The Syracuse University Board of Trustees is considering revoking the honorary degree given to Rudy Giuliani, the Daily Orange reported Tuesday.
SU Chancellor Kent Syverud told the Syracuse University Student Association on Monday that he brought the topic up with the school’s board of trustees, according to the report. In April, the University Senate passed a resolution, introduced by the Student Association, urging the revocation of Giuliani’s honorary degree.
Syverud said the board debated the issue and asked him to research how peer institutions revoke honorary degrees, according to the Daily Orange. Syverud said he hoped the full board would vote on the issue in November.
Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, has worked as a lawyer for former president Donald Trump and was one of the most public proponents of Trump’s narrative that the 2020 presidental election was stolen by Joe Biden. Last year, Giuliani’s law license in New York state was suspended after an attorney disciplinary committee found there was “uncontroverted evidence” that Giuliani made false statements to the courts, the public and lawmakers about alleged election fraud.
Several schools, including the University of Rhode Island and Drexel University, have rescinded honorary degrees presented to Giuliani. Syracuse University is one of at least five schools that have not.
Giuliani received an honorary doctor of law degree in 1989, when he was commencement speaker for the SU College of Law. Giuliani returned to be SU’s commencement speaker in 2002, when several students protested his appearance over the New York City Police Department’s treatment of minorities and the city’s treatment of the homeless during Giuliani’s time as mayor.