Nowhere has the precipitous fall of Mr. Cosby been more acutely felt than in Philadelphia, where he was a cherished native son who shot to fame spinning humorous tales of a childhood in public housing. He became a philanthropist and cheerleader for his hometown, not least through the Temple sweatshirts that he wore onstage and on “The Cosby Show” and that put his alma mater on the map.
As recently as Veterans Day, Mayor Michael A. Nutter acknowledged Mr. Cosby at a ceremony on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, saying, “Thank you, sir, for everything.”
But as more than 15 women have publicly accused the comedian of assault, often after drugging them, his hometown has plunged into a re-examination of his life and ties to the city. It is a process painful and sad, as residents try to square the image of Mr. Cosby as a beloved father figure, extolling on TV and in books the value of education and intact African-American families, with allegations of his sexual violence toward women going back five decades.
Last Monday, Mr. Cosby resigned from the board of Temple University amid a pressure campaign by students and alumni.
He was the face of the school nationwide, speaking at graduations, and as recently as at the freshman convocation in August.
On campus, students were largely relieved that he had stepped down. “A lot of people don’t want him here,” said Adaisah Johnson, 19, a sophomore from Freehold, N.J.
Another sophomore, Eva Arce, 20, from North Philadelphia like Mr. Cosby, recalled him as “a cool dad figure” from her childhood, and regretted his fall from that pedestal.
“It’s kind of sad knowing one of the major Philly icons is not going to be up there anymore and will be looked at in a bad light,” she said.
Cindy Bass, a City Council member who grew up in North Philadelphia and attended Temple, credited Mr. Cosby with bringing national recognition to the 37,000-student university, a haven for poor and working-class students.
“But it is important to note that I know Cliff Huxtable, the family man who was welcomed into my living room every Thursday night. I don’t know Bill Cosby,” she said in a written statement.
She said Mr. Cosby’s resignation should spur the university to re-examine the issue of sexual assault. Temple was one of 55 colleges named as targets of a federal investigation this year for mishandling complaints of sexual violence. Women “are ashamed about what took place and terrified of the potential for public humiliation” if they report assaults, Ms. Bass said.
A growing national awareness of the issue, echoed in cases in the military and on campuses, seems to explain part of why the allegations against Mr. Cosby, first made more than a decade ago, have resurfaced with such force.
None of the earlier accounts led to criminal charges. A suit filed by a Temple athletic department administrator against Mr. Cosby in 2005 was settled out of court. The matter largely faded, but after Mr. Buress’s anti-Cosby rant in Philadelphia on Oct. 16 (“You leave here and Google ‘Bill Cosby rape.’ It’s not funny,” he said.) the issue went viral on social media and burst back to life.
“It’s kind of sad knowing one of the major Philly icons is not going to be up there anymore.” EVA ARCE, 20, a Temple sophomore from North Philadelphia. © Mark Makela for The New York Times “It’s kind of sad knowing one of the major Philly icons is not going to be up there anymore.” EVA ARCE, 20, a Temple sophomore from North Philadelphia.
On Tuesday, Mr. Cosby was sued for a second time, by a California woman, Judy Huth, who claimed he molested her in the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 1974 when she was 15. The Los Angeles police are investigating.
On Wednesday, two women who had not previously spoken out appeared at a news conference in Los Angeles to accuse Mr. Cosby, including one who said the comedian invited her to his hotel room in Las Vegas in 1986, drugged her and sexually assaulted her.
“A lot of people don’t want him here.” ADAISAH JOHNSON, 19, a Temple University sophomore from Freehold, N.J. © Mark Makela for The New York Times “A lot of people don’t want him here.” ADAISAH JOHNSON, 19, a Temple University sophomore from Freehold, N.J.
Last month, Mr. Cosby’s lawyer posted a statement — since removed — on the comedian’s website that said Mr. Cosby would not “dignify these allegations with any comment.”
On Twitter, Mr. Cosby last week thanked two celebrities for supporting him, Whoopi Goldberg and the singer Jill Scott, a Philadelphia native, who wrote on Twitter that the accusations had not been proved, adding, “This is insane.”
But mostly, as accusers have continued to come forward and universities, television networks and even the Navy cut ties with Mr. Cosby, his prominent hometown defenders have fallen silent. Both the mayor and Representative Chaka Fattah of North Philadelphia, who in November called for a “Bill Cosby Month,” declined to comment last week.
As the University of Massachusetts and High Point University in North Carolina ended relationships with Mr. Cosby, Temple, where he had been on the board since 1982, resisted.
An online petition started by an alumnus gathered hundreds of signatures calling on the college to cut ties, and the opinion editor of The Temple News, the student paper, demanded that the administration “stop deifying” Mr. Cosby.
Last Monday, trustees were holding a conference call to discuss Mr. Cosby when he independently phoned Patrick O’Connor, the chairman of the board, to say he would resign, Mr. O’Connor said.
“It is sad for Temple and sad for Bill,” he said.
Mr. O’Connor, a lawyer, defended Mr. Cosby in the 2005 suit brought by the former administrator of the Temple women’s basketball team, Andrea Constand. She accused him of giving her pills during a visit to his home in Cheltenham, a Philadelphia suburb, and of touching her breasts and genitals against her wishes.
Mr. O’Connor said the terms of the settlement prevent him from stating an opinion of Mr. Cosby’s guilt or innocence. “If this conduct is true, Bill Cosby has major issues,” he said. “Bill’s got to live with that. But maybe, if he’s innocent and the relations were consensual — wow.”
On Broad Street in North Philadelphia, a mural depicts Mr. Cosby in a loose purple sweater, his trademark look from “The Cosby Show.”
On the hit 1980s series, he was Cliff Huxtable, the wise head of an affluent black family in which both parents were professionals. Off the air, Mr. Cosby urged black parents to teach the importance of education and hard work, and he criticized pop culture’s glorification of sex and drugs.
The mural, painted to mark Father’s Day, places Mr. Cosby between Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
Passing by, Malik Evans, 29, a barber, said he was skeptical of the accusations. He suggested Mr. Cosby’s accusers were looking for a piece of his fortune. “Personally, I don’t believe the girls,” he said.
Nicole Cooper, 33, who works as an assistant at a nearby laundry, said that with so many accusers telling similar stories, she found them credible. “You can’t just say he didn’t do it because he was Cliff Huxtable,” she said.
She recalled Mr. Cosby walking the neighborhood during a street festival a couple of years ago, eagerly and enthusiastically hailed.
“Everybody’s looking at things a little differently now,” she said. “I think he let a lot of people down.”
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