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CBS BALTIMORE
Johns Hopkins Under Pressure To Rescind Cosby’s Honorary Degree
October 30, 2015 11:16 PM By Meghan McCorkell
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Johns Hopkins University is under growing pressure to take back the honorary degree it awarded Bill Cosby. The comedian is accused of sexually assaulting dozens of women, though he’s never been charged.
But one accuser with ties to Hopkins says the school should cut ties.
Meghan McCorkell with the call for action.
The university has never rescinded an honorary degree, but with Cosby, the calls are growing louder.
In May of 2004, Johns Hopkins University awarded Billy Cosby an honorary degree.
“Your education here, I assume, is fantastic,” Cosby said.
Now Hopkins faces pressure to do something its never done–take that honor back.
“I don’t think he should be associated with this university,” said one student.
Cosby’s degree is under review, with schools officials saying:
“Johns Hopkins University is deeply troubled by the reports and allegations regarding Bill Cosby. As a university, Johns Hopkins has a set of values we seek to uphold and we are actively reviewing this matter. We exercise great care and deliberation in awarding an honorary degree and would do so in the event of revoking one. We always welcome and take into account input from members of our community on important issues such as this one.”
More than 50 women have accused the comedian of sexually assaulting them–allegations Cosby adamantly denies.
Leading the charge at Hopkins–actress Lili Bernard–who guest starred on The Cosby Show and has a child attending the university. She claims Cosby attacked her.
“It took me 23 years to shed the fear that resulted from Bill Cosby drugging me, raping me and threatening me,” she said.
Along with Hopkins, more than 60 schools have awarded Cosby honorary degrees, including University of Maryland and University of Baltimore.
Weeks ago, Goucher College repealed Cosby’s honorary degree.
Hopkins students WJZ spoke with have mixed reaction.
“I guess so. What he did wasn’t right. So if it’s within the university’s power, then I guess they have the power to do that,” said one student.
“To be honest, I don’t really have a strong opinion in the matter,” another student said.
The university is now asking for input on what action they should take.
At least ten other schools have already rescinded Cosby’s honorary degrees.
A student group at Hopkins is also reaching out to other colleges, asking them to repeal their honorary degrees.
BALTIMORE SUN
October 30, 2015
Hopkins ‘actively reviewing’ honorary degree awarded to Bill Cosby
Jessica AndersonContact ReporterThe Baltimore Sun
Johns Hopkins University officials said Friday that they are reviewing a request to rescind an honorary degree given to Bill Cosby, who has been accused by dozens of women in recent years of sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
“Johns Hopkins University is deeply troubled by the reports and allegations regarding Bill Cosby. As a university, Johns Hopkins has a set of values we seek to uphold and we are actively reviewing this matter,” Jason Kravitz, a university spokesman, said in a statement.
Kravitz said the university has never rescinded one of the 470 honorary degrees the school has awarded since 1880. Cosby received his honorary degree from Hopkins in 2004.
“We exercise great care and deliberation in awarding an honorary degree and would do so in the event of revoking one,” he said. “We always welcome and take into account input from members of our community on important issues such as this one.”
The Sexual Assault Resource Unit, a Hopkins campus organization, asked the university to rescind Cosby’s degree on Oct. 24 in a meeting with Hopkins officials and Lili Bernard, an actress who appeared on “The Cosby Show” and who has accused him of rape. The group says Bernard is the parent of a Hopkins freshman.
“The gesture of repealing Cosby’s degree would show support for Lili and her family as part of the JHU community, and for student sexual assault survivors,” the Sexual Assault Resource Unit said in a statement posted on Facebook. “It would also demonstrate that JHU is serious about correcting their negative history of failing to adequately respond to sexual assault violations. We look forward to JHU making the right decision.”
Cosby, 78, has denied breaking any laws and has not been charged with a crime.
The entertainer has received honorary degrees from about five dozen colleges and universities, according to a list published in The New York Times this month. Cosby has been given honorary degrees at the University of Maryland and the University of Baltimore.
A spokesman for the University of Baltimore said this month that school officials are “assessing the situation.”
Earlier this month, Goucher College in Towson rescinded an honorary degree given to Cosby.
Some schools have declined to withdraw honorary degrees awarded to Cosby, including Yale University.
Hopkins asked to repeal Bill Cosby’s honorary degree
Lili Bernard, parent of a Johns Hopkins freshman, said Cosby drugged and raped her in the early 1990s
Fern Shen October 29, 2015 at 6:32 pm Story Link 48
Members of the Johns Hopkins group SARU with Lili Bernard, after meeting with University officials.
Photo by: Courtesy Lili Bernard
A woman who says Bill Cosby drugged and raped her in the early 1990s, visual artist and performer Lili Bernard, has asked Johns Hopkins University to rescind the honorary degree they awarded to Cosby in 2004.
Bernard, the parent of a Johns Hopkins University freshman, made the request in a formal presentation to university officials on Saturday, during JHU Family Weekend, accompanied by seven members of a student-run advocacy group, the Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU).
“They listened to what she had to say, listened to witnesses to what happened and now we’re waiting to see what they do,” said Ella Rogers-Fett, co-director of SARU, who was at the meeting.
Jason Kravitz, a university spokesman, confirmed that Bernard had made the request and issued the following statement:
“Johns Hopkins University is deeply troubled by the reports and allegations regarding Bill Cosby. As a university, Johns Hopkins has a set of values we seek to uphold and we are actively reviewing this matter. We exercise great care and deliberation in awarding an honorary degree and would do so in the event of revoking one. We always welcome and take into account input from members of our community on important issues such as this one.”
Cosby addressed the graduating seniors of the College of Arts and Science and Engineering at their commencement in May 2004 and was awarded an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters.
Other recipients that year included Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Hamilton O. Smith, a co-winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Medicine who had served on the School of Medicine faculty.
According to Kravitz, Hopkins has never revoked an honorary degree before.
Universities Pressed to Rescind
Bernard alleged in May that she was drugged and raped when she was guest starring in the final season of The Cosby Show.
Bernard is one of dozens of women who have come forward since 2014 with allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior, drugging and rape. The 78-year-old actor and comedian has denied that he broke the law.
In a deposition made public this year, Cosby said drugs and fame helped him seduce women.
Colleges and universities who have awarded Cosby honorary degrees (The New York Times recently found 60 of them) have been under pressure to rescind them, and many have done so.
Fordham, Marquette and Brown universities and the University of San Francisco are among the schools that have taken back honorary degrees awarded to the entertainer.
Earlier this month, Goucher College rescinded a doctorate of humane letters awarded to Cosby in 2001.
Yale University has declined to follow suit. Locally, the University of Maryland and University of Baltimore have made no decision to revoke degrees they had awarded to Cosby.
SARU is supporting Bernard in part to improve the University’s response to sexual assault allegations, said Rogers-Fett, citing litigation and Title IX complaints pursued by the U.S. Department of Education.
“We tried to convey in the meeting what this gesture would mean to those of us who have lived through the mishandling of past sexual assault cases,” she said.
BALTIMORE CITY PAPER
Student organization, Lili Bernard ask Johns Hopkins University to repeal Bill Cosby’s honorary degree
The Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU), a student-run organization at Johns Hopkins University, is working with Lili Bernard, an actor who says Bill Cosby drugged and raped her while she was preparing to guest-star on “The Cosby Show,” to get the university to repeal the honorary doctorate degree that it gave Cosby in 2004.
A press release from SARU (sent out by JHU student and CP intern alumna Jessica Kim Cohen) said, “Cosby accuser, Lili Bernard, who is a visual artist-actor and parent of a Johns Hopkins University (JHU) freshman, asked the university to repeal Cosby’s honorary doctorate degree this past Saturday, Oct. 24, during JHU Family Weekend. Accompanied by seven members of Sexual Assault Resource Unit (SARU), a JHU student-run advocacy group, Bernard met and shared her story with JHU Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Maureen Marsh, and JHU Interim Vice President and General Counsel, Paul Pineau. JHU has not yet released a decision.
“At the meeting, two of Bernard’s witnesses (her talent agent at the time and a production assistant of ‘The Cosby Show’) spoke via video chat, so that JHU could vet Bernard’s story. Bernard alleges that in the early 1990s, during her preparation to guest star as a main character on ‘The Cosby Show,’ Bill Cosby drugged and raped her, and threatened serious consequences on her life. On April 30, 2015, empowered by the dozens of Cosby survivors who publicly disclosed their stories, Bernard filed a police report in Atlantic City, N.J., where Cosby allegedly drugged and raped her. The D.A. did not press charges on the grounds that the incident allegedly occurred just a few months outside the statute of limitations.”
As Vulture pointed out in an article published on Tuesday, Cosby had been the recipient of more than 60 honorary degrees. While many schools (including Goucher College) have repealed those degrees in light of the accusations from nearly 60 women who say that Cosby sexually assaulted or raped them, more than 40 remaining universities have not revoked them, including Johns Hopkins University. When Vulture asked JHU if it was planning on revoking his degree, the school responded, “At this point, we do not have anything to say.”
Dennis O’Shea, the executive director of media relations and crisis communications for JHU, told City Paper yesterday that the university had no comment on the meeting SARU had with university officials.
Ella Rogers-Fett, a senior at Hopkins and the co-director of SARU, wrote via email, “Lili Bernard got in touch with SARU representatives when she traveled to Baltimore for JHU Parents Weekend. On Friday afternoon (the 23rd) I had the opportunity to meet with her and discuss survivor advocacy.” She wrote that SARU plans on reaching out to student groups from other schools, including University of Maryland, George Washington University, NYU, Temple University, and University of Notre Dame to place pressure on those schools to also revoke the honorary degrees they had given Cosby.
On its Facebook page, SARU wrote on Tuesday, “The gesture of repealing Cosby’s degree would show support for Lili and her family as part of the JHU community, and for student sexual assault survivors. It would also demonstrate that JHU is serious about correcting their negative history of failing to adequately respond to sexual assault violations.” City Paper wrote at length in June about JHU’s long struggles with gender discrimination and sexual assault on its campus.
SARU’s Facebook post also encouraged Hopkins students to email Interim Vice President and General Council Paul Pineau to weigh in on the decision regarding Cosby’s honorary degree.
