Last week George Washington University refused to rescind its 1997 honorary degree awarded to comedian and alleged rapist Bill Cosby, which has The GW Hatchet editors mad.
In their criticism of the school, however, the editors appear to be declaring that the vast majority of sexual contact even in today’s progressive times is, by definition, rape:
Over the past year, more than 40 women have accused Cosby of drugging and raping them. And in a deposition that was released this past summer, Cosby admitted to giving women quaaludes, and suggested that he had been able to pick up on nonverbal clues that signaled consent. Clearly, Cosby no longer demonstrates dignity or integrity, and is no longer worthy of an honorary degree from GW.
“Nonverbal cues” are explicitly recognized as a mechanism for conveying consent even in affirmative-consent (“yes means yes”) campus regimes mandated by law in California and New York. By their own phrasing, the Hatchet editors argue that any person who claims their sex was consensual because of nonverbal cues “no longer demonstrates dignity or integrity.”
Though the school had discussed whether to revoke Cosby’s degree – several other colleges have done so in light of the numerous allegations against him – GWU eventually decided that it didn’t want to set a precedent under which it would have to re-evaluate all honorees:
[H]onorary degrees are conferred at a moment in time, based on what the university knows about the honoree at that time. It has never been the university’s practice to rescind an honorary degree.
That decision undermines the university’s work to protect sexual-assault victims and train students on how to prevent assault, and betrays “students and activists on college campuses” by simply noting GWU’s refusal to rescind, the editors say:
The University didn’t have to come down with a verdict on Cosby’s honorary degree right away, and at the very least, officials could have waited a bit longer to make this decision. But because they chose not to keep quiet, GW is likely to be cited as one of the first schools to publicly defend its decision to keep Cosby’s honorary degree. …
Taking away an honorary degree doesn’t take away past achievements from a disgraced star. However, it shows Cosby, and the population at large, that his character no longer aligns with the values of a university.
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