Baptist college in Georgia places president on leave as it probes whether he ignored sexual abuse
CLEVELAND, Ga. (AP) — A Baptist college in northeast Georgia has placed its president on leave while it investigates whether he ignored claims that a former administrator was abusing students.
Trustees at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland announced on Friday that they had placed Emil Caner on leave. They said they hired an investigator to examine claims that a former administrator and professor sexually assaulted a woman who was a student and later a university employee. She claims she was assaulted when she went to the administrator's home for Bible study. Trustees also named John Yarborough, the director of alumni and public policy, as acting president.
Southern Baptists have faced allegations that hundreds of church leaders and workers have abused people over the years and that the denominaton hasn't done enough to prevent abuse.
The former student made the allegations on a podcast on May 29. Truett McConnell issued a statement May 30, saying that it first became aware of the allegations in February 2024, when the administrator informed the university he was under investigation by the White County Sheriff's Office 'regarding an inappropriate relationship.'
The 3,100-student university says the administrator's employment ended within days and that school leaders later learned that the administrator had sent 'hundreds' of 'sexually-explicit and theologically-twisted' emails from a personal account. Sheriff's deputies concluded there wasn't enough evidence to seek criminal charges, the university said. The sheriff's office didn't immediately respond Monday to a phone call and email seeking comment.
A lawyer for the former student contacted the university in February, Truett McConnell said. The student alleged in the podcast that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted at the administrator's home.
Marcia Shein, the former student's lawyer, said Monday that the university knew about the claims well before 2024. She said a petition complaining about the administrator's behavior was ignored.
The university replied that it 'takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously' and that if a formal complaint had been filed, the administrator 'would have been immediately investigated and ultimately dismissed.'
Shein said the student hasn't sued Truett McConnell because she is blocked by Georgia's four-year statue of limitations on civil lawsuits. However, Shein said White County District Attorney Jeff Langley has told Shein's investigator that he is taking a renewed look at the case.
Several alumni demonstrated on campus Friday as trustees met, saying the university hasn't done enough.
Brianna Derryberry, a 2017 graduate, held a sign saying, 'Your silence says more than your slogan.'
'I truly believe that there has been a lot that has been covered up,' Derryberry told WDUN-AM. 'I've just been praying that the darkness won't be there anymore and that the truth will come out.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Judge blocks Trump administration's attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil
Editor's note: The video above aired in a previous newscast. (AP)– A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump administration is trying to deport over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. But Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, will remain in custody until at least Friday, giving the government time to appeal, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Wednesday. More Local News 'The court's decision is the most significant vindication yet of Mahmoud's rights,' said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at the City University of New York that represents Khalil. 'But we aren't out of the woods until Mahmoud is free and back home with his wife and child.' Lawyers and spokespersons for the Justice Department, which is handling the case, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Khalil was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. He was then flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen who gave birth to their first child while he was in custody. Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, accusing the Trump administration of trying to suppress free speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has the power to deport Khalil because his presence in the U.S. could harm foreign policy. Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the U.S. on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. In his new ruling Wednesday, the judge said that Khalil had shown that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his free speech rights. However, the judge put his order on hold until 9:30 a.m. Friday to allow the government time to appeal. He also required Khalil to post a $1 bond before he is freed. More Local News In his ruling, Farbiarz cited Khalil's statement to the court last week that the revocation of his green card has damaged his career prospects, including a decision by Oxfam International to rescind a job offer to serve as a policy adviser. The judge also noted that the decision deterred Khalil from engaging in constitutionally protected protests and free speech-related activities. 'The Court finds as a matter of fact that the Petitioner's career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled — and this adds up to irreparable harm,' the judge wrote. Farbiarz noted in his ruling that the government has also argued it is detaining and deporting Khalil in part because of alleged omissions on his green card application. But the judge said evidence presented by his attorneys showed lawful permanent residents are virtually never detained for such a thing. Khalil, in his statement to the court last week, also disputed that he wasn't forthcoming on the application. For example, he said he was never employed by or served as an 'officer' of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, as the administration claims, but completed an internship approved by the university as part of his graduate studies. More Local News The judge's decision comes after several other legal residents targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify the deportation of Khalil and others, which gives him power to deport those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, then an international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations. But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists,' but has yet to give any evidence for the claim. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
A former Lebanese economy minister is arrested on corruption charges
BEIRUT (AP) — A former Lebanese Cabinet minister has been arrested and charged after an investigation into alleged financial crimes, judicial and security officials told The Associated Press. Former Economy Minister Amin Salam was detained after a three-hour interrogation about illegal use of ministry funds and use of suspicious contracts. The three judicial officials and one security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. Lebanon has been trying to reform its battered economy, which for decades has been rife with profiteering. Salam has been charged with forgery, embezzlement, and misuse of public funds. Local media said it was related to alleged extortion of private insurance companies and using funds from a committee that supervises those companies for his own expenses. Salam did not directly comment. On Monday, however, he shared a video on social media that denied the reports and asserted that his use of those funds was to increase the committee's efficacy and transparency. Salam was economy minister for over three years. He was appointed in 2021 at a time when Lebanon's economy had plummeted and the country was plagued by severe power outages, fuel shortages and stark food inflation. Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Troops begin detaining immigrants in national defense zone at border in escalation of military role
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. troops have begun directly detaining immigrants accused of trespassing on a recently designated national defense zone along the southern U.S. border, in an escalation of the military's enforcement role, authorities said Wednesday U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Chad Campbell described in detail the first detentions by troops last week of three immigrants accused of trespassing in a national defense area near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Those migrants were quickly turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and are now among more than 1,400 migrants to have been charged with illegally entering militarized areas along that border, under a new border enforcement strategy from President Donald Trump's administration. Troops are prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil under the Posse Comitatus Act. But an exception known as the military purpose doctrine allows it in some instances. Authorities 'noticed three individuals crossing the protective barrier into the United States,' Campbell said. 'A Department of Defense response went to interdict those three individuals, told them to sit down. ... In a matter of three minutes, border patrol agents came in to apprehend. So that three minutes is that temporary detention' by the military. Trump has designated two national military defense areas along the southern U.S. border for New Mexico and a 60-mile (97-kilometer) stretch of western Texas, from El Paso to Fort Hancock, while transferring much of the land from the Interior Department to oversight by the Department of Defense for three years. The Trump administration plans eventually to add more militarized zones along the border, a military spokesman said Wednesday at a news conference in El Paso. 'We have been very clear that there will be additional National Defense Areas across the southern border,' said Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesperson for an enforcement task force at the southern border. 'I won't speculate to where those are going to be.' Proponents of the militarized zones, including federal prosecutors, say the approach augments traditional efforts by Customs and Border Protection and other law enforcement agencies to secure the border. 'These partnerships and consequences exist so that we can promote the most humane border environment we've ever had,' El Paso sector Border Patrol Chief Agent Walter Slosar said. 'We are dissuading people from entering the smuggling cycle ... to make sure that smugglers cannot take advantage of individuals who are trying to come into the United States.' Defense attorneys — and judges in some instances — are pushing back against the novel application of national security charges against immigrants who enter through those militarized zones — and carry a potential sentence of 18 months in prison on top of a possible six-month sentence for illegal entry. A judge in New Mexico has dismissed more than 100 national security charges against immigrants, finding little evidence that immigrants knew about the national defense areas. Those migrants still confronted charges of illegal entry to the U.S. In Texas, a Peruvian woman who crossed the U.S. border illegally was acquitted of unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone in the first trial under the Trump administration's efforts. U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons, who oversees western Texas, vowed to press forward with more military trespassing charges. 'We're gonna keep going forward on these NDA charges,' Simmons said. 'We are gonna still bring them, we may win on them, we may not. ... At the end of the day, you are not going to be allowed to stay in this country if you enter this country illegally.' Greater military engagement at the border takes place at the same time dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration stop the stepped-up immigration raids that have spread fear across their cities and sparked protests across the U.S. Trump has authorized the deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guard members to respond to immigration protests in LA. That directive brings the total number of Guard put on federal orders for the protests to more than 4,100. The Pentagon had already deployed about 700 Marines to the protests to the city.
