After announcing during the weekend that it would consider revoking an honorary degree awarded to Rudy Giuliani in 2005, Middlebury College has chosen to revoke the degree, the college said Tuesday.
Middlebury’s administration has communicated the decision to Giuliani’s office, according to a brief statement announcing the decision.
Giuliani, who since 2018 has worked as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has been a leading voice in propagating election fraud conspiracies advanced by Trump and his supporters since the November general election.
His role in the lead-up to Wednesday’s riot in the U.S. Capitol meant he aided “an insurrection against democracy itself,” Middlebury President Laurie L. Patton said on Sunday.
“Earlier this week, I spoke of our responsibility for safeguarding and improving our fragile democracy, especially those of us privileged to be in higher education,” Patton said Sunday, when she announced that the college would consider revocation of the degree. “As we pursue these goals, we must not be indifferent to the actions of those who are actively working against them, and opposed to our institutional values.”
Tuesday’s statement did not provide detail on how the college came to the decision to revoke the degree. In a separate all-campus email Tuesday evening, Middlebury Dean of Students Derek Doucet urged students to take caution around publicly commenting on the revocation of Giuliani’s degree, given the “volatile political climate.”
He encouraged students to avoid speaking with the press about the decision and to instead refer inquiries to the college’s communications office, and recommended that students “don’t post about or engage on this issue on your personal social media accounts so as not to attract unwanted attention.”
Giulani’s honorary Doctor of Laws degree was awarded to him in 2005, when he delivered a commencement address at Middlebury’s graduation ceremony in the wake of his tenure as mayor of New York City. That visit prompted outrage and controversy over his mayoral record.
The Campus, the college newspaper, published an editorial Sunday calling on Middlebury to revoke Giuliani’s degree. “Giuliani has been unwavering” in his propagation of election fraud rhetoric, the editorial board wrote.
In the fallout of the riot, two U.S. colleges — Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Wagner College in New York — have moved to rescind honorary degrees earlier conferred on Trump.
Giuliani appears to be the first member of Trump’s supporting cast to face such a step. He presently still holds honorary degrees from Loyola University, The Citadel and Drexel University, according to a Monday Forbes report.
