&caption=Bill Cosy and Steve Wynn have been stripped of their honors by the University of Pennsylvania. ){kind=link}
The University of Pennsylvania, acting on reported allegations that former trustee Steve Wynn engaged in decades-long acts of sexual harassment and intimidation, announced Thursday it would remove his name from a plaza located in the heart of its campus and take several other steps to distance itself from the hotel and casino mogul.
At the same time, the Ivy League university – in an act not taken in the last century – announced it would revoke honorary degrees previously awarded to Wynn and entertainer Bill Cosby, who has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women.
The school also stripped Wynn’s name from a scholarship fund he created at the school, though the scholarships will continue.
“It has been a century since the University of Pennsylvania last revoked an honorary degree, and we do not take that decision – or the decision to remove Mr. Wynn’s name from the Commons and from the scholarship fund he created – lightly,” Penn president Amy Gutmann and David L. Cohen, chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement. “We view these as extraordinary and essentially unique circumstances that call for an immediate, decisive, and clearly ethical response.”
The move comes after Wynn, while denying the allegations, resigned from his position as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee and after the board of directors of Wynn Resorts formed a special committee to investigate the allegations against him. Gaming regulators in both Nevada and Massachusetts are also investigating, according to published reports.
“The nature, severity, and extent of these allegations, and the patterns of abusive behavior they describe, involve acts and conduct that are inimical to the core values of our university,” Gutmann and Cohen said.
Once they decided to remove Wynn’s name from the Commons – an honor he earned after making a $7.5 million donation – they felt compelled to take the same action regarding his honorary degree and scholarship name, they said.
Because of that, they said they also decided it made sense to revoke Cosby’s honorary degree at the same time, even though allegations against him have been swirling for years and charges lodged against him for the alleged assault of former Temple University employee Andrea Constand were filed more than a year. Many other colleges, including Lehigh, Drexel, Swarthmore, Muhlenberg and Franklin & Marshall, already have revoked honorary degrees they previously awarded to the entertainer. Penn in the past declined to take action, saying it wasn’t the university’s practice.
A small committee of trustees, alumni, deans and faculty made the recommendations to strip Wynn and Cosby of their honors. Those recommendations were accepted by the trustees.
Wynn, a 1963 graduate of Penn, served on the board of trustees until 2004 and received his honorary degree in 2006.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the allegations against Wynn late last week. Earlier this week, the Wynn Commons sign was vandalized, according to a story in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s student newspaper. The outdoor plaza borders Houston Hall, Claudia Cohen Hall, College Hall, and Irvine Auditorium.
In their statement, Gutmann and Cohen noted the sexual allegations against a myriad of men in recent months and said universities must provide “moral leadership.”
“Our nation is currently undergoing a profound reckoning regarding the role and extent of sexual misconduct in all areas of our society,” they said. “It is incumbent on all of us to address these issues wherever and whenever we find that they affect our extended community.”
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