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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Smith College said musician Evelyn M. Harris borrowed much of her May 18, 2025 commencement speech from other commencement addresses without attribution. Two days later, Harris chose to relinquish the honorary degree the college had awarded her, and Smith President Sarah Willie-LeBreton accepted that decision.
What happened at Smith College’s 2025 commencement?
Smith held its 147th commencement on May 18, 2025. Harris was one of four honorary-degree recipients and delivered remarks. The college described her as a singer, composer and former member of Sweet Honey in the Rock. Smith’s event coverage and its commencement program document the ceremony and her role.
Why did Harris relinquish the honorary degree?
In a May 20 letter to the Smith community, President Sarah Willie-LeBreton said the college had learned Harris “borrowed much of her speech to graduates and their families from the commencement speeches of others without the attribution typical of and central to the ideals of academic integrity.” The letter describes Smith’s account of the issue; the college’s public materials do not identify the other speeches or provide a passage-by-passage comparison.
Willie-LeBreton also wrote that Harris had been forthcoming in their post-event conversations and had acknowledged her choices, while seeking to infuse others’ words with her own emotional valence. This is the president’s account of those conversations; the reviewed materials do not include a separate direct public statement by Harris.
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The president’s letter says Harris chose to relinquish the honorary degree and that Willie-LeBreton accepted her decision. In the letter’s words: “With appreciation for the requirement of academic integrity so central to the values of Smith, Ms. Harris has chosen to relinquish her honorary degree.” The college’s account describes a voluntary relinquishment, not a revocation. Read Willie-LeBreton’s May 20 letter.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is established—and what is not?
- Established by Smith: The college said much of Harris’s commencement speech was borrowed from other commencement speeches without attribution.
- Degree outcome: Harris chose to relinquish the honorary degree, and the president accepted that choice.
- Not specified in Smith’s public account: The source speeches, the passages at issue, and the amount of text involved. The available materials therefore do not support naming a particular speech or assigning a percentage to the borrowed material.
Contemporaneous coverage by Boston.com also reported the degree’s return. “Plagiarizing” appeared in headlines, but Smith’s president described the conduct more specifically as borrowing without attribution.
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