An open letter to the  UT Board of Trustees:

I was wondering if the honorary degree for Al Gore was in marketing. For only slick marketing could present Mr Gore as anything but a failure.

In politics he not only lost his presidential bid, but failed to carry his own state.  And yet that state’s school now seeks to honor him.

His environmental endeavors -that have made him both famous and wealthy- have turned out to be based on a series of lies.  Perhaps the board missed the continuous string of scandals involving Gore and his fellow Nobel laureates over the past six months.

An honorary degree following his Nobel prizing victory for his video power point presentation -that is now know to be flawed- would have been regrettable but understandable.  Now that his charade has been exposed as not merely self-serving but also completely inaccurate, the board’s decision casts a negative light on the school.

For if lack of respect and integrity can be overlooked in the light of fame and fortune – what does that say about the goals of the University?  How does that impact UT’s respect and integrity?

And perhaps more to the only point which board appears to care – how will this decision effect future donations from the vast majority of Tennesseans that see the man behind Mr Gore’s marketing.

Scott
UT Graduate and Donor