speaker Returns Honorary Degree After Plagiarizing Speech At Elite Women’s College

Musician and activist Evelyn Harris returned her honorary degree from Smith College after it was revealed that she plagiarized much of her commencement ceremony speech.

According to Smith College president Sarah Willie-LeBreton, Harris “borrowed much of her speech” without “typical attribution” and decided to give up her degree.

“Ms. Harris was forthcoming about her choices while also acknowledging that she sought to infuse the words of others with her own emotional valence,” Willie-LeBreton said in a statement. “With appreciation for the requirement of academic integrity so central to the values of Smith, Ms. Harris has chosen to relinquish her honorary degree.”

“I appreciate those who brought the dissonance of this moment to our attention and am very grateful for the graciousness of Evelyn Harris’s decision,” Willie-LeBreton wrote.

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Two of Harris’ bandmates in the cover band Young@Heart defended her actions in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, claiming that “plagiarism works a little differently for us.”

“We sing lyrics and play music written by others without explicitly crediting them from the stage, without asking their permission, but often getting the original artist’s enthusiastic response when they eventually hear our version,” Bob Cilman and Julia van IJken wrote. “We imagine Evelyn may have been doing something similar in her speech and was honoring the words of others.”

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Cilman and Julia van IJken accuse Smith College of attempting to humiliate Harris, as does another of Harris’ acquaintances and Smith College alumna.

“I personally know Evelyn not only submitted her speech for approval to Smith College weeks in advance and received an edited version back from them in tacit and overt approval for her to give that speech,” Tolley M. Jones wrote in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

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“Smith College hastily, with a singular goal toward shuffling unwanted negative publicity away from itself, chose to deliberately humiliate Evelyn by telling the world that she violated Smith’s academic standards by borrowing some of the words of others to encourage the new graduates to live their lives authentically.”

Harris is a longtime musician who spent 18 years as a member of Sweet Honey In The Rock, an African-American, female a cappella group founded in 1973 and nominated for three Grammy Awards. She “weaves political activism with harmony and fosters community through song, finding ways to address racism, misogyny, and other forms of discrimination with expressions of joy, hallelujah praising, and spiritual testimony,” according to Smith College.

The college added that it will distribute a new version of the highlights from the May 18 commencement ceremony, given the situation with Harris.

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President Joe Biden’s 17th assistant secretary for health, Rachel Levine, also received an honorary degree from Smith College. Levine is a transgender four-star admiral who was accused of promoting “transgender extremist policies” and “mutilating surgeries for minors,” according to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.