U.S. university revokes Bill Cosby’s honorary degree following sex scandals

George Washington University rescinded Monday the honorary degree awarded to AfricanAmerican comedian Bill Cosby in 1997, following a series of sex scandals that erupted in the last few months involving the actor, the university said in a statement.

University President Steven Knapp said the controversy surrounding the actor had become “a cause of renewed stress” among students, who were victims of sexual assault.

“That makes this case different. I have therefore decided that the university will rescind Mr. Cosby’s honorary degree,” Knapp added.

On Monday, Cosby’s lawyers filed a motion in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, asking for the sexual assault charges against him to be dismissed calling them “illegal, improper and unethical.”

Cosby’s defense claims the Attorney General’s office in 2004 had promised “never” to prosecute the actor in the case of Andrea Constand, a former employee at Philadelphia’s Temple University who claims Cosby drugged her and then assaulted her while she was unconscious.

This was the first time criminal charges were brought against the 78yearold Cosby by any of the dozens of women who have accused him of sexual abuse.

He has denied the allegations but they have, nonetheless, destroyed his image as “America’s father.”

In a press conference, Kevin Steele, Montgomery County’s district attorney, said the charges were based on an investigation on the relationship the comedian had with the victim and which had its origins in Constand’s work with the basketball team at Temple University.

According to Steele, the woman, who is 42 years old now, went to Cosby’s house where the actor made two failed sexual advances at her before urging her to take pills and drink wine in a bid to make her unconscious.

From 1960s to the 1980s, Cosby was one of the most popular figures on U.S. television comedies, with NBC’s “The Cosby Show” setting a precedent for TV sitcoms.

Since the sexual scandal broke, the network said it will no longer work with the actor.