Bill Cosby's mugshot.
Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania correctional facility.
The renowned and groundbreaking entertainer Bill Cosby received a three to 10-year sentence on Tuesday for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home near Philadelphia.
Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby in 2004.
Since then, more than five dozen women have come forward to share their stories about how he drugged and sexually assaulted them as well.
Cosby, 81, is known for his ability to make people laugh and for giving back. He donated money to schools such as Florida A&M University and Spelman College.
A $100,000 gift was donated to Florida A&M by Cosby and his wife, Camille toward the Althea Gibson Scholarship in 1997.
Gibson was a professional tennis player, who graduated from FAMU. She became the first African American to win titles at Wimbledon, French Open, and the United States Open.
America’s favorite dad was the keynote speaker at FAMU graduations in 2003 and 2007. Cosby’s brother Russell was one of the graduates in the 2003 class.
Cosby’s sentencing was the topic of discussion Tuesday and FAMU students reacted to it.
Nawye Jones, a senior health science major, gave her thoughts on his prison sentence.
“He’s older and I understand what he did or what he was accused of doing is wrong, but other things have to be taken into consideration,” she said.
Diamond Bell, an applied social science graduate student, found out about Cosby’s sentencing from Facebook.
“I think if he did it, he should get the prison time. I also think (Harvey) Weinstein should get a prison sentence too,” Bell said.
Sophomore mechanical engineering major Joseph Way talked about how he thinks no one should have to go through being sexually assaulted.
“I don’t think anybody deserves to endure something like that, so I believe it should be a longer sentence. Three to 10 years doesn’t account toward the trauma you put this woman or these women through. This is well deserved. All the things he’s done in the past finally caught up with him,” he said.
Kyra Freeman, a junior biology pre-med student, found out about Cosby’s sentencing from her Twitter feed.
Freeman said, “If he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt and those women testified, then he should go to prison.”
Cosby is currently at State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Pennsylvania where the goal is to place him into the general population, but for now, he is being kept isolated and in a cell for one individual.