News that comedian agreed to resign from UMass Amherst comes as university in Tennessee cancelled appearance by the comedian at its annual benefit dinner

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is the latest American college to distance itself from embattled entertainer and alumnus Bill Cosby amid allegations the once family friendly star sexually assaulted more than a dozen women.

For decades, Cosby has been involved in higher education, sitting on advisory boards, lending his name to scholarships and donating millions to numerous institutions, especially historically black colleges.

UMass Amherst, where Cosby received a master’s and a doctorate in education, said in a statement on Wednesday that the comedian agreed to resign as the honorary co-chair of the school’s ongoing $300m fundraising campaign, the Boston Globe reported.

“He no longer has any affiliation with the campaign nor does he serve in any other capacity for the university,” said UMass spokesman Edward Blaguszewski in a statement. The day before, the university said Cosby would remain in the post, the Globe said.

The actor and his wife, Camille, have donated between $250,000 and $499,999 to UMass, according to a recent report on donations to the university. In 2004, Cosby performed at a benefit dinner that raised $1.5m for the university, the Associated Press reported.

The allegations against Cosby come at a trying time for American colleges and universities as they grapple with the issue of sexual assault on campus, placing even more pressure on higher-ed institutions to sever ties with the actor.

“At a time when the state is focused on prevention and response to sexual assaults on campus, allowing Mr Cosby to continue to represent our state university sends the exact wrong message,” the state’s attorney general Martha Coakley, wrote in a letter urging the university to cut ties with the 77-year-old comedian.

“Although Mr Cosby has not been criminally charged nor convicted for these actions, the UMass community has discretion to determine who should be the ‘face’ of the university at any time,” Coakley wrote in the letter, which was also sent to UMass system president Robert Caret and Henry Thomas, chairman of the system’s board.

Cosby and his legal team have forcefully refuted the allegations, calling the accusations that he drugged and assaulted numerous women “unsubstantiated” and “discredited”.

The announcement that Cosby’s alma mater was severing ties with the star came on Wednesday as Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee said it had canceled Cosby’s scheduled appearance as a keynote speaker at the university’s annual benefit dinner.

FHU in Henderson said in a statement on Wednesday that Dr Ben Carson will replace Cosby at the 5 December dinner.

Freed-Hardeman President Joe Wiley says the university knows that “names we have seen in the media represent real people who will be affected long after FHU’s dinner has passed.”

On Tuesday, Berklee College of Music announced it was removing Cosby’s name from an online scholarship it awards. A North Carolina school removed the entertainer from an advisory board; another stopped awarding an online scholarship in Cosby’s name. Additionally, numerous dates on Cosby’s tour have been canceled.

Cosby is still a trustee at his undergraduate alma mater, Temple University in Philadelphia, where he met one of his accusers, Andrea Constand, who was the director of operations for the university’s women’s basketball team. Constand was the first woman to publicly accuse Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her in January 2004, and she is the only woman to date to press charges against him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

