Dr Barack Obama has accepted the university’s award on him
of the honorary doctorate of laws
http://www.uj.ac.za/EN/Newsroom/News/Pages/Dr-Barack-Obama-has-has-accepted-the-university’s-award-on-him-of-the-honorary-doctorate-of-laws.aspx
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg,
Professor Ihron Rensburg, today announced that Dr Barack Obama has duly
informed the university that he has accepted the university’s award on him of
the honorary doctorate of laws.
The Vice Chancellor said, “It is my delight and pleasure to
announce, on behalf of the entire community of the University of Johannesburg,
that Dr Barack Obama has become our newest alumnus, and that all matters
relating to the award were concluded according to the relevant policies and
charters of the university.”
The ceremonial conferral of the honorary doctorate on Dr
Barack Obama will not take place during Dr Barack Obama's visit to South Africa.
The Vice Chancellor said that, “There at least three reasons for postponing the
conferral of the award. First, it is normal and standard that the formal
procedures relating to the conferral of an honorary degree do not coincide with
the actual conferral of the qualification. Secondly, Dr Barack Obama's visit to
South Africa is a matter
between the South African State
and the USA.
Accordingly, and on this occasion, Dr Obama is a guest of the South African
State and the South African people, and not of the University of Johannesburg.
As such, he has a full schedule determined well in advance
which does not include the matter of the ceremonial conferral of the honorary
degree - in spite of intense media speculation in this regard. Thirdly, Dr
Barack Obama's visit to South Africa
coincides with the worrying and unsettling matter of the illness of our beloved
former President Nelson Mandela, and in this regard, both UJ and Dr Barack
Obama would wish to use this time to join the people of South Africa,
and of the world, in praying for Madiba and his family.”
Accordingly, the ceremonial conferral of the honorary
doctorate on Dr Barack Obama will take place at a future occasion on a mutually
agreed date.
Professor Ihron Rensburg
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
MOTIVATION TO CONFER THE DEGREE DOCTOR LEGUM (DOCTOR OF LAWS) HONORABILIS CAUSA ON BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA II, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
President Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th president of the United States of America in 2009, President Obama has an illustrious career. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1981. He entered Harvard Law School in 1988 where he was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year. In his second year he became the first ever Black president of that journal. He worked as an associate at law firms during university holidays. In 1991 he graduated with a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude.
In 1991 Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004.
In 1993, he joined an attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighbourhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, and then counsel from 1996 to 2004. Throughout his career he demonstrated his exceptional commitment to community work and used the law as a tool to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.
His presidency brought the hope of changing the climate of international relations. It created the opportunity to strengthen international diplomacy and to increase cooperation between peoples, and raised the hopes of a world without nuclear arms. The international community looked forward to his country recognising the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play in in resolving even the most difficult international conflicts by dialogue and negotiations. The world also looked forward to the United States, under his leadership, playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. It looked forward to that country providing the leadership to strengthen democracy and human rights all over the world. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
After assuming office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the United States military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds and preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee into the United States or to other countries. Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records.
Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency, including the first ever Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Following these appointment, three of the nine judges of the Supreme Court are female, the highest ever in American history.
The Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming.
He signed an act that extended the federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. He also signed an act to fulfil a promise he made in the 2008 presidential campaign to end the Don't ask, Don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces. He instructed agencies to consider laws affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender when issuing financial aid to foreign countries. In 2013 the Obama administration filed briefs which urged the Supreme Court to rule in favour of same-sex couples in two cases before it.
In 2010 Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, and also commonly known as Obama’s Health Care Reform. This federal statute represents the most significant government expansion and regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the mid-1960s.
In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the Israeli government to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. During the same month, an agreement was reached with the administration of the Russian President to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third. The new treaty was signed in April 2010 and ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 2010.
Although the United States is not at present a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, it has under Obama’s leadership engaged with State Parties to the Rome Statute on issues of concern. It is willing to consider assistance in response to specific requests from the I.C.C. prosecutor and other court officials, consistent with U.S. law, when it is in U.S. national interest to do so. Under his leadership the United States is working to strengthen national justice systems and supports hoc international tribunals and hybrid courts which seek to hold those who intentionally target innocent civilians accountable.
Since November 2009, the United States has participated in an observer capacity in meetings of the I.C.C. Assembly of States Parties (ASP). The United States sent an observer delegation to the I.C.C. Review Conference held in Kampala, Uganda from May 31 to June 11, 2010.
Further, the United States under Obama’s leadership announced that it will soon join the more than 65 countries which have already signed a landmark treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade. Considering that the United States produces more arms than any other country in the world, this will contribute greatly to the first major international campaign to stem the illicit trade in weapons that fuel conflicts and extremists.
The University’s vision is to be an international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping its future. Its mission to support this vision is to inspire its community to transform and serve humanity through innovation and the collaborative pursuit of knowledge. The values which underpin this vision and mission are, imagination, conversation, regeneration and an ethical foundation, and Obama has demonstrated distinguished social and intellectual achievement related to the University’s vision, mission, values and strategic goals and would thus be a worthy recipient of the degree Legum Doctoris (Doctor of Laws) honorabilis causa.
Patrick O’Brian (Executive Dean: Faculty of Law
Dawie De Villiers (Professor: Faculty of Law)
6 June 2013
Barack Obama visits Soweto Campus of University of
Johannesburg South Africa - http://www.uj.ac.za/EN/Pages/Barack-Obama-visits-Soweto-Campus-of-University-of-Johannesburg-South-Africa.aspx
University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Soweto Campus will be one of the
stops for United States President Barack Obama when he visits South Africa
this week. President Barack Obama will visit UJ on Saturday, 29 June 2013 to
lead a Young African Leaders Initiative meeting with an invited delegation of
students. Some of the students and
young leaders attending are anticipating engaging with Barack Obama about
issues concerning the youth. President Obama will address the delegation in Soweto, a part of South Africa which is now symbolic
of tourism, culture, and a growing middle-class. UJ will be streaming this
historic event live from Soweto
on Saturday to keep you updated about Barack Obama and his visit. Watch the live feed of President Barack
Obama visiting the Soweto Campus of the University
of Johannesburg South Africa on 29 June 2013.
University
of Johannesburg
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