The University of Missouri may join ranks of higher education institutions that have stripped comedian-entertainer Bill Cosby of an honorary degree.
The occasion prompts us to go a step further and suggest colleges and universities discontinue the practice of awarding honorary degrees.
Cosby has been awarded at least 57 honorary degrees since 1985, according to the website Wikipedia.
If the University of Missouri accepts the recommendation of its Faculty Council, it will join at least 12 other schools that have rescinded honorary degrees for the celebrity.
As our readers are aware, the revocations followed allegations that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted a number of women in years past. Cosby subsequently testified he used Quaaludes during consensual sexual encounters.
The entire sordid episode has tarnished Cosby's image as an American father figure and embarrassed every college and university that celebrated him with an honorary doctorate.
Ben Trachtenberg, chairman of the University of Missouri's Faculty Council, said: "If the university was going to take away an honorary degree, they felt the process should be begun by the faculty, who recommend people in the first place."
In the first place, why make such recommendations?
Typically, it is to reward a major donor or lure a celebrity graduation speaker.
In reality, it is ego-stroking for the recipient and/or shameless publicity-seeking by the school.
Students who earn higher-education degrees - bachelor's, master's and doctorates - can attest that time, money and intense studying are required.
In contrast, an honorary degree is largely a charade.
The University of Missouri now must decide whether to rescind an honor that never should have been conferred.
If universities and colleges ended this sham, they wouldn't risk possible shame.