Bill Cosby was the keynote speaker at the Rose Hill commencement in 2001. He is facing allegations in court of sexually assaulting several women. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

By Laura Sanicola

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Fordham Board of Trustees sent an unprecedented message to the Fordham community, condemning Bill Cosby’s alleged willingness to “drug and rape women for his own sexual gratification,” according to an email sent by the unviersity, and stripping the comedian of his 2001 honorary degree of the Fine Arts.

The decision comes in light of “now-public court depositions that confirm many of the allegations made against [Cosby] by numerous women,” the email stated.

According to the office of the president, in order for the university to revoke an honorary degree, “a recipient’s actions would have to be both unambiguously dishonorable and have a deep impact.”

“By his own admission, Mr. Cosby’s sexual exploitation of women was premeditated and ongoing. Equally appalling is his longtime strategy of denigrating the reputations of women who accused him of such actions.”

In his public court testimony, Cosby admits to having used Quaaludes in his sexual encounters with women.

The university’s message reverberated across national media sources, with the response reaching journalists from Fox News to Vulture. But Rev. Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of the university, could not keep himself immune from retaliation – coming from Cosby’s own lawyer.

Cosby’s attorney John P. Schmitt wrote to McShane, the letter later being made public by Cosby’s publicist, David Brokaw, according to the Associated Press. It stated that, while the Board of Trustees was within its rights to revoke the degree, Fordham’s statement was “so irresponsible as to shock the conscience… [it] grossly mischaracterizes both Mr. Cosby’s actions and his deposition testimony, in language more befitting a tabloid journal rather than a respected institution of higher learning.”

He assailed the university’s statement, which references Cosby’s testimony as a factor in the university’s decision, arguing that Cosby has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct and has not been charged with a crime.

“Nothing in his testimony admits to any nonconsensual sexual contact with any woman whatsoever,” Schmitt said in his letter. “As you know, Mr. Cosby has been convicted of no crime and has steadfastly maintained his innocence.”

In his letter, Schmitt also contended the university’s statement that: “Equally appalling is his longtime strategy of denigrating the reputations of women who accused him of such actions.” He claims that it is “unfounded” and “seems intended to lend gratuitous support to defamation lawsuits that are presently underway and in which the issues are hotly contested.”

The attorney also noted that in its statement Fordham left out a history of financial donations made by Cosby over the years.

Schmitt is a Fordham Law School alumnus.

It all began on Thursday at about 2 p.m. with an email from the Office of Fr. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, informing the Fordham community that the university’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted on a motion to revoke Bill Cosby’s 2001 honorary doctorate of the fine arts. The president of the university filed the initial motion for the revocation.

Bill Cosby is an actor, comedian and public figure. He delivered the 2001 commencement speech to Rose Hill students.

The decision comes in light of high-profile sexual assault allegations made against Cosby that gained national attention when the October 2014 accusation by comedian Hannibal Burress went viral.

Since then, two more schools have followed suit. On Thursday, Sept. 25, Milwaukee-based Jesuit university Marquette also announced that it would be revoking the honorary degree it bestowed upon Cosby in 2013.

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, Brown University President Christina Paxson sent an email to the Brown community announcing the revocation of Cosby’s degree as as he no longer represents “honesty, fair play, love of family and respect for humanity,” or the “values that the Brown community holds dear.” The action is a first for all three schools.

Fordham’s email states that Cosby was chosen to receive the honorary degree “not least because of the significant role he played in breaking the color barrier in American television and popular culture, and his position as an inspirational figure for millions of African Americans. At the time, there was no public awareness of the allegations of rape against him.”

Since then, media sources report that over 40 women have claimed to be victims of his sexual misconduct.

“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 email said.

Several schools across the nation have given Cosby honorary degrees over the years, including Oberlin College, Boston University and the College of William and Mary. The latter’s college newspaper reported earlier in September that the college would not rescind Cosby’s degree. The president of the college, which had also never rescinded a degree before, was reported to have said that the criteria to determine a degree withdrawal would be “very messy.”

Similarly, a few colleges have already ended their relationships with Cosby in other ways. In July, Spelman College ended a professorship tied to Cosby, according to ajc.org, despite the fact that Camille and Bill Cosby donated $20 million to Spelman College in the ’80s. Other schools that have cut ties with Cosby include Berklee College of Music, Temple University and High Point University.

“As a Jesuit university, Fordham could no longer stand behind the degree it had bestowed upon Mr. Cosby, hence this unprecedented action,” continued the email from the office of the president.

While this may be the first time the university has rescinded an honorary degree, it is not the first time that the Fordham community has called for one to be revoked.

In February 2015, eight members of university faculty founded Fordham Against Torture (FAT), which created a petition calling the university to revoke former CIA chief John Brennan’s, FCRH ‘77 honorary degree. Among their requests was that the president promote “reflection within the Fordham community on how our university can better live up to the values espoused in its mission statement.”

Although the petition gained over 700 signatures from faculty, students and alumni, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted not to revoke Brennan’s degree.