Yale Refuses to Revoke Stephan Schmidheiny's Honorary Degree

Prestigious Yale University, a world leader in higher education, has come under fire after rejecting a call to support victims of asbestos exposure, and bypassing the opportunity to use its influence in raising awareness to the cause. Yale University has refused to revoke the honorary degree it presented to Switzerland billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny . He was convicted in 2012 of creating the asbestos environmental disaster that caused at least 2,000 deaths in Italy and countless more around the world. The Ivy League school in 1996 awarded Schmidheiny, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison, the honorary degree for his advocacy of sustainable economic growth and development, according to a Yale spokesperson. Schmidheiny is also known as a philanthropist with a worldwide reach, funding ecofriendly, sustainable developments throughout North and South America. Yale University officials recently informed the Italy-based Asbestos Victims and Relatives Association that it would not rescind the honorary degree based on his conviction in Italy, which has been upheld by an appeals court that added two more years to his sentence. Schmidheiny remains free pending a second appeal in 2014 to the country's highest court. "The revocation of an honorary degree would be unprecedented at Yale, and we do not believe that the events subsequent to the award of the degree call into question the essential information upon whic...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Legislation, Laws & Litigation Source Type: news