According to PEOPLE Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ honorary degree has been rescinded by Howard University.
The historically black college and university (HBCU) announced the decision in a statement on Friday, June 7, three weeks after Combs was seen physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura in a 2016 hotel surveillance video.
Combs is also facing multiple ongoing sexual assault lawsuits.
A Howard University spokesperson said in a statement on the school’s website that its Board of Trustees “voted unanimously today to accept the return by Mr. Sean Combs of the honorary degree conferred upon him in 2014.”
It added that the decision “revokes all honors and privileges associated with the degree.”
His name will also be pulled from documents and lists of those who have received honorary degrees from the university.
Citing the disturbing video, the spokesperson continued:
“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 University is unwavering in its opposition to all acts of interpersonal violence.”
In addition to revoking his honorary degree, Howard is ending a gift agreement with Combs from 2016, and dissolving his namesake scholarship program.
It will return $1 million that he gifted to the school and is canceling its pledge agreement with the Sean Combs Foundation that was made last year.
Howard noted,
“No payments toward the $1 million pledge have been due or made by the Sean Combs Foundation as of this date,”
so there are no funds to return for the 2023 pledge agreement.
Combs was previously a business administration student at Howard University before he dropped out to pursue a career at Uptown Records in the early 1990s.
