"Rashad applauded the overturned conviction, tweeting that 'a miscarriage of justice is corrected' alongside an image of Cosby. After a flurry of criticism over her tweet, Rashad later added, 'I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth.' Nylah Burton, a writer and former student of Howard University, called Rashad’s initial comments 'obscene.' Burton said she was raped while attending the university. Last year, she set up a GoFundMe to help support current and former Howard University students who have experienced sexual violence on the HBCU campus. The 26-year-old said she’s still processing the news about Cosby, which was 'triggering,' but it was Rashad’s comment that she found immediately chilling. 'To see random people celebrating Bill Cosby is always hurtful, of course, but to see people with so much institutional and cultural power … so firmly against you, it makes you feel hopeless,' Burton said."
From "Sexual assault survivors are devastated by Bill Cosby’s release: ‘It makes you feel hopeless’/Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after his sexual-assault conviction was overturned" (The Lily (at WaPo).
Why is Phylicia Rashad a dean at Howard? I see at her Wikipedia page that her highest degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Here's Howard's official announcement, dated May 12, 2021. Excerpt:
“I can think of no individual better suited to take on this role than Ms. Phylicia Rashad,” said Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA. “As we reintroduce our campus community and the world at large to Howard’s College of Fine Arts, the dean will play an instrumental role in ensuring an auspicious beginning for this reestablished institution. Given Ms. Rashad’s reputation as well as her capabilities and impressive list of accomplishments, she will undoubtedly empower the college to transcend even our incredibly high expectations.”
What did they think they were getting? Image? Now, they need to distance themselves from her and they say — sensitively! — that she lacked "sensitivity."
This would have been a good time for Howard to say that the rights of the criminally accused are just as important as enforcing the criminal law, but Howard's statement asserts "Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority."
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Wilbur writes:
It was totally predictable, that the slightest personal glimmer of support for Cosby would be unequivocally condemned.
You must be 100% on their side in EVERY circumstance or you too will be taking the figurative ride in the tumbrel.
As a former career prosecutor, I've seen the strong ethics of the profession be increasingly shoved to the back seat to make room for politically-based decisions.
Tom Tildrum writes:
Cosby admitted under oath to drugging numerous women so as to have sex with them while they were out. That's undoubtedly rape. It's certainly possible for Rashad to celebrate the vindication of a defendant's constitutional rights when a prosecutor's overreach is struck down, but to do so without acknowledging the facts of Cosby's assaults seems justifiably termed "insensitive."
On the other hand, it's a stretch for Burton to suggest that this has anything to do with her, when Rashad was obviously making an individualized remark about a personal friend.
RD writes:
Howard University wanted Phylicia Rashad for her personal relationships with Hollywood and Broadway movers and shakers. Now her personal relationship with the Black man that brought her success, fame and fortune is making the Wokerati at the Historically Black University(TM) Howard University very uncomfortable.
Ms. Rashad was appointed Dean of the NEW Fine Arts Department for one simple reason. She was responsible for prying the wallets open of Hollywood, Broadway, and possibly through her former husband, the NFL and Sports Stars to endow the new unfunded Fine Arts department and Howard University in general. She was appointed Dean because of her connections and personal accomplishments, not any scholarly research or fame. Now Howard University is learning that she is loyal, not to a woke political hothouse university, but to the very people Howard University wants to contribute/fleece.
Amadeus 48 writes:
"Hi Althouse—Virtue signaling can take some strange turns. A few years ago, the estimable Chicago Shakespeare Company felt the urge to honor an African-American woman on their Corporate Night fund-raiser. Their choice: the beautiful and talented Phylicia Rashad. One anomaly—the only Shakespeare play Ms. Rashad had appeared in was a Lincoln Center production of Cymbeline. She didn’t have many Shakespeare chops. Ms. Rashad was very gracious and very honest—but you could see the thought bubble over her head—why are they honoring me? It was a somewhat uncomfortable evening of celebrating a talented black woman for…something."
JamesL writes:
"'I can think of no individual better suited to take on this role than Ms. Phylicia Rashad,' said Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA."
Seeing degree(s) after a person’s name is a triggering event for me. Are they (or their institution) so insecure that they need to advertise (with no qualification) the degrees that they have been awarded? I guess some people are impressed. I’m not.
Well, it's especially weird when they're installing a dean who *lacks* degrees!
Joe writes:
My pet peeve alarm went off when I read Rahad's quote that included 'their truth.' This is a woman who will work at a university? Their truth? My truth is that I'm 6'8" and can run and jump like nobody on earth. Where is my contract for the Lakers?
I have nothing against her supporting a friend...that is admirable in my book. But she is doing the slow cave-in that always happens when a normally woke celebrity accidentally tells the actual truth and suddenly finds themself in danger of being cancelled.
Not that she is in danger of starving thanks to Cosby's creativity...
Tolkein writes:
Howard's statement asserts "Survivors of sexual assault will always be our priority."
except if they're survivors of a Democrat assailant. Qv Tara Reade, Justin Fairfax, Edward Kennedy, Bill Clinton
Bruce writes:
Here was the problem. In a civil case, people can assert their 5th Amdt right to not self incriminate themselves, to not answer questions under oath, if they have a reasonable chance of that testimony being used against them in a criminal case against them. In the civil case against Cosby, he was deposed, and initially refused to answer questions where his answers would incriminate him in a criminal case. The judge denied his 5th Amdt assertion, and ordered him to answer the questions, based on the DA’s promise not to prosecute Cosby. The new DA said essentially “that was the old DA”, and used the testimony against Cosby that the civil court judge had required him to provide. The bottom line was that the civil court judge had detrimentally relied on the previous DA’s promise to not criminally charge Cosby to reject his assertion of his right not to incriminate himself. Cosby did incriminate himself, under orders from that judge, the incriminating testimony was used against Cosby in the subsequent criminal trial, and he was convicted as a result. It didn’t help matters that the legal entity prosecuting Cosby was the same one that had promised Cosby that he wasn’t going to be prosecuted. But the key here, pointed out above, was the detrimental reliance the civil case judge made on the previous DA’s promise not to prosecute.
Maynard writes:
"Bruce has correctly stated the reason for overturning Cosby’s conviction. However, my understanding is that Cosby (in his deposition) stated that he “gave” one of the civil suit plaintiffs Qualudes - a muscle relaxant. It was not that he forced them on her.
"While I believe that Cosby is a Clintonian sexual predator, I do not believe that he admitted to a crime. Qualudes were pretty popular back in the day, particularly as an invitation to sex. I recall visiting UW-Madison in 1972 and attending a party in which Qualudes were prominently on display. Offering someone ‘ludes was a shorthand way for young adults to ask if they wanted to have sex."
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