Fordham University rescinds honorary degree it gave Cosby

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) — Fordham University on Thursday rescinded an honorary degree it presented to Bill Cosby, citing sexual assault allegations against him and the comedian's admission that he obtained quaaludes to give to women with whom he hoped to have sex.

The University Board of Trustees voted to take back the honorary doctor of fine arts degree given to him in 2001.

Cosby admitted having extramarital relationships with several women, including some who now accuse him of sexual assault. He has never been charged with a crime.

This is the first time Fordham has rescinded an honorary degree.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2014, file photo, comedian and Navy veteran Bill Cosby speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony in Philadelphia. Cosby is seeking to hire a criminal defence lawyer as prosecutors near Philadelphia revisit a 2005 sexual-assault complaint. Lawyer Edwin Jacobs says Cosby's agents contacted him in the last few days about a Montgomery County investigation and he referred them to another Philadelphia-area lawyer. The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported Tuesday on Jacobs' involvement. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9812ea5c9ee74a0ab142e6f29a0f945a/fordham-university-rescinds-honorary-degree-it-gave-cosby

[shenmue]

1. About time

[Lychee2]

2. Indian givers!

Disclaimers: Just a cliche. No offense intended to Native Americans. This is not a defense of Bill Cosby. This is a joke.

[bluestateguy]

3. How do you that?

How do they make Cosby send the honorary diploma back?

Just something I have always wondered when a university revokes a Ph.D 10 years later because they discovered the dissertation was plagiarized. How do they physically get the diploma back?

[Lychee2]

4. They change your record.

They either erase the entry about your Ph.D. or add a note that says "RESCINDED." They may also ask you to return your diploma, but they don't much care whether you do. Employers want your transcript, not your diploma. Or, in the rare case where they ask for your diploma (and this happened to me one time), they will want to verify it with the school. Anyone could fake up a diploma from any university.

[840high]

5. Good.

[Lychee2]

6. I'm not so sure.

I think Cosby is a guilty prick. But Fordham should have waited until he was actually convicted. Rescinding a diploma just on the basis of allegations does not set a good precedent.

[mpcamb]

7. Take your choice.

Bill Cosby or the 35 women on the cover of New York Magazine July 27, 2015 who they tell their stories.


http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/07/bill-cosbys-accusers-speak-out.html

[Lychee2]

11. That is not the choice.

That's an oversimplification. There are issues of social utility and justice here, not just benefits or losses to the individual parties involved. You would sue the ass off a university that revoked your Ph.D. because a large number of people claimed that you had harmed them. And you would be right to do so.

Once again, I am not defending Bill Cosby, whom I believe to be a prick.

[mpcamb]

12. It's an HONORARY degree, encased in the word 'Honor'.

You breach honor, give people mind-altering drugs and have sex with them and admit it in a court of law, pay off suits, (at which point I think it's safe to say you've breached honor)
I don't think you've got a shred of a chance to get that honorary degree back.

You plagiarize your thesis. When you're found out years later you defend it. Sue their asses off. see where you get. I think this is closer to a parallel situation. Good luck with that defense of the plagiarized thesis.

Glad you're not defending him, by the way.

It's past my bedtime; I'm going to bed.

[cindyperry2010]

8. the thing i will never understand

thankfully I guess I can't make my brain work like that is how can you compartmentalize to the point where you ever thought treating someone like this is okay and then present your self to the outside world completely differently. also how can his wife not think something is tremendously wrong with this picture?

[Little Tich]

9. Date rape poster boy loses honorary degree... n/t

[LiberalElite]

10. What took them so long? nt

[avaistheone1]

13. K&R