Lehigh University rescinds Trump’s honorary degree

Lehigh University, a private college in Pennsylvania in the United States, has revoked the honorary degree it awarded Donald Trump more than 30 years ago when he spoke at the university’s commencement ceremony in 1988, writes Leah Asmelash for CNN.

Jeremy Littau, a journalism professor at Lehigh, called the move a “big deal” on Twitter. “After FIVE years of pressure from our faculty, staff, students and alumni, the Lehigh Board of Trustees finally did the right thing and revoked Donald Trump’s honorary degree,” Littau wrote. “This doesn’t fix everything. That it took this long despite the long list of reasons this should have been done years ago should be cause for reflection by everyone with power here.”

The decision came two days after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, in an incident that resulted in the deaths of at least five people, including a woman shot by police and a Capitol Hill police officer. The riot was condemned by University President John D Simon, who called it a “violent assault on the foundations of our democracy”.
Full report on the CNN site

Meanwhile, Alex Galbraith writes in Complex that Trump has also been stripped of the honorary degree bestowed upon him by Wagner College in 2004. The college gave Trump the degree after he spoke to their graduating class and a video of that speech is still available. While they didn’t offer a reason for taking the degree back, the events of the last week make their rationale fairly obvious.
Full report on the Complex site