Hamilton College’s Board of Trustees, at an Oct. 21 meeting, opted to uphold an Honorary Degree awarded to Kurt Waldheim. The Hamilton archives website states that Hamilton gave Waldheim a Doctors of Law Degree in 1974. Hamilton alum Walter Kass H’78 P’16 first approached the board with a case to rescind Waldheim’s degree in the mid-2000s. At that time, the board and former College President Joan Hinde Stewart decided against rescinding the degree. Kass reintroduced the case this fall, although the board discussed the matter and opted to uphold their original decision.

Waldheim, who passed away in 2007, served two terms as U.N. Secretary-General, from 1972 to 1982. In 1986, during his campaign for the Austrian Presidency, it came to light that he served as a lieutenant in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia and Greece during World War II. During his time, in which he served as a squad leader, Waldheim approved a packet of anti-Semitic propaganda to be dropped behind Soviet Union lines, many including the statement “Enough of the Jewish war, kill the Jews, come over.”

According to

TIME

magazine and the

New York Times

, Waldheim lied about the supposed early termination of his service, as he in fact had returned to the army after recovering from an injury sustained in 1942.

Following his service, Waldheim completed his law degree at University of Vienna and joined the Austrian diplomatic service. While in the foreign service, Waldheim served as First Secretary of the Legation in Paris, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna, as Ambassador to Canada, and as Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations. Shortly after, he ran and was defeated in the 1971 Austrian presidential elections.

After this defeat, Waldheim was named Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1972. Despite opposition, he was renamed to the same position in 1976. In 1981, Waldheim ran for an unprecedented third term as Secretary-General. China previously vetoed his selection in 1971 and 1976, but he was selected after they changed their veto to abstentions. In 1981, however, China refused to accept Waldheim’s ascension to a third term — vetoing him a record 16 times — eventually forcing him to resign.

In 1986, Waldheim once again sought the Austrian presidency. While he wan the presidency on June 8, the campaign cycle was marked by what would become known as the “Waldheim Affair.” The World Jewish Congress, based on United Nations War Crimes Commission files, alleged that Waldheim had lied about his service in the

Sturmabteilung

and his time as an officer in Greece. Waldheim called the allegations “pure lies and malicious acts,” although he admitted awareness to German crimes, explaining that “Yes I knew. I was horrified. But what could I do? I have either to continue to serve to be executed?”

Throughout his term as President — he served from 1986 to 1992 — Waldheim and his wife Elisabeth were deemed

person nongratae

by the United States; this designation placed them on a “watch list,” thereby barring them from entering the country. During a 1994 visit to the Vatican, Pope John Paul II awarded Waldheim a knighthood in the Order of Pius IX

In a posthumously published letter, Waldheim said he regretted having voiced his “unequivocal” stance on Nazi war crimes too late in his life. Following his 2007 death, Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, issued a message “voicing sadness.”

In his 1975 Commencement Speech, Waldheim, as quoted in the

The Lowell Sun

, told Hamilton graduates that “American disillusionment with the United Nations is based on excessive expectations of the world organization and on “a desire to draw away from the harsh realities of our changing world,” adding, “The fact is that no nation, however large and powerful, can exist in isolation economically, politically or even military interdependence is a dominant reality now.” The official archives report having both a recorded audio and print copy of Waldheim’s 1975 speech.

Susan Skerritt K’77 P’11, Chair of the Board of Trustees’ Honorary Degree Committee, spoke to the board’s decision to uphold Waldheim’s degree. “The question regarding Kurt Waldheim’s honorary degree came before the College’s Board of Trustees years ago. At that time, the Board made a decision not to take any action. In response to the recent inquiry, the current Board discussed the matter at the meeting held on Oct. 21 and concluded that there was no new information to warrant changing the original decision,” she told

The Spectator

via email. The College has never rescinded an Honorary Degree.

Throughout his life, Waldheim received many honorary degrees from colleges and universities, including the University of South Carolina, Harvard University, Williams College, and Skidmore College, amongst others. It appears that none of these schools have rescinded Waldheim’s degree.