#ByePhylicia started trending on Twitter Thursday as students at Howard University demanded the school fire new Dean of Fine Arts, Phylicia Rashad, for her support of her former co-star Bill Cosby.
The Daily Wire reported that Rashad has been under fire since she tweeted, “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” in response to news that Cosby’s conviction for sexual assault had been overturned and he was being released from prison.
Rashad quickly deleted the post and issued a new statement, saying, “I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.”
The school also posted a statement distancing itself from Rashad’s views: “Survivors of sexual assault will always be our first priority,” it said. “While Dean Rashad has acknowledged in her follow-up tweet that victims must be heard and believed, her initial tweet lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault.” The school added. “Personal positions of university leadership do not reflect Howard University’s policies.”
But that wasn’t enough for many Howard students and alumni who are demanding the actress and long-time Howard donor be fired.
“Hold her ass accountable,” student Whitney Meritus, said on Instagram, according to the Daily Beast. “I’d take a non-famous dean who believes [sexual assault] victims over a celebrity dean who does shit like this… Don’t get me wrong, I know she was his professor and all, but I don’t think she deserves to lead the Chadwick A. Boseman School of Fine Arts. Not anymore.”
“As a @HowardU School of Fine Arts alum, and as a survivor, this tweet from @PhyliciaRashad is disappointing. I hope we can have a dean who believes & respects survivors. Howards students who are survivors, I believe you…” Alicia Sanchez tweeted.
Writing in The Independent, alumnus Nylah Burton said, “When Rashad places herself so jubilantly on the side of a man who has been accused of sexual assault by 60 women and has admitted to drugging women, she places herself universes away from the needs and best interests of all her students.” She added that she was raped during her time at Howard and said, “Had I been assaulted while a student of Dean Rashad, I can’t say that I would have ever come forward. Because I would have feared her retribution and her judgment.” She wrote, she “most likely would have stayed silent.”
“Rashad should not be an educator,” Burton said in a separate Twitter post.
“I think it’s good that Phylicia Rashad spoke up and showed us she’s not qualified to be the Dean of the College of Fine Arts,” said Andrew Addison. “It’s really on Howard to do the right thing and rectify the situation.”
Rashad has defended Cosby publicly in the past, saying of Cosby’s accusers in 2015, “Forget these women. What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated.” Presumably, Howard University would have been aware of Rashad’s views when it hired her.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Source: Dailywire
