Anita Perez '24
On May 18, 2022, Taylor Swift received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from New York University (NYU) and gave a speech to the Class of 2022 at Yankee Stadium.
Honorary doctorates are degrees a university gives to celebrate a person’s contributions to a specific industry. They do not hold the same weight as a traditional doctorate. Someone who contributes to law may be given a Doctor of Laws (LL.D), while someone who contributes to the arts may be given a Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A). Some celebrities that have been given honorary degrees are Aretha Franklin, Ed Sheeran, and Celine Dion.
According to NYU, she was awarded the degree because she is “one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of her generation.”
In her commencement speech, Swift discussed her music career and mentioned how she didn’t get to have a “normal college experience.”
She also shared advice on effort and resilience with the graduating class. She said, “Never be ashamed of trying. Effortless is a myth.”
She stated, “When hard things happen to us, we will recover, we will learn from it, we will grow more resilient because of it. As long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, and breathe out.”
She then joked, “I am a doctor now, so I know how breathing works.”
Swift concluded her speech by saying, “I hope you know how proud I am to share this day with you. We’re doing this together so let’s just keep on dancing like we’re the class of ‘22.”
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