CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ UNC-Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees has voted to revoke an honorary degree awarded in 2003 to Bill Cosby, who was convicted recently in a sexual assault case.
A majority of the board voted by mail ballot to revoke the degree. The mail ballot was approved without discussion as a part of the board's consent agenda.
Chancellor Carol Folt had recommended the revocation, saying, "This is the first known time that the University has taken steps to rescind an honorary degree, and we do not take this action lightly. In this case, Cosby's acts were so counter to our campus values that this prestigious honor is no longer appropriate."
Cosby was convicted in April in a retrial of a case in which an employee of Temple University said she was drugged and assaulted by Cosby in 2004. Dozens of women have accused him of sexual misconduct or assault.
The conviction prompted several universities to revoke degrees given to Cosby, including Temple, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame and Boston College. N.C. A&T State University's board acted quickly to revoke a degree awarded to the comedian in 2008.
