Oprah Winfrey: Her Most Honorable Mention

James Freedman, president emeritus of the University of Iowa and Dartmouth College, believes that an honorary degree should “celebrate distinguished and sublime achievement,” and demonstrate to its students the “qualities of character and attainment it admires most.” Inspired by Freedman’s philosophy, this weeks post is devoted to explaining and understanding why I believe that Oprah Winfrey (pictured on the left), activist, talk show host, philanthropist, and media mogul, is deserving of an honorary degree in my field of communication studies as well as from a feminist perspective. If an honorary degree is to represent the ideals of the University of Southern California as an academic institute, then we must take into consideration the principles inscribed on USC’s Tommy Trojan: faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious. As an African American, as a woman, and as someone who has very publicly struggled with her weight, Oprah Winfrey is an exceptional human being who has overcome great odds and used her fame and fortune to touch hearts and to truly change the world.

Oprah Winfrey is an ideal candidate for an honorary degree because she excels in all areas that I, as a scholar, student of communication, human being, and feminist, value and admire. As a student of communication I idolize Oprah as the multi-Emmy award-winning host of the most successful talk show in history. As a scholar I respect her as an influential book critic who catapults each one of her recommended authors to stardom and for her devotion to bettering education; and as a feminist and humanitarian I venerate her as the first female African American billionaire, as the most influential woman of my time, and as having accomplished all of this without a husband. Winfrey has donated countless millions to charities and foundations around the world, and most recently invested $40 million of her earnings toward her grandest contribution yet, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (Oprah is pictured with the students at the ribbon cutting ceremony). Awarding Oprah Winfrey with an honorary degree would resolve the problem proclaimed by Freedman himself; that the prestige of receiving honorary degrees has been “trivialized” by awarding celebrities and “prospective benefactors” rather than those outstanding citizens who are truly distinguished in their field. Oprah Winfrey makes for a model honoree because she possesses the celebrity and wealth which will attract the much desired media attention to the university as well as the credibility, respect of the public, and good virtue to use these gifts wisely and purposefully.

If I am going to nominate Oprah as honorary degree candidate, it is essential that I explain to you the many accomplishments that I believe make this tremendous woman so worthy. To begin with, she has mastered and monopolized all facets of media in which she has ventured. Her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, began September 8 1986, the year that I was born, and after more than 20 years on the air it is now the longest running daytime talk show in history. Like many daytime talk shows, Oprah deals with issues such as heart disease, spirituality, obesity, anorexia, as well as home decorating and beauty makeovers. One might ask; so what makes her show so special? According to Time Magazine (Oprah's TIME cover is pictured below), "Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In a field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue...What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye...They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session." This quotation, I believe, touches on Oprah’s greatest strength, that she is neither white, nor male, nor skinny, nor blonde. She is none of the personas that we are accustomed to seeing on our television set, thus she makes her guests and viewers feels comfortable and welcome. It is her unmatched ability to maintain a sense of humility in the face of such great success that make Oprah Winfrey a master of her trade and a woman worth commemorating with an honorary degree.

Although television is where she got her start, her company, Harpo Productions, publishes two magazines, O and O at Home, which in 2002 were hailed by Fortune Magazine as the most successful start-up magazines ever. Still, despite her vast number of accomplishments, Oprah’s magic lies not in her immense fame and fortune, but in impact she has personally made. In 1998 she began Oprah’s Angel Network, which has raised more than $51million for underprivileged families. To name just a few more of her most notable acts of charity, she donated $10 million to Hurricane Katrina relief and single handedly put ten black men through college with $7 million in scholarships. CNN has hailed Oprah Winfrey as the “World’s Most Powerful Woman” and Vanity Fair once wrote, “Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope.” To say this about a white male would be exceptional; but to hear this about an unmarried, at times overweight, black woman from a very humble background is just earth-shattering.

Although among much of the African American community Oprah is a hero and a legend, she has received criticism throughout her career for being “anti-black culture” and even accused of becoming “white-washed” in order to gain popularity in main-stream society. Others have said that because she is a woman her interviewing style is “too soft;” while others say that because she gives a lot of support to Africa, she is “un-American.” Inevitably, she will always have critics; as such a high caliber of fame cannot come without a price. But, that being said, who can say that Oprah Winfrey is not faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious? I believe that both James Freedman and Tommy Trojan would be proud to award Oprah Winfrey with an Honorary Degree in human letters for being an outstanding citizen, a role model, and a truly revolutionary human being. Aside from being one of the richest people in the world and one of the leading African American philanthropists, Oprah Winfrey has re-invented the face of success and turned our society’s hierarchy upside-down.