A historically black women's college in Atlanta, Ga., is distancing itself from Bill Cosby amid allegations by more than two dozen women that the comedian and actor sexually assaulted and drugged them.
Spelman College is suspending it's the visiting professor program, the William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship, becoming the latest institution to sever ties with Cosby, Reuters reported.
"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," school officials said in a statement. "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."
The professorship program was created in 1988 when the school received a $20 million donation from Cosby and his wife Camille.
Spelman isn't the first school to balk at associations with Cosby. UMass Amherst has ended their affiliation with the legendary entertainer, who was an honorary co-chairman of the school's ongoing $300 million fundraising campaign, and Berklee College of Music has removed his name from a scholarship offered by the university.
Cosby has denied the allegations through his attorney and has not been charged in connection with any of them.
"The new, never-before-heard claims from women who have come forward in the past two weeks with unsubstantiated, fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40, or even 50 years ago have escalated far past the point of absurdity," Martin Singer, Cosby's Lawyer, said in a statement issued Friday in response to the accusations and published by the Associated Press.
Singer also said the accusations are "becoming increasingly ridiculous" and "illogical," Campus Reform reported.
"It is long past time for this media vilification of Mr. Cosby to stop," Singer said.
Cosby is best known for playing Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the TV sitcom "The Cosby Show."
