DePauw University in Indiana has not rescinded the honorary degree it awarded Richard Nixon in 1957, years before his role in Watergate as the USA president. The New York Times, in a quick search, found almost 60.
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But dozens of women have come forward recently to accuse him of sexual assault.
In the last two weeks alone, Fordham University, Marquette University and Brown University revoked the honors Cosby received at the respective institutions, according to The New York Times. Yale gave the award in 2003 and has thus far resisted taking it back despite an online petition demanding the school do so.
Allegations of sexual misconduct against Cosby escalated in October 2014 after comedian Hannibal Burress accused Cosby of rape during a stand-up comedy performance in Cosby’s home town of Philadelphia. “Baylor University is working to confront the scourge of interpersonal and sexual violence wherever it occurs”. Cosby has denied all wrongdoing.
That same month, Disney World removed a statue of Cosby, while the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was there to stay. Revoking them is an administrative formality and public rebuke.
But as many schools point out, honorary degrees are not Nobel Prizes.
In May, Cosby marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and spoke to students at Selma High School.
Cosby will be deposed on Friday, but the judge has yet to rule on the actor’s request to have a protective order issued to keep his testimony sealed. Other than at church or a wedding you don’t see people like this. A Cosby representative, Monique Pressley, declined to comment to The Associated Press about the NBC show.
Though in wide use, the practice of awarding honorary degrees has always been in question. And others are rescinding his degrees.
Morehouse College in Atlanta has similarly not rescinded a 1983 honorary degree it gave Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, who has a much criticised record on human rights.
But as many schools point out, honorary degrees are not Nobel Prizes. “Mr. Cosby does not represent the ideals to which Wilkes aspires or the values most important to the university”.
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“That was important, not just in the context of Bill Cosby but for every woman, every American”, she said. “Most of the students now don’t even know who Bill Cosby is unless they look at Netflix or something like that”.
