Harvard degree for 'drop out' Gates

Stephen Withers
Friday, 23 March 2007 13:04

Business IT - Technology

Harvard University has announced that Bill Gates will be the principal speaker at the commencement ceremony later this year - 30 years after starting an undergraduate degree that he never completed.

Gates entered Harvard in 1973, but in 1975 left to concentrate his efforts on Microsoft, the fledgling company he had co-founded with Paul Allen.

Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's CEO, was a classmate of Gates and lived in the same Harvard residence.

"I am very pleased that the Harvard community will have the opportunity to hear from Bill Gates on June 7," said Paul Finnegan, president of the Harvard Alumni Association. "His contributions to the world of business and technology, and the great example he has set through his far-reaching philanthropy, will rightfully put him on center stage in Harvard Yard. I look forward to greeting him in June."

It is customary for the commencement speaker to be awarded an honorary degree, and few would argue that Gates' business and philanthropic achievements warrant such recognition.

While hindsight shows that Gates did the right thing by dropping out, my impression (for what it's worth) from interviewing him some 20 years ago is that he will accept the degree with genuine satisfaction.