Talk:Ernest W. Gibson Jr.

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Bot-created subpage

A temporary subpage at User:Polbot/fjc/Ernest William Gibson Jr. was automatically created by a perl script, based on this article at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. The subpage should either be merged into this article, or moved and disambiguated. Polbot (talk) 22:53, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Honors

I included in this article Gibson's receipt of an honorary Doctor of Juridical Science degree. It's reliably sourced, but I have yet to find the institution that granted it. I search periodically to see if any new references have become available that will enable me to identify the school, which I'll continue to do until I find it.

Billmckern (talk) 07:25, 28 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I added an additional reference to verify that Gibson was awarded an honorary DJS. I include here this reference, which verifies that the DJS is sometimes awarded as an honorary degree. It was awarded by Suffolk University Law School to Congressman Fernand St. Germain in 1976.

Billmckern (talk) 07:45, 28 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I am marking this as dubious and requesting further discussion from other editors. The Doctor of Juridical Science is never awarded as an honorary degree. It is possible that the source itself is in error. Safiel (talk) 07:50, 28 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It is also possible that he may have earned this degree later in life, as sometimes is done. If it was indeed awarded as an earned degree, it needs to move to a different section and be marked as an earned degree, rather than an honorary degree. Safiel (talk) 07:55, 28 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Safiel: Sources that show the DJS is awarded as an honorary degree (besides the ones I already provided): Ohio Bar Digest; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography; "Honorary Degree Recipients, Lake Forest College" (Samuel Weiler Witwer, 1971); Bob's Blog, Providence Friars, May 22, 2009; Obituary, Edward B. Hanify '33; Biography, Richard Ammi Cutler; Biography, Leon Jaworski.

What do you think? Are six references enough to show that the DJS can be awarded as an honorary degree, or shall we continue?

I agree that it's possible Gibson's DJS was earned. I think it wasn't, because it's listed in his bios after his first honorary LL.D. That's not evidence of course, but I expect that if it was earned, he'd have listed it before his honorary degree in the biographical summaries he provided to some of the sources, such as the Vermont Secretary of State. That's why I continue to look for the details about the institution that granted it.

Billmckern (talk) 10:34, 28 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Safiel: Update -- I now know from articles in the Boston Globe from June 9 and 15, 1958 that Judge Gibson was included in that year's honorary degree recipients at Suffolk University Law School. The articles don't say what degree he received, and I can't find it in my own online searching, so I wrote to the university's library staff and asked them to help. I suspect this is when he received his DJS, based on what it started to appear in his biographical summaries (1960-1961). I'll provide an update as soon as I hear back, assuming I do.

Billmckern (talk) 12:42, 28 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Safiel: In an email exchange earlier today, a senior editor in Suffolk University's public affairs office confirmed that the honorary degree Judge Gibson received from Suffolk University Law School in 1958 was a Doctor of Juridical Science. I've updated the article accordingly and added a note referencing the email exchange. I think we've come up with a definite answer to the question.

Billmckern (talk) 17:23, 17 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]