Temple University has rescinded the honorary doctorate it awarded in 1991 to Bill Cosby, who was a highly visible long-time booster and fundraiser for the Philadelphia school, where he earned an undergraduate degree.
Cosby was declared guilty on Thursday on three charges related to the drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee. The school was one of the few that waited for a verdict before pulling its honors from the former TV star.
Temple said today that its board of trustees has accepted a recommendation to rescind the honorary doctor-of-laws degree, citing the verdict. Cosby served on the Temple board of directors for decades before resigning in 2014. Cosby also has a bachelor’s degree in physical education that was earned in 1971 from Temple, but that is presumably unaffected by the pulling of the honorary degree
Temple wasn’t the only university to revoke Cosby honorary degrees granted in the years before the verdict, but it surely had to be among the most painful for the 80-year-old comedian, television star and film actor. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, all announced Thursday they were revoking prior Cosby honorary degrees.