FOR FOUR YEARS, A MOTHER READ ALL THE COLLEGE BOOKS TO HER BLIND DAUGHTER. AT THE GRADUATION, SHE ALSO RECEIVED AN HONORARY DIPLOMA
Higher education often feels like a solo marathon. Students spend years buried in libraries, surviving on caffeine and sheer willpower. However, a graduation ceremony at Sakarya University in Turkey recently proved that the most difficult degrees are often a team effort. When Berru Merve Kul walked across the stage to claim her law diploma, she was not alone. Beside her stood her mother, Havva, who was about to receive a surprise that would stop the internet in its tracks.
The year was 2018 when the Faculty of Law decided to break tradition. Typically, universities reserve honorary degrees for wealthy donors or retiring politicians. But Professor Mahmut Bilen, the Dean of the faculty, had watched a different kind of dedication unfold over the last four years. Berru Merve Kul is visually impaired, and in a world where legal textbooks are notoriously dense and often inaccessible, she had a secret weapon. Havva Kul had spent every single day of her daughter’s four-year degree reading lecture notes and case studies aloud.
This was no small feat. Legal jargon is a language of its own, filled with archaic phrasing and circular logic. Havva did not just offer emotional support; she acted as her daughter’s primary interface with the world of law. She sat through the grueling hours of study, translating the ink on the page into spoken words so Berru could keep pace with her sighted peers. Recognizing this Herculean effort, Sakarya University awarded Havva an honorary law degree right alongside her daughter. The video of the two women, beaming with pride, quickly bypassed local news to become a global symbol of parental devotion.
While the story is undeniably heartwarming, it also highlights a significant gap in global education systems. According to the World Health Organization, millions of people live with some form of vision impairment, yet higher education frequently fails to provide the necessary infrastructure for them. In 2018, when this story broke, digital accessibility tools like screen readers were becoming more common, but they were still far from perfect. Many academic libraries lack comprehensive Braille collections, leaving students like Berru dependent on the physical presence of others.
The viral nature of the ceremony sparked a massive wave of reaction across social media platforms. On Reddit, the story climbed to the top of the charts with over 58,000 upvotes. Many users shared their own struggles with the law, with one commenter noting they nearly fainted just trying to read a single chapter. The consensus among the digital crowd was that Havva deserved more than just a certificate. One popular tweet even suggested she should be named ‘mother of the century’ for her sheer endurance.
However, the internet is never entirely unanimous. Amidst the praise, some critics used the moment to point out the systemic failures that made Havva’s sacrifice necessary. They argued that while her love was beautiful, no student should have to rely solely on a parent’s voice to graduate. Commenters called for better Braille resources and more audio-capable computer rooms in Turkish universities. To these observers, the honorary degree was a nice gesture that shielded a harsher reality: the school’s own facilities had not met Berru’s needs.
The history of honorary degrees is long and varied. Benjamin Franklin received one of the first in the mid-1700s, and since then, they have been used to honor everyone from Kermit the Frog to Oprah Winfrey. Usually, these awards recognize a lifetime of achievement or a significant contribution to a specific field. Giving one to a student’s mother for her “study services” is a rare move that humanizes the often-stiff world of academia. It shifts the focus from what a person “knows” to how they helped someone else succeed.
Ultimately, this graduation ceremony serves as a reminder of the unseen labor behind every success story. We love to celebrate the individual who crosses the finish line, but we rarely look at the people holding them up. Berru Merve Kul is a lawyer today because she was brilliant and determined. But she is also a lawyer because Havva Kul refused to let her daughter’s vision define her daughter’s future. It is a story about the power of education, but even more so, it is about a mother who refused to stop reading until the story ended in a degree.
