New York’s Marist College has revoked an honorary degree it awarded to former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly in 2001.
Marist’s trustees cited the accusations against the disgraced host on the college’s website as the reason behind the revocation decision.
‘Bill O’Reilly has been accused of engaging in multiple acts of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment of women in the workplace,’ the statement read.
And, the trustees added, that while he has denied the allegations, the reported payments to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and his eventual dismissal by Fox News lends credibility to the allegations against him.
Disgraced Fox News host, Bill O’Reilly’s honorary degree from Marist College, awarded to him in 2001, was revoked after the college’s board of trustee meeting
‘Any form of sexual harassment or abuse is deeply contrary to the values of Marist. The Marist Board of Trustees has therefore revoked Mr. O’Reilly’s honorary degree,’ the college’s statement concluded.
O’Reilly, who was awarded an honorary degree at Marist’s 2001 commencement ceremony, was fired from Fox News in April of 2017.
The New York Times reported in October that he had reached a $32 million settlement with a former Fox analyst over sexual harassment allegations.
At least six other women have publicly accused O’Reilly of sexual misconduct during his time at Fox News.
The board decided in November O’Reilly’s honorary degree would be discussed during its regularly scheduled February meeting.
O’Reilly, a member of Marist’s Class of 1971, was a history major, served as a columnist for Marist’s newspaper, The Circle, and played on the school’s first championship football team, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Julia Fishman, director of media relations at Marist College, said that the scholarship O’Reilly helped establish, called the Peter P. O’Keefe, PhD. Endowed Scholarship, which was set up in 2015, was not being discussed at this time.
The college (pictured) released a statement to it’s website Sunday that ‘Any form of sexual harassment or abuse is deeply contrary to the values of Marist’
O’Reilly donated $1 million to the scholarship, and planned to personally meet with recipients to provide advice and guidance.
According to Fishman, those endowed funds are ‘being used exactly as specified.’
She added that any potential changes to the scholarship were not brought up during the board’s February meeting.