WASHINGTON: Thirteen years after dropping out of Harvard University to work on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg finally got his degree — well, sort of.
Zuckerberg returned to the university where he launched what would become the world’s biggest social network, and basked in the spotlight by receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree and addressing the 2017 commencement.
His speech capped a nostalgic visit for the 33-year-old billionaire, which included a visit to his old dorm room.
“Mom, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree,” read the caption of a picture he posted of him, posing with his honorary diploma and his parents.
Facebook — now one of the biggest tech firms, with nearly 2 billion members worldwide — grew out of a website he created on campus.
He left Harvard in May 2004, according to his Facebook profile.
In his address, which he said he had been working on “for a long time,” Zuckerberg urged graduates of his alma mater to “build great things.”
He highlighted themes of equality, inclusiveness and opportunity, while urging students to be unafraid to take chances.
“I’m here to tell you that finding your purpose isn’t enough,” he told the rain-soaked crowd in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Our challenge is to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.”
Zuckerberg said he is from the same generation as the new graduates, and that the so-called millennials will be facing a challenge of inequality, disillusionment and a loss of jobs to automation.
“It’s our generation’s turn to build great things,” he said.
“Let’s do big things... not just to create progress but to create purpose.”
Zuckerberg said opportunity is hindered by “a level of wealth inequality that hurts everyone” and that this is one of the social problems that need to be addressed.
“Right now our society is way overindexed on rewarding people who are successful,” he said.
“There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years while millions of students can’t even afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.”
Zuckerberg said this generation needs to find creative solutions to social problems.
“We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure everyone has a cushion to try new ideas,” he said.
“Now it’s time for our generation to define a new social contract. We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP (gross domestic product) but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful.”
13 years after quitting, Zuckerberg gets Harvard degree
13 years after quitting, Zuckerberg gets Harvard degree
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
