Colleges Rescind Honorary Degrees Awarded To Trump, Giuliani Following Capitol Riot - Forbes

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Topline

In the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, several colleges have rescinded the honorary degrees they awarded to President Donald Trump, and Middlebury College took away a degree it awarded to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, while other schools are facing pressure to do the same, a sign of how institutions and businesses are responding to the Washington, D.C., riot that on Wednesday led to the president’s impeachment.

Key Facts

On Friday, the board of trustees at Lehigh University, a small school in Pennsylvania, voted to rescind the honorary degree it awarded to Trump in 1988.

Hours later the board of trustees for Wagner University, a private school located in Staten Island, New York, followed suit, voting to strip Trump of the honorary degree it awarded the president in 2004.

University of Pennsylvania alumni are pressuring the school to strip Trump of his bachelor's degree, which the president earned in 1968, by threatening to withhold donations, though it’s much more difficult for a college to revoke an earned degree.

On Tuesday, Middlebury College, a liberal arts school in Vermont, took away the honorary degree it awarded Giuliani in 2005 after the attorney called for a “trial by combat” during a speech at the “Save America” march outside the Capitol last Wednesday.

St. John Fisher College, a school in Rochester, New York, is considering rescinding the honorary degree it awarded Giuliani in 2015, while Drexel University and the Citadel have yet to comment on whether Giuliani will lose the honorary degrees they bestowed on him.

The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Citadel University and Liberty University all did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment Thursday.

What To Watch For

Robert Gordon University in Scotland stripped Trump of his degree in 2015, citing “wholly incompatible” comments then candidate Trump made during the campaign, leaving Liberty University as the only school to not take away the honorary degrees it awarded to Trump. (The evangelical university awarded Trump two honorary degrees, one in 2012 and another in 2017.)

Tangent

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) relinquished his honorary degree from Grinnell College on Wednesday after Grinnell alumni filed a petition asking the school to revoke the degree over Cole’s decision to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Key Background

After Trump’s niece Mary Trump claimed the president paid someone to take his SAT test in a book released last year, the University of Pennsylvania faced pressure from professors and alumni to investigate the allegation and strip Trump of his degree. The school declined.

Crucial Quote

In an editorial published last week, The Daily Pennsylvanian, the University of Pennsylvania school newspaper, called on the school to “forcefully condemn” Trump but stopped short of demanding the university strip Trump of his degree, saying it would be “drastic” and “impractical.” “The least the University can do is distance itself from its most famous graduate and set the record straight,” the editorial board wrote. “Donald Trump may have earned his degree from Penn, but he represents the antithesis of the University’s values and the fact-based pursuit of reason for which this school stands.”

Surprising Fact

In an interview with Roanoke, Virginia-based WSLS channel 10 News on Tuesday, Jerry Falwell Jr., the former president of Liberty University who resigned in August 2020 following a sex scandal, said he would give Trump “another degree” if he was still president. Falwell Jr., a major ally of Trump’s, said the president has “done nothing wrong” before falsely claiming the election was “stolen” from him by “thugs.”