Bill Cosby's honorary degrees from Fordham University and Marquette University were both revoked Tuesday, CNN reported. The news came after Cosby was accused of sexual assault by dozens of women over the past few decades.
Fordham University in New York gave Cosby the honorary doctorate in 2001. The Board of Trustees decided in an unanimous vote to resend the degree, which marked the first time the University ever took back an honorary degree, according to TIME. He had originally been awarded the degree for his role in enhancing black representation in American television.
In a letter to the students of Fordham, President Joseph M. McShane explained the decision. "By his own admission, Mr. Cosby's sexual exploitation of women was premeditated and ongoing," McShane wrote. "Equally appalling is his longtime strategy of denigrating the reputations of women who accused him of such actions."
"That Mr. Cosby was willing to drug and rape women for his sexual gratification, and further damage those same women's reputations and careers to obscure his guilt, hurt not only his victims, but all women, and is beyond the pale," he said.
Marquette University in Wisconson awarded Cosby of the honorary degree in 2013. University President Michael R. Lovell and Provost Daniel Myersand of the University both stated that they suppored the Board of Trustees' decision to revoke the degree from Cosby.
"By his own admission, Mr. Cosby engaged in behaviors that go entirely against our university's mission and the guiding values we have worked so hard to instill on our campus," the statement given by the President read.
The news of the revoked honorary degree comes after about a dozen women who Cosby abused announced that they would appear on an A&E special called "Cosby: The Women Speak."
