Effort To Strip Bill Barr Of Honorary Degree Gains Momentum

The powers-that-be at the university level are reportedly tracking the matter.

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

It’s been a few weeks since we first reported an effort on the part of George Washington University Law School faculty to strip Attorney General Bill Barr of his honorary degree — he’d still have his real one — and possibly rename areas of the school named after him. Usually campaigns like these fizzle or run aground on the jagged rocks of timid administrations. George Mason eventually accepted a shady contribution to rename the school ASSLaw over the objections of the Faculty Senate. Unfortunately, the faculty tends to lose these battles.

So it’s encouraging to see that the faculty isn’t letting up on its objections to the school’s continued honoring of Barr’s career and, it seems, it’s paying off.

Most of the GW faculty signed a letter today condemning Barr’s actions which range from the corrupt to the downright incompetent and it came before he tried and failed to force out Geoffrey Berman. And while the letter just calls on him to resign, it can’t be viewed as independent of the early effort to do something within the school about his honorary degree. After some initial informal pushback on the calls to strip the famed alum of his honorary degree, the renewed criticism puts the powers-that-be right back on the spot.

A law school official informed inquiring alumni that the matter has been elevated to the university Board of Trustees and that the school has a tracker on alumni emails about the matter that forwards them to the Board and the Interim Dean. That’s a remarkable sign of engagement from actors that have every vested interest in having this problem go away quietly without crossing a member of the law school’s Board of Advisors.

That said, Barr’s not exactly helping his case.

Earlier: Law School Faculty Wants To Strip Bill Barr Of Degree

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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