Spelman College has suspended The Cosby Chair for the Humanities, a prestigious endowed professorship, in the wake of rape allegations made against the comedian.
"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," Audrey Arthur, a school spokeswoman,
told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"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 newspaper reported that Bill Cosby and his wife donated $20 million to the endowment in 1987, at that point the largest single donation ever given to a historically black college. Cosby's daughters also attended the all-female school in Atlanta.
Pearl Cleage, best-selling novelist and former Cosby Chair, agreed with the suspension.
"In light of the current accusations against Mr. Cosby, it’s appropriate to suspend the chair while the college reevaluates the relationship with Mr. Cosby, moving forward," she said.
The suspension is just the latest severing of ties academic institutions have made in light of allegations that Cosby drugged and, in some cases, raped many women during the 70s and 80s. The most recent accusation came from Vogue cover model Beverly Johnson on Thursday.
Cosby recently resigned from the board of trustees at Temple University and from an honorary co-chair of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
On Friday, Cosby spoke out briefly about the allegations.
"Let me say this. I only expect the black media to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism and when you do that you have to go in with a neutral mind," Cosby told the
New York Post.