Bill Wilson Declines Honorary Degrees
In the wake of Alcoholic Anonymous’ success, several colleges and universities offer Bill Wilson honorary degrees. He declines, explaining why in this excerpt from a letter to Yale University, which had proposed an honorary Doctor of Laws degree: “The tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous . . . entreats each member to avoid all that particular kind of personal publicity or distinction which might link his name with our Society in the general public mind.” He then quotes A.A.’s need for anonymity, as stated in Tradition Twelve..
Bill Wilson