OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The University of Rhode Island wants to punish retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani because of their connection to former President Donald Trump.
The university had awarded those men honorary degrees in the past but now things have changed, The Western Journal reported.
Flynn, who already had a degree from the university, was awarded his honorary degree in 2014 when he was the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Flynn would retire that August and go on to become national security advisor for President Donald Trump. He was then charged with lying to the FBI in 2017 in an incident that, with each new piece of information that drops about it, looks increasingly like a frame-up designed to get information on the Russia collusion hoax.
In December 2017, he reached a plea deal on the charges, but he tried to withdraw his guilty plea due after new representation argued in May 2020 that the government had acted in “bad faith” and “vindictiveness,” as well as in “breach of the plea agreement.”
Then-Attorney General William Barr moved to dismiss the charge, telling CBS News it “undid what was an injustice” and the FBI interview that led to the charge had no legitimate basis but were instead a “perjury trap.” Flynn was subsequently given a pardon by Trump.
All of this happened between 2017 and the present. In that time, URI found no good reason to take away Flynn’s honorary degree.
Now URI President Marc Parlange, who took the job in August, wants Flynn and Giuliani’s honorary degrees revoked, The Providence Journal reported.
Parlange said, in a letter to trustees, that the university’s honorary degree committee voted to revoke their honorary degrees on Dec. 10 “based on their belief that General Flynn and Giuliani “no longer represent the highest level of our values and standards that were evident when we first bestowed the degree.”
“As a civic institution, URI has the privilege and responsibility to sustain and preserve American democracy by insuring and modeling good citizenship,” he said. “Revoking these honorary degrees reinforces our values and allows us to lead with truth and integrity.”
In his interview with The Western Journal, Flynn said it was “another example of cancel culture and ‘wokeness’ in our academic institutions.”
“And I know there is a concerted effort to attack me from certain elements on the Left, mainly because of my very visible stance fighting back against the socialist takeover of our country,” he said. “It will get national attention in the next 24 hours.”
“Astoundingly, URI’s new President Mr. Marc Parlange distorts the facts and adopts lies and gossip spread for years in connection with the, now confirmed, framing of General Flynn,” a statement from Flynn’s family said. “Mr. Parlange’s recommendation to revoke General Flynn’s honorary degree lacks moral courage, prioritizes pettiness over principles, and sets an unsavory, disturbing precedent.
“The blatant hypocrisy arising out of the Board’s expected decision to revoke General Flynn’s honorary degree smacks in the face of the core principles of this Country and the stated mission of the University, itself,” the statement said.
“With this flawed and crooked action,” it said. “URI endorses the destructive and tyrannical cancel culture, bowing down to the woke mob and repressive forces, while revealing itself to lack the intellectual capacity, fortitude or integrity that is required of an American public university in the 21st century.
“General Flynn has dedicated his life to protect and preserve the United States of America and the freedoms and liberties enjoyed by all citizens of this great country, including those associated with the University of Rhode Island,” it said.
“His unwavering love for God and Country – above all else – is the torch of light that he carried through decades of public service to America as a U.S. Army soldier and military leader of tens of thousands of young men and women in battlefields around the world, the statement said.
“For General Flynn, that bright light of freedom, liberty, and equal justice for all will never dim and he will never be deterred. Never will he stop fearlessly fighting for the Republic and for every individual’s rights and liberty bestowed on American citizens by the Grace of God Almighty,” it said.
