Phylicia Rashad Needs to Resign from Howard University Immediately
In the wake of the shocking news that Bill Cosby had his 2018 aggravated assault conviction overturned and was being released from prison, many across the entertainment spectrum weighed in on the news.
Many expressed outrage and sadness that Cosby was being released due to a technicality rather than serving his full sentence for allegedly drugging and raping Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.
But it was a comment from “Cosby Show” co-star Phylicia Rashad, that dominated the news cycles.
The actress tweeted out “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” The post was accompanied by a photo of Cosby holding up his fist.
Almost immediately, reaction to the tweet spread quickly and fiercely with many directing their anger toward Rashad for not only defending someone who over 50 women had him accused of sexual misconduct but also in such a callous way towards the victims.
Within hours, Rashad backtracked with an apology.
“I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing,” she wrote.
The university also released their own statement, tweeting out,
"Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority," the statement said. "While Dean Rashad has acknowledged in her follow-up tweet that victims must be heard and believed, her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault."
The university added that "personal positions of University leadership do not reflect Howard University's policies."
“We will continue to advocate for survivors fully and support their right to be heard," they said. "Howard will stand with survivors and challenge systems that would deny them justice. We have full confidence that our faculty and school leadership will live up to this sacred commitment.”
But by then. it was too late. Many started calling out Howard University to rethink her hiring as dean of their College of Fine Arts.
As someone who has worked in higher education, I completely agree with that concern. Phylicia Rashad should immediately resign from that position and to be fair, she never should have been hired in the first place.
When Howard University announced that she would be the dean of their Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, I questioned the decision. While Rashad is a brilliant actress, from what I can tell, she’s never been an educator nor held any position within educational leadership.
While she graduated from Howard University magna cum laude in 1970, and has been presented with 13 honorary doctorates, she’s never earned a terminal degree in her field - typically a minimum requirement to become a dean of an entire college.
She is also slated to star on Broadway later this year in Dominique Morisseau’s “The Skelton Key” at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Previews begin Dec. 21, with an opening night on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022.
Before her comments on Cosby, the last factor here was concerning. Given her casting that would mean, if you count a typical rehearsal period, Rashad would be absent from campus for most of the fall through the end of the semester and depending on the show’s success - potentially into the spring as well.
The dean of a college is not a symbolic or theoretical position. It’s a real job with real responsibilities that require a day-to-day presence. Almost every job posting describes the position as this:
It is a leadership position within a complex and dynamic organization comprised of engaged and passionate students, staff, faculty, and alumni. As the chief executive and academic officer of the school, the dean collaborates with faculty in overseeing its academic programs and policies; stewards the school’s financial, capital, and human resources; and plays a prominent role in fundraising and external relations.
How do Howard University and Phylicia Rashad expect to fulfill these basic requirements when she will be hundreds of miles away performing in a Broadway show? The answer - they have no idea. To me, this was nothing more than a celebrity hire to bring publicity to the school, and to be fair, Howard University isn’t nearly the first to do this either.
But beyond her lack of qualifications, there was a lingering unease I had with Rashad overseeing a population of college students. Much of it was due to her steadfast defense of Bill Cosby.
Long before her tweets yesterday, I had known that Rashad was sticking by her co-star. Back in 2015, she made comments to a reporter defending Cosby and victim-shamed the women who were coming forward with their allegations.
"Forget these women," she said. "What you're seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it's orchestrated. I don't know why or who's doing it, but it's the legacy. And it's a legacy that is so important to the culture. Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV, and it's worked. All his contracts have been canceled."
She would later say that she did not mean “Forget these women” to be dismissive of all victims of sexual assault, just the ones coming out against Cosby.
Rightfully so, there was swift backlash and Rashad hasn’t spoken publicly about her stance on Bill Cosby. Until yesterday.
Many others have correctly pointed out that if her previous and current comments are how she feels about someone who dozens of women have accused of rape, then how will she handle similar accusations within the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University?
It’s an absolutely fair question as the dean of an entire college within a university would certainly be notified and potentially participate in the investigations of these types of crimes on campuses. I’ve worked for four different colleges and universities and I can say that I’ve seen how involved deans are with these types of issues.
And she likely won’t have a good answer when questioned about this. How can she say she would listen and believe the claims of one potential victim and not the 50 that have come out against Cosby? Her comments also peek inside the likely hurdles a victim would have to jump to get support from Rashad.
Rashad’s tweet was reckless, showed extremely poor judgment, two qualities no college dean should have. This is a real shame because Howard University is a first-rate institution and, in my opinion, the best HBCU option for a student pursuing the arts.
However, if they plan on keeping Rashad as dean and believe she is the best option for their students, I cannot endorse prospective students applying there. She needs to resign immediately or Howard University must remove her.