Rudy Giuliani just can’t win — though he’s only got himself to blame. The man once widely known as “America’s Mayor,” who was named TIME’s Person of the Year in 2001, has devolved into an international laughingstock, for reasons far beyond confusing Philadelphia’s Four Seasons Hotel with a small landscaping outfit. His utter (and some might say misguided) devotion to Donald Trump and his election fraud lies could very well land the former New York City mayor in prison. But for now, they’ve seen Giuliani be stripped of his license to practice law in both New York and Washington, DC. Also revoked? The honorary degrees he was given by several colleges and universities, with only five of them still in place — though all that could soon change.
For more than a year, mortified students, faculty, and alumni at Syracuse University — which is one of those five schools — have been pressuring the administration to rescind Giuliani’s fake degree, to no avail. Now, The Daily Orange is reporting that the university’s Board of Trustees is currently discussing the possibility of finally distancing themselves from Giuliani for good. On Monday, during the first University Student Association meeting of the semester, school chancellor/president Kent Syverud told the students in attendance that he had again brought up the topic of Rudy’s honorific degree, and whether it should be invalidated.
The Student Association sent a formal request to the University Senate back in April, requesting that Giuliani’s degree be erased. Though no official decision was made at the time, Syverud was asked to research how other universities go about making these decisions, as this would be the first time in Syracuse University’s history that an honorary degree was revoked. As Sarah Wells wrote for The Daily Orange:
Following his research, Syverud said he plans to present his draft recommendation for standard practices to the board at the executive committee meeting in September. Following the meeting, he said he hopes the full board will vote on the matter in November.
(Via The Daily Orange)