University Of Rhode Island Revokes Honorary Degrees For Rudy Giuliani And Michael Flynn

The University of Rhode Island voted Friday to revoke the honorary degrees it had previously awarded to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

The vote of the university’s board of trustees was unanimous in both cases and follows a call earlier in the week by university President Marc Parlange for the revocations. Parlange made his recommendation, based on input from faculty committees, He said he agreed with the recommendation and believed the two men “no longer represent the highest level of our values and standards that were evident when we first bestowed the degree.”

The University of Rhode Island had awarded Giuliani the Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa in 2003, based largely on his leadership following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In 2014, Flynn, a 1981 graduate of the university, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Among the findings of the Honorary Degree Committee, comprised of URI faculty, staff, and students, and chaired by the Provost, were the following:

• General Flynn pleaded guilty twice to the felony of “willfully and knowingly” lying to the FBI.
• In June 2021, at a conference in Dallas, Texas, Flynn appeared to suggest that a military coup was needed in the U.S., similar to the one staged by the military in Myanmar in 2021.
• In November 2021, during a rally in San Antonio, Texas, Flynn called for the establishment of “one religion” in the U.S., a call viewed as a violation of the doctrine of religious freedom contained in the U.S. Constitution.
• Giuliani participated in the January 6, 2021, rally that incited the assault on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. His words encouraged domestic terrorism aimed at preventing Congress from certifying the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
• Giuliani has been suspended from practicing law in Washington, D.C., and the State of New York. In addition, courts have determined there is evidence that he made false and misleading statements representing President Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed reelection efforts.

“As a civic institution, URI has the privilege and responsibility to sustain and preserve American democracy by inspiring and modeling good citizenship,” Parlange said. “Revoking these honorary degrees reinforces our values and allows us to lead with truth and integrity.”

Rhode Island is not the first institution to strip Giuliani of an honorary degree. Middlebury College voted to do so last year, revoking the award it had given him in 2005.

And former president Donald Trump, who had been granted five honorary degrees in his lifetime – from Lehigh University in 1988, from Wagner College in 2004, from Robert Gordon University in Scotland in 2010, and from Liberty University in 2012 and 2017 has now had all but the two honorary degrees from Liberty revoked.