It has been decided by Howard University to revoke the honorary degree that was awarded to Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Combs was seen violently abusing his then-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura in a hotel surveillance video from 2016, and the decision was disclosed by the historically black college and university (HBCU) in a statement on Friday, June 7, three weeks after the incident. Combs is also being sued for sexual assault in other cases that are now pending.
In a statement that was posted on the website of Howard University, a spokeswoman for the institution said that the Board of Trustees “voted unanimously today to accept the return by Mr. Sean Combs of the honorary degree that was conferred upon him in 2014.”
The statement went on to say that the judgment “revokes all honors and privileges associated with the degree.”
In addition to this, his name will be extracted from the records and listings of those who have been awarded honorary degrees by the institution.
“Mr. Combs’ behavior as captured in a recently released video is so fundamentally incompatible with Howard University’s core values and beliefs that he is deemed no longer worthy to hold the institution’s highest honor,” the representative added, citing the frightening video as the source of the information.
“The University is unwavering in its opposition to all acts of interpersonal violence.”
Not only is Howard rescinding his honorary degree, but he is also terminating a gift arrangement that he had with Combs in 2016, and he is also dissolving the scholarship program that bears his name. The organization is going to refund the one million dollars that he gave to the school, and it is also going to revoke the pledge agreement that it had signed with the Sean Combs Foundation the previous year.
According to Howard, “As of this date, the Sean Combs Foundation has not made any payments toward the $1 million pledge, nor has it made any payments toward the pledge.” This means that there are no monies to return for the 2023 pledge agreement.
Individuals attempted to get a remark from a representative of Combs, but they did not get a response right away.
Before he left Howard University to pursue a career at Uptown Records in the early 1990s, Combs was a student at Howard University studying business administration. He left the university to pursue his profession.
The security footage that CNN acquired on May 20 shows Combs seizing Ventura by the neck, then yanking her to the ground and severely kicking her. Combs is seen doing this in the video. When she was lying immobile on the ground, he kicked her once again and dragged her toward their hotel room. After that, he let go of her and walked away. In a another part of the video, Combs is seen throwing something at Ventura.
After some time had passed, Diddy finally made an apology on Instagram, admitting that he was “disgusted” by the behaviors that were captured on camera. In addition, Ventura issued a message on social media, in which she said, “Domestic violence is THE issue.” I was transformed into a person I never imagined I would become as a result of it. I am better now as a result of a lot of hard work, but I will never stop healing from the mistakes I made in the past.
The specific event was described in her case against Combs, which was filed in November of last year and has since been resolved.
Since that time, Combs has been the target of additional sexual assault allegations, with the sixth woman bringing a complaint against him only a month ago.
