The University of Massachusetts-Amherst has cut ties with alumnus Bill Cosby amid allegations by women accusing him of sexual assault.
A university spokesman told the Boston Globe on Wednesday university officials had asked Cosby to step down as an honorary co-chairman of their $300 million fundraising campaign and Cosby agreed.
Cosby received a master's degree and a doctorate in education from the university.
He and his wife donated several hundred thousand dollars to the university, with reports suggesting the figure to be about $500,000.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sent a letter to the university urging it to cut ties with Cosby.
Coakley says while Cosby hadn't been criminally charged his association sends the wrong message when the state is focused on the prevention of campus sexual assault.
'Although Mr. Cosby has not been criminally charged nor convicted for these actions ... I believe the volume and disturbing nature of these allegations has reached a point where Mr. Cosby should no longer have a formal role at UMass, nor be involved in its fundraising efforts, unless or until Mr. Cosby is able to satisfactorily respond to these allegations,' Coakley wrote.
Cosby's lawyer has called the allegations 'unsubstantiated' and 'discredited'.
On Wednesday it was revealed that Cosby testified under oath in 2005 that he gave the National Enquirer an exclusive interview about looming sexual-assault accusations by a Canadian woman against him in exchange for the tabloid spiking a second accuser's story.
Excerpts of Cosby's deposition from a civil lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand quote Cosby as saying he feared the public would believe her sexual-assault accusations if the Enquirer published similar claims by Beth Ferrier.
