Shatner Receives Honorary Degree
1 min readMcGill University alumnus William Shatner was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Letters today at the spring convocation ceremonies at McGill.
The eighty-year-old Shatner graduated from McGill forty-nine years ago, with a BA in commerce.
Shatner encouraged graduates to dare. “Don’t be afraid of taking chances,” he said, “of striking out on paths that are untrod. Don’t be afraid of failing. Don’t be afraid of making an ass of yourself. I do it all the time and look where I got.”
When he attended McGill, Shatner wasn’t a model student, he told the graduates. He hadn’t always studied, he admitted, and had to take an extra math course to make up for one that he had earlier failed.
But Shatner had been active in extracurricular activities; he was president of McGill’s radio club and had participated in campus theater productions.
Shatner won’t be the only Star Trek actor to receive an honorary Doctorate
of Letters this year. Patrick Stewart will receive his own honorary degree this summer from the University of East Anglia.
“We present honorary degrees to those who have made a remarkable contribution to the arts, science, sport, and civil society,” said UEA Registrar and Secretary Brian Summers.
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