UCD president Dr Hugh Brady is at the centre of renewed controversy after the university awarded honorary degrees to the Ryder Cup captains and senior golf officials last week.
The honorary doctorates were given by UCD - without reference to the National University of Ireland (NUI), the group which awards degrees in UCD and three other Irish universities.
An extraordinary meeting of the NUI senate, the group that runs the body, has been called by its chancellor, Dr Garret Fitz-Gerald, after complaints from academics about UCD's action.
Honorary doctorates in law were awarded to Ian Woosnam, the Europe Ryder Cup captain, and his US counterpart, Tom Lehman, at a special ceremony in the K Club last Tuesday.
Little was known of the award ceremony until photos of the recipients - with Dr Brady, Dr Michael Smurfit and senior academics - were published on the UCD website.
Dr Smurfit, the K Club president, is a leading donor to UCD, where the business school bears his family name. But the university said his involvement did not influence the decision to make the awards, which was agreed by the university's academic council.
At last week's ceremony doctorates were also awarded to senior Professional Golfers Association officials including Ken Schofield, former executive director of the European Tour; Philip Weaver, PGA chairman; Roger Warren, president of the PGA of America; and Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour.
Last night, UCD said the university was within its rights to award the degrees without reference to the NUI. The proposed senate meeting was entirely a matter for the NUI. Relations between UCD and the NUI have been unsettled for some time.
There has been speculation that UCD would like to sever its links with the NUI. Some in UCD have questioned the wisdom of the college spending millions marketing the UCD "brand" when its degrees are awarded by the NUI.
The university is one of four constituent universities of the NUI; the others are NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth and University College Cork.
UCD said last night it had been awarding its own degrees up to masters level since 1997.
On UCD's website, Dr Brady says the university prides itself as "Ireland's premier nursery for sporting excellence. We award more golf scholarships than any other Irish university and the award of the degrees today will inspire our current and future students to sporting excellence."
