Please feel free to edit this answer to improve it.
Criterion: Personal Misconduct
Degree revocation is very rare, and is usually a result of academic misconduct that renders the degree itself invalid. However, degrees are occasionally revoked for serious personal misconduct, particularly in Europe.
We should first distinguish between honorary degrees and academic degrees. As Ian Sudbery explains:
Honorary degrees are given to some for expressly moral judgement even though the recipient hasn't completed any classes or met the required academic standards. They are awarded because they represent to sort of character that they would like the world to associate with the university. If they prove themselves not that have that character, or stop having that character, then it makes sense to remove the honorary degree.
For academic degrees, the situation is quite different regionally. In Europe, degrees can be (and are) revoked for personal misconduct, though it is rare. For example Earthlin reports that in Germany:
a PhD may be revoked in case of:
- a wilful act resulting in a prison sentence of one year or more, or
- a deliberate/wilful offence abusing their scientific qualification.
These are quite "mild" conditions, presumably in place to discourage degree holders to engage in behaviour on the wrong side of the law.
Similarly, doog reports that Cambridge is/was in the process of revoking a pedophile's degree, though in this case, the bad acts happened while attending the university and were discovered later.
On the other hand, revocation for personal misconduct in the US is even less likely, as user6726 reports:
In the US, you have a property right to the degree that you earn and pay for (regardless of the ultimate source of funding -- the student has the responsibility to pay), and as long as you don't violate the conditions for obtaining the degree (various forms of dishonesty in admissions and satisfaction of the degree), improper actions after the fact don't license depriving a person of what they have earned.
In the US, an example of honorary degrees being revoked would be the comedian and supporter of higher education, Bill Cosby. As of May 2024, his honorary degree Wikipedia page lists that 62 of his 72 honorary degrees have "been revoked due to his now-overturned conviction on sexual assault charges."
(**) Existing answers are limited to Europe and the US; please feel free to edit this page with your expert knowledge about other parts of the world.
