GRINNELL, Iowa - An Oklahoma congressman no longer has an honorary law degree from Iowa's Grinnell College.
Representative Tom Cole gave back his Honorary Doctorate from 2016 this week after a student petition called on the school to rescind it.
Cole returned the degree as the school was reviewing his decision to vote against certifying Joe Biden's Electoral College win.
Cole graduated from Grinnell in 1971.
School President Anne Harris issued a statement critical of Cole and the more than 100 Republican representatives who voted against certifying the Electoral College votes.
"The acts of those who supported or otherwise gave credence to a baseless challenge to an election that had been certified as free and fair multiple times by multiple processes have threatened the electoral process and the peaceful transfer of power," said Harris.
She also praised Grinnell students who organized the petition against Cole. "Especially in this moment of grave concern about the peaceful transition of presidential power upon which our democracy depends, I am heartened that Grinnellians remain engaged in upholding deliberative and informed inquiry and analysis," Harris said.