Lance Armstrong Is No Longer an Honorary Jumbo

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The collective run away from Lance Armstrong has another entrant in Tufts University, whose board of trustees unanimously voted to rescind his honorary degree, awarded in 2006. A spokesperson’s statement reads:

While continuing to respect the significant work of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the board concluded that, in the wake of the recent report of the United States Anti-Doping Agency and its acceptance by the International Cycling Union, Mr. Armstrong’s actions as an athlete are inconsistent with the values of Tufts University.

Tufts is certainly not the first organization to part ways with Armstrong. After he was stripped of his Tour de France titles in the wake of a doping investigation, the cyclist has even dropped his name from his own Livestrong Foundation.

Meanwhile, news that one can have one’s degree retroactively rescinded has one Inside Higher Ed commenter wondering if “maybe I could get my undergraduate degree rescinded (since I do not need it anymore) and then the university would quite calling me for money.” Sorry, friend but with great power comes great responsibility, and with great credentials offered by a bachelor’s degree come great volumes of mail from your school’s development office. It’s just a fact of life.