Spelman College has suspended the Cosby Chair for the Humanities in the wake of recent rape allegations against Bill Cosby.
The endowed professorship at Spelman College was first established in the late 80s, partly funded by a $20 million donation from Cosby and his wife Camille.
Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
On Sunday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution exclusively learned that Spelman loosened its ties with Cosby by indefinitely suspending the William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship, which was established after Cosby and his wife, Camille, gave the school $20 million in 1987.
“The William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship was established to bring positive attention and accomplished visiting scholars to Spelman College in order to enhance our intellectual, cultural and creative life,” Spelman spokeswoman Audrey Arthur said in an email. “The current context prevents us from continuing to meet these objectives fully. Consequently, we will suspend the program until such time that the original goals can again be met.”
Spelman now joins several other colleges who have moved to distance themselves from Cosby over the last few weeks. Bill Cosby himself resigned from his position as an honorary co-chair of the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s capital campaign in addition to resigning from Temple University’s board of trustees.
North Carolina’s High Point University has removed Cosby from its national board of advisers and the Berklee School of Music has discontinued a scholarship in his name.
[via Gawker]
