Facing pressure from alumni, a small Christian college in North Georgia is launching an independent investigation into allegations that the school and its president covered up years of sexual abuse.
Truett McConnell University announced Friday that Richard Hyde with Phoenix Research will conduct the investigation. University president Emir Caner, who has led the school since 2008, will be placed on administrative leave until it is complete. John Yarbrough will serve as acting president.
TMU has undergone a reckoning since a former student recently said that beginning in 2013, she was groomed and eventually raped by a then-administrator at the school. A 16-page letter prepared by the victim’s lawyer claims that when the conduct was brought to Caner’s attention, he “looked the other way, failed to act, or was willfully blind.” In a recent video statement, Caner denied there was a cover up.
Credit: Truett McConnell University
Credit: Truett McConnell University
A petition sent to the board and signed by over 500 alumni asked for a third-party investigation “into what President Emir Caner and other administrators knew about the reported allegations.”
Jeff Langley, Enotah Judicial Circuit district attorney, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday that he is reviewing a police report to evaluate “if there’s anything that can be prosecuted.”
The police report, filed in March 2024 by a former student, says the administrator groped her in his home and eventually raped her. Police previously determined there was not enough evidence to seek prosecution and closed the case.
Two alumni members released a statement Friday applauding the board’s “decision to uphold justice and let truth prevail.”
“May this be the first of many right steps to allow the victims to heal and our beloved Truett McConnell University to continue her mission of sending out disciples to make Him known,” they wrote.
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