A professor at Lehigh University is actively campaigning to convince school officials to revoke an honorary degree which was bestowed on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump back in 1988.
The Lehigh professor is Richard Weisman, reports Inside Higher Ed.
Weisman is a water resources engineering professor at the private, $58,510-per-year bastion in eastern Pennsylvania.
“Obviously, I’m not a fan of Mr. Trump’s,” Weisman told Inside Higher Ed.
Weisman said the idea occurred to him to seek the revocation of Trump’s symbolic degree from 28 years ago when he was listening to National Public Radio in December and he heard that Scotland’s Robert Gordon University had rescinded an honorary degree awarded to Trump in 2010.
Officials at the Scottish university had retracted the degree after Trump called for a moratorium on allowing Muslims to enter the United States, calling such a policy “wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university.”
The Lehigh professor also drew inspiration from some Black Lives Matter protest on campus, he said.
Weisman bases his argument for revoking Trump’s honorary degree on principles set forth by Lehigh’s Council for Equity and Community. One of those principles is to “confront and reject discrimination in all its forms.”
“I think we should stand by that,” Weisman told Inside Higher Ed.
There is recent precedent for Lehigh rescinding an honorary degree, Weisman further notes. Lehigh was among the first of many colleges and universities to revoke an honorary degree given to Bill Cosby.
Nearly 60 women have accused Cosby of drugging and raping them. (RELATED: New Bill Cosby Accuser: He Made Me Put Oatmeal On My Face And Act Like A Queen)
“People will say, ‘Oh, no, they’re so different,'” Weisman told Inside Higher Ed. “I’m not sure they’re so different.”
The professor noted that Cosby has yet to be convicted of any crime.
On Weisman’s personal Facebook page, he likes Daily Kos, The Daily Show and Americans Against The Republican Party.
Back when Trump received his honorary degree from Lehigh, Inside Higher Ed notes, then-school president Peter Likins exalted Trump as a “symbol of our age — all the daring and energy that the word ‘tycoon’ conjures up.” (RELATED: Rubio: Trump Has Gone Bankrupt Four Times)
Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.