Howard College introduced on Friday that it might revoke an honorary diploma that was awarded to the hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2014. The choice comes within the wake of Mr. Combs’s admission that he bodily abused a former girlfriend, along with a slew of different allegations of abuse which have surfaced in current months.
On the conclusion of a gathering of the Howard College board of trustees, the physique voted unanimously “to simply accept the return by Mr. Sean Combs of the honorary diploma,” based on a assertion launched by the college. Howard additionally mentioned that it might revoke all honors and privileges related to the diploma.
Mr. Combs, 54, often known as “Puff” and “Diddy,” attended the college from 1987 to 1989 however left earlier than graduating. In 2016, he pledged $1 million to determine the Sean Combs Scholarship Fund, which went to college students in want of economic assist.
Video footage surfaced final month of Mr. Combs hanging, kicking and dragging his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, identified professionally as Cassie, in 2016.
“Mr. Combs’s conduct as captured in a lately launched video is so essentially incompatible with Howard College’s core values and beliefs that he’s deemed now not worthy to carry the establishment’s highest honor,” the assertion mentioned.
Howard College didn’t instantly reply to further requests for remark.
In November 2023, Ms. Ventura filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Combs of rape and bodily abuse; they reached a settlement the following day. Then, in Could, CNN printed surveillance footage it had acquired from a Los Angeles lodge that confirmed Mr. Combs attacking Ms. Ventura close to the constructing’s elevators.
Mr. Combs subsequently posted an apology video on Instagram with the caption “I’m really sorry.”
“I hit all-time low — however I make no excuses,” he mentioned within the apology video. “My conduct on that video is inexcusable. I take full accountability for my actions in that video.”
Howard College was based in 1867 to teach freed slaves, and at this time is a famend traditionally Black college. Notable alumni embrace politicians, actors and writers, comparable to Vice President Kamala Harris and the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison. Final yr, the college awarded honorary levels to Consultant James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and Keith Christopher Rowley, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
The lack of the honorary diploma comes amid ongoing authorized troubles for Mr. Combs, who’s the founding father of Unhealthy Boy Information. In March, federal brokers raided Mr. Combs’s properties in Los Angeles and the Miami space, which officers mentioned was associated partly to a human trafficking investigation. No expenses have been filed in relation to that case.
The raids adopted lawsuits wherein 4 girls, together with Ms. Ventura, accused Mr. Combs of rape and sexual assault and a person accused him of undesirable sexual contact. Legal professionals for Mr. Combs have begun to file motions to dismiss the sexual assault fits.
This month, as his authorized troubles mounted, Mr. Combs bought his majority stake in his media firm, Revolt. He had beforehand bought his half of a liquor model, DeLeón, for roughly $200 million after its guardian firm mentioned Mr. Combs’s status had been tarnished. And a New York constitution faculty community Mr. Combs had labored to broaden reduce ties with him.
Along with stripping Mr. Combs of the honorary diploma, Howard mentioned that it might return his $1 million contribution and disband the scholarship program in his identify.
