Woodrow Wilson strongly disapproved of the indiscriminate granting of honorary degrees during his tenure as president of Princeton University.
He remarked, "Our universities have recently learned to confer honorary degrees with care. In the past, however, the practice was rather promiscuous. I once encountered an uncouth individual who held three such degrees, yet his speech and demeanor were exceedingly rude."
When I inquired of an acquaintance how this could be, he explained, "Well, the third was awarded because he already had two. The second was given because he had one, and the first was conferred simply because he showed up."