Facebook
founder and billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg has been honoured with an
honorary doctor of Law Degree from Harvard after dropping out of school
12 years ago.
Zuckerberg, seated beside actor James Earl Jones, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has returned to Harvard University
under rainy skies to give a graduation speech and receive an honorary
degree.
The world's fifth-richest person, worth $62.3bn (£48.1bn), famously
dropped out of Harvard after launching the global social-networking
website.
Mr Zuckerberg called for students to "not only create new jobs, but create a new sense of purpose".
Political experts think he may be positioning himself to run for
office. During his remarks on Thursday, Mr Zuckerberg told graduates
that "we live in an unstable time".
"There's pressure to turn inwards," he said about those that feel left behind by increased globalisation.
"This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom,
openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism,
isolationism and nationalism."
With his wife, Priscilla, in the audience, he pointed to the
dormitory where he launched Facebook, and remarked that meeting her
there was the best thing to happen to him at the university.
Before giving remarks, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws
degree during Harvard's 366th graduation ceremony. On Wednesday, he did a
Facebook Live broadcast from his old dorm room.
"This is literally where I sat," he says, pointing to a small wooden desk and chair inside Kirkland House, which is due to be renovated over the summer.
"I had my little laptop here. And this is where I programmed Facebook," he tells the camera.
During his commencement address, Mr Zuckerberg told students: "There
is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make
billions of dollars in ten years when millions of students can't afford
to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.
"When you don't have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose," he continued.
He told stories of meeting "children in juvenile detention and
opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out
differently if they just had something to do".
The 33-year-old appeared to get choked up at one point during a
story about an high school student who feared he would not be able to
enrol in university because he was an undocumented immigrant.
More than 1.9 billion people log onto Facebook every day. Since its
launch in 2004, Facebook has inspired many other social media
competitors, including Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. In 2007 another
Harvard dropout returned for an honorary degree.
Bill Gates addressed students shortly after stepping down from the
world's largest software company, Microsoft, to launch to focus on his
charity.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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