An honorary law degree that Syracuse University awarded to Rudy Giuliani in the 1980s is likely to soon be revoked if trends continue.
Several other schools have already revoked honorary degrees awarded to Giuliani, who turned much of the public against him with his close allegiance to Donald Trump throughout his presidency and fight to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Although he obviously always had some detractors, Giuliani undid no doubt substantial portions of goodwill or at least the understanding he was on the right side of the law connected to his service in the ranks of federal prosecutors and as mayor of New York City. He eventually ended up under investigation by the same U.S. Attorney’s office in New York he once himself led. Now, the process at Syracuse has included the proposal of and multiple stages of support for a plan for revoking Giuliani’s honorary degree, since undoing that kind of honor is apparently not something the school has done before.
At Syracuse, the University Senate — a governance body including both students and staff — previously passed a resolution with an over two-thirds majority in favor of revoking Giuliani’s honorary degree, and last month, the Board of Trustees at the school provided its approval for a proposed process for taking that move. Now, the matter apparently moves back to the University Senate, which is responsible for implementing the plan and which a figure involved in student leadership indicated may take until early next year.
It seems the school’s board approving the proposed plan behind which the Senate put some support was news to that figure, Syracuse University Student Association President David Bruen. “All I know is the report has been circulated, has received widespread approval and support. Hopefully we can move to fully revoke it in the spring. The university is going very slow with the process,” he told Insider. The student association pursued comments from students on the proposal before the board issued what was apparently the final approval needed before moving forward with revoking Rudy’s honorary degree.
Schools that have already rescinded honorary degrees that Giuliani received include Middlebury College in Vermont, Drexel University in Pennsylvania, and the University of Rhode Island. Several other schools beyond Syracuse have also provided Giuliani with honorary degrees, including St. John Fisher University of New York, Loyola University Maryland, The Citadel in South Carolina, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Giuliani might not have a lot of time to worry himself with the status of his honorary degrees, considering he remains a target of the Georgia criminal investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into pro-Trump election meddling in the state after the last election, a status carrying the possibility of criminal charges. He could also be named in a soon-to-be issued criminal referral from the House panel investigating January 6.
