MADISON, S.D. – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been nominated to receive an honorary doctorate from Dakota State University (DSU) — over the objections of faculty and student senators.
José-Marie Griffiths, president of the Madison school, sent DSU’s Student Association Senate an open letter March 14 nominating Noem for the honorary degree, Anden Wieseler, vice president of the student senate, told the Argus Leader April 20.
But when Noem’s nomination went to the student senate March 19, eight students on the 16-person committee voted against recommending for the degree, Wieseler said.
“(Griffiths) believes that she’s qualified for the degree, including things that Kristi Noem did for the university while she was governor, noting her success as a South Dakotan and just her history with the United States government,” Wieseler said in a phone interview.
Four student senators abstained from voting on the honorary degree because they are on student visas, Wieseler said. One voted in support, and three others were not present.
“The majority of the Student Association Senate is currently comprised of international students who have expressed anonymously but broadly that they don’t want to get involved in any of the honorary degree nonsense,” Wieseler said. “A lot of them are fearful that maybe their visas will get revoked.”
The university’s general faculty also voted against awarding Noem an honorary degree, Wieseler said.
Administrators at Dakota State University did not respond to requests for comment. The Department of Homeland Security also did not respond for requests for comment.
The majority of the university association rejected the nomination because of Noem’s political rhetoric, according to a resolution students approved April 9.
The letter refers to Noem’s statements on “immigrants, transgender people, those of opposing political viewpoints, and other classes of individuals,” which the students described in the letter as “widely perceived as negative, in some cases false, and is therefore a detriment to the goals and mission of Dakota State University.”
After the resolution had passed, however, Wieseler said the general faculty reconvened for a second vote on Noem’s nomination, which passed.
Kristi Noem has colorful but controversial political history
Noem has a storied and sometimes controversial history in South Dakota politics since her first electoral victory in 2006 when she was elected to the state’s House of Representatives. She served two terms.
Noem later won the lone South Dakota slot in the U.S House of Representatives in 2010, serving four terms.
The Watertown-born Republican made South Dakota history when she became the state’s first female governor on Jan. 5, 2019, after narrowly beating Democrat Billie Sutton.
Noem boosted her political profile through a pro-liberty approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included her refusal to issue statewide lockdowns, business closures and mandate mask wearing.
Noem became a MAGA favorite between 2020 and 2024 and was rumored to be on Donald Trump’s shortlist for vice president during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Her chances were squashed, though, after passages from her memoir became public in which she described fatally shooting a 14-month-old hunting dog named Cricket more than 20 years ago. The German wirehaired pointer had disrupted a pheasant hunt and later attacked and killed chickens belonging to a local family, Noem said.
She also shot a goat she disliked that she said smelled bad.
Students feared retribution, student senate vp says.
Wieseler said fear of retribution for opposing the honorary degree extended beyond the student senate to some of the university’s general students.
“I have only heard personally from one individual that they’re in support of Kristi Noem receiving this degree,” Wieseler said. “I am sure there are more on our campus, don’t get me wrong, but in the conversations I’ve had, and I’ve had conversations with at least 50 to 75 students on campus just in the last couple of weeks … the only one that I’ve heard that’s directly in support of this is one of the senators.”
Wieseler said the university’s senate “almost never” rejects a university president’s nomination for an honorary doctorate.
The majority of DSU’s student senators remain opposed to Griffiths’ decision, Wieseler said, and several alumni and three previous senate presidents have indicated their support.
“We know that we have the backing on this, and that’s why we did it,” Wieseler said.
The student-led resolution also cited the Trump administration’s push for the mass deportation of immigrants under a Noem-led Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, describing it as a “political weapon for the current administration to detain and/or deport legal residents, citizens and lawful students in the U.S. without due process.”
“We felt this year that, just with the state of affairs and the political backdrop, that the timing wasn’t right, especially considering the fact that a lot of the people who are going to be at commencement are international students who are there with their families,” Wieseler said.
