Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert who rose to fame at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 having clashed with then-president Donald Trump over COVID policy and practices, received an honorary degree during Bowdoin College’s commencement Saturday.
Fauci, who now serves as President Biden’s chief medical advisor, was not personally in attendance but received the honor via livestream video.
Saturday’s ceremonies occurred in-person after what college President Clayton Rose called a historic year that saw the college implement new policies to ensure social distancing and masking requirements to mitigate the spread of the disease on campus. “If we have learned anything from the past year, it is how much this matters,” Rose said in his remarks to graduates, referencing the celebration in which nearly 470 degrees were conferred. “How essential it is.”
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