Brown University rescinds honorary degree it gave Cosby

Marquette University also issued a strong statement, while rescinding the degree that was awarded in 2013. Then, on Monday, Brown University in Rhode Island said that it will do the same.

Paxon says the humorist got the degree for incorporating his own character into his anecdotal one while holding onto such values as “genuineness, reasonable play, adoration for family, and admiration for mankind”. Brown University, which bestowed the honor on Cosby in 1985, said in an email to students that he no longer lived up to the school’s expectations, the Brown Daily Herald reports.

Joseph M McShane, president of Fordham University, said in a statement: ‘By his own admission, Mr. Cosby’s sexual exploitation of women was premeditated and ongoing.

Fordham University has the right to rescind an honourary degree given to Bill Cosby in 2001 but was irresponsible and inaccurate in explaining why it took the step, an attorney for Cosby said in a letter on Friday. “The conduct that Mr. Cosby has acknowledged is wholly inconsistent with the behavior we expect of any individual associated with Brown”. He’s never been charged with a crime.

Revoking any degree from this university, honorary or earned, is a serious matter, and the Fellows did not take such action lightly. The moves come amid charges by more than 40 women accusing Cosby of sexual assault. The lawyer also alleged that the language used by the University is more befitting a tabloid journal rather than a respected institution of higher learning.

Schmitt called the allegation that Cosby went after his accusers an “unfounded assertion”.

Cosby has been accused by more than fifty women of sexual assault, with some making claims that he drugged them, in alleged incidents dating as far back as the 60s.

Like Fordham, Marquette cited what Cosby has admitted to in a deposition as the basis for its action.

Other universities severing ties with the entertainer include Spelman College, which ended a Cosby professorship in July, despite Bill Cosby and his wife Camille’s history of donating $20 million to the school.