# Is Obama the first president with a college degree who has declined to release his college records? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119 "2012-11-06T18:38:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wm.m.thompson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wm.m.thompson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wm.m.thompson)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/1 "2012-11-06T18:38:46Z")
Is Obama the first president with a college degree who has declined to release his college records? I don’t remember where I heard this. So I do not know if it is true or not. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/2 "2012-11-06T18:41:27Z")
No, it has never been standard for presidents or presidential nominees to release their college transcripts. Try again. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/3 "2012-11-06T18:53:53Z")
Candidates usually do not release their college records. The grades of a few candidates over the years have been leaked, and from that, people got the impression that the release of those grades was standard. It isn’t. For the candidates there is no upside to releasing your grades and some downside: if your grades are great, people will say ‘who cares - it’s old news.’ If they’re bad, people will say it shows the candidate is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![babygoat666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@babygoat666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babygoat666)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/4 "2012-11-06T18:56:38Z")
> [@wm.m.thompson](#): > > Is Obama the first president with a college degree who has declined to release his college records? > > I don’t remember where I heard this. So I do not know if it is true or not. It is a paranoid conspiracy theory still attempting to portray him as foreign-born. Nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/5 "2012-11-06T19:02:32Z")
[No.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072799.htm) > [@](#): > > Bush has not given permission to either Andover or Yale to release his grades. They were subsequently leaked, as were Gore’s; Kerry [released his voluntarily after the campaign was over](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8127403/ns/politics/t/kerry-got-slow-start-yale-transcript-shows/), but declined to do so during the campaign. No idea about Clinton, and I’d be surprised if this was even an issue with previous generations of candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/6 "2012-11-06T19:04:43Z")
Addendum: I suppose it may be _technically_ true that no president has declined to release his college records, but only because Bush wasn’t president yet when he declined, and it’s entirely possible that none of the other presidents were ever asked. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/7 "2012-11-06T19:08:06Z")
Yes, usually even political opponents don’t go through the trouble of demanding college records. Draft records come to mind too, but those tend to disappear … I think Donald Trump is under the misapprehension that the guy who got to be head of Harvard Law Review did it by affirmative action. The guy who managed to become a senator and then the first black president at at time when most people did not believe it would happen in their lifetime - that this guy could not get by on merit? That he was a “gentleman’s C” student like his predecessor? Or else during his whole life he’s been say “born in Hawaii” but on his college applications would have put “born in Kenya”? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/8 "2012-11-06T19:12:48Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > [No.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072799.htm) > > They were subsequently leaked, as were Gore’s; Kerry [released his voluntarily after the campaign was over](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8127403/ns/politics/t/kerry-got-slow-start-yale-transcript-shows/), but declined to do so during the campaign. No idea about Clinton, and I’d be surprised if this was even an issue with previous generations of candidates. Clinton? Rhodes scholar, the guy that was so good at speeches he was substituting for the governor at campaign rallies as a student? What would be the point of demanding his college records? To show he wasn’t smart? Frankly, unless the candidate has been pushed as a figurehead by a backroom organization - nobody who has made it to the top is stoopid. Some may be much brighter, but they are all pretty bright. You have only to look at the spectacular crash-and-burn by most of the other Republican contenders to see the kind of scrutiny they face to prove themselves. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/9 "2012-11-06T19:57:13Z")
Should note the the thread poster is a drive-by shooter. Still not a bad question - just wondering about the motive. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/10 "2012-11-06T19:59:38Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > What would be the point of demanding his college records? To show he wasn’t smart? You could say the same about Obama, who went to Harvard Law, graduated with honors, and was president of the law review. And yet here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/11 "2012-11-06T20:01:17Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > just wondering about the motive. It’s not the motive I’m curious about, it’s the timing. Little late in the day, wouldn’t you say? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/12 "2012-11-06T20:02:44Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Should note the the thread poster is a drive-by shooter. Still not a bad question - just wondering about the motive. And it’s his first post since signing up over four years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/13 "2012-11-06T20:07:55Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > And it’s his first post since signing up over four years ago. That is totally untrue-it’s been over _five_ years. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/14 "2012-11-06T20:15:45Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > And it’s his first post since signing up over four years ago. Clearly a deep seeded mole, intending to influence the national election by introducing last-minute doubts into all four thousand members of the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/15 "2012-11-06T20:21:01Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Clearly a deep seeded mole, intending to influence the national election by introducing last-minute doubts into all four thousand members of the SDMB. _Or_ this was the most important question he has had in over five years…but it wasn’t important enough to stick around for. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/16 "2012-11-06T20:21:59Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Clearly a deep seeded mole, intending to influence the national election by introducing last-minute doubts into all four thousand members of the SDMB. FWIW, I was a member for about six years before I ever posted. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/17 "2012-11-06T20:23:40Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > It’s not the motive I’m curious about, it’s the timing. Little late in the day, wouldn’t you say? Just a coincidence that we’re having this conversation on the eve of an election? It’s clap trap, designed so that the hysterics can scream “Why won’t he release his records?” and nothing else. If he did release them, no doubt the hysterics would proclaim them to be forgeries. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/18 "2012-11-06T20:25:49Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Just a coincidence that we’re having this conversation on the eve of an election? People have been asking about this for years, so I don’t see why the timing of the OP really matters. The highly esteemed Donald Trump recently said he’d give $5 million to charity if Obama would release his college transcript or some other records. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/19 "2012-11-06T20:31:21Z")
I had dinner Saturday with a college professor, who said that it is illegal for colleges and universities to release records, except to official recipients. (e.g., your undergraduate records released to the college where you go for post-grad education.) He said that he, himself, couldn’t get his records released to the newspapers; it isn’t legal. Is this just a California thing only? Or is it even true at all? (Wouldn’t be the first prof who told me something wrong!) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119/20 "2012-11-06T20:37:05Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I had dinner Saturday with a college professor, who said that it is illegal for colleges and universities to release records, except to official recipients. (e.g., your undergraduate records released to the college where you go for post-grad education.) He said that he, himself, couldn’t get his records released to the newspapers; it isn’t legal. > > Is this just a California thing only? Or is it even true at all? (Wouldn’t be the first prof who told me something wrong!) I don’t think that’s right. With an appropriate waiver you can have anything released. If the institution won’t do it, get the records yourself and hand them over to Drudge. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obama-the-first-president-with-a-college-degree-who-has-declined-to-release-his-college-records/640119.md?page=2)