Singapore Premier Gets Cold Shoulders
About 70 students and faculty members silently turned their backs on the prime minister of Singapore on Saturday as he entered a convocation ceremony to receive an honorary degree.
“We don’t think the college should honor the leader of a government that represses the same basic freedoms that are so valued on this campus,” said George T. Crane, a political science professor and organizer of the protest.
Goh Chok Tong did not react, and the convocation proceeded without further incident. Goh, who earned a master’s degree at Williams in 1967, was awarded an honorary doctorate of law.
“It is all right and proper in context, but it is very confusing to me,” Goh said of the protest.
He said the faculty members and students who opposed the decision to present him a degree were like members of the Cabinet openly defying a presidential decision.
His critics complain that Goh’s government sometimes detains without trial, arrests without warrant, censors political opponents, and squelches criticism.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
