Bill Cosby Loses Three More Honorary Degrees

Three more universities have announced their decision to revoke honorary degrees previously bestowed to Bill Cosby. Tufts University in Massachusetts, Goucher College in Maryland and Lehigh University in Pennsylvania are the latest educational institutions to rescind their awards.

According to the Associated Press, Tufts withdrew an honorary doctorate of arts given to Cosby in 2000, along with a 2011 award for excellence in children’s media. An email to the university’s community from President Anthony Monaco said Cosby has shown “a lack of character and integrity” that does not represent the school’s values. Goucher College has revoked the degree awarded to Cosby when he was a commencement speaker in 2001. President Jose Antonio Bowen said the school’s Board of Trustees “unanimously decided that Cosby’s admitted actions are in direct violation of values Goucher holds dear, including our community principles of respect, communication, and responsibility.”

Lehigh University, who awarded a degree to Cosby in 2004, explained their decision to rescind was due to Cosby’s 2005 deposition. The school explained that the conduct within was antithetical to its values. Lehigh joined Baylor College and Wilkes University, who revoked their degrees just last week. In September, Marquette, Fordham and Brown universities were the first to rescind the honorary degrees they gave to 78-year-old Cosby.

A total of 23 colleges and universities had awarded degrees to Cosby, but the number is quickly dwindling. Still, there are a few that have decided not to rescind, such as Notre Dame and Yale — the latter ignoring petitions to do so from students.