BU Has No Plans To Rescind Christopher Columbus’ Honorary Degree

Boston University announced today that it has no plans to rescind the honorary degree issued to Christopher Columbus in 1493.“We do not find the allegations against Christopher Columbus to be significant enough to diminish his work as an explorer of the New World,” said President Robert Brown in a statement to the press.Christopher Columbus has recently come under scrutiny as two more Indigenous people came forward with stories of murder, rape, and land-theft bringing the total number of accusers to 4,000,002.Many members of the BU community have have been vocal about their disapproval of Columbus. History minor, Matthew Curtis, was disappointed with BU’s decision, “At this point it’s obvious that he did terrible things and BU shouldn’t support that. I’m a history fan, and I know some people loved and admired the guy, but he is, in fact, the worst.”Students had been putting increased pressure on the University to rescind the degree. Many felt the school should not allow honorary degrees to be held by figures that are so blatantly horrible and had been committing heinous acts for years, regardless of how important some may think they were to today’s culture.However, not all students are against Columbus. “I don’t care what they say, the guy is still one of my heroes. He discovered an entire section of the planet,” said Jenn Nolan, apparently unaware that two continents filled with millions of people did not need to be discovered.  “I grew up watching his specials on the History Channel. I’ll always be a fan.”Meanwhile, other schools, including Fordham University, The University of San Francisco, Marquette University, and Brown University, have all revoked the honorary degrees they had presented to Mr. Columbus.At press time, President Brown said, “We don’t rescind honorary degrees, that’s not our thing. Besides, Columbus’ actions do not appear to be contrary to the values we look for in a recipient of such degrees.”