Pitt Rescinds Bill Cosby’s 2002 Honorary Degree

Issue Date: 
November 16, 2015

Based on a unanimous recommendation from the University committee for honorary degree recipients, the University of Pittsburgh has rescinded the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree awarded to Bill Cosby in 2002 at the commencement ceremony on Pitt’s Johnstown campus. The committee found that certain actions on Mr. Cosby’s part—unknown to the public at the time and subsequently admitted by him—were in conflict with the stated basis for awarding the degree and inconsistent with the core values and principles of the University.