Emir Caner’s 17-year presidency at Truett McConnell University (TMU) is in jeopardy after trustees met June 6 and placed him on administrative leave. Caner, who became president of the 2,600-student school in 2008, will remain on hiatus until an investigation on him and other officials can be completed, a TMU statement said.

On May 29, The Roys Report (TRR) exposed incidents of alleged sexual abuse, digital rape, and a years-long coverup involving former student Hayle Swinson

She said Bradley Reynolds, a longtime academic services vice president at the Cleveland, Georgia, school, had groomed and sexually abused her, including digital rape. According to a dossier prepared by Swinson’s lawyer, rumors about Reynolds’ inappropriate behavior had floated about campus for years.

Atlanta-based investigator Richard Hyde along with Phoenix Research LLC will handle the probe on a possible coverup. Hyde, a former police officer and Emmy-winning journalist, is chief investigator for Balch and Bingham LLP, a law firm.

John Yarbrough, director of public policy at the school and a former president of the Georgia Baptist Convention, will serve as interim TMU president. His term will extend at least “until a final determination can be made regarding the trustees’ ultimate decision on this matter,” the school said.

As the trustees gathered on TMU’s campus, at least 25 students and alumni quietly protested, holding signs reading “Accountability Now,” “Truth is Immortal” and “Justice is Biblical.” Area news website Now Habersham reported some trustees “ignored the students” protesting outside their Odell Hall meeting place, while some trustees “turned toward the crowd and waved.”

Speaking with Julie Roys for a TRR podcast, Swinson detailed the story of how Reynolds, a pastor as well as a TMU academic, engaged in years of “grooming” before the abuse occurred. She said Reynolds told her his wife would die, allowing them to marry.

Reynolds, who is not only married but has children, sent Swinson approximately 300 emails, many with sexually charged language.

“I was groomed, I was confused, I was targeted,” Swinson told Julie Roys on the podcast. “I felt isolated, like I was alone. . . . It took, and it has taken, and it will take years of my life to unwind every lie that was told to me.”

According to another staff member, Caner was aware of accusations about Reynolds as early as 2016, but did nothing until the White County, Georgia, sheriff’s office opened an investigation of Reynolds in 2024. Citing a quirk in the law that defines abuse as happening at K-12 schools but not colleges and universities, Sheriff Rick Kelley told the White County News, “we couldn’t apply the code as we had hoped.”

At the time, Reynolds informed the school he was being investigated about a relationship with an alumna who was employed at TMU while pursuing her graduate degree, later identified as Swinson. He was placed on leave and Reynolds resigned his position of 15 years within days.

Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jeff Langley told media outlets he will revisit the sheriff’s investigation, saying criminal charges may yet be filed.

Disclosures rock campus, spark reform calls

After the initial TRR report, the school held a faculty and staff meeting in which school officials asserted they were not aware of Reynolds’ behavior until the 2024 police investigation.

The nearly two-hour session, a recording of which was provided to TRR, was attended by Caner, but the school leader did not speak. Instead, it fell to TMU outside attorney G. Grant Greenwood to defend the institution.

The Macon, Georgia-based attorney said he had no prior knowledge of Swinson’s complaints before the 2024 investigation was disclosed. Greenwood, in an email, asserted a 2016 email from Reynolds to Swinson saying Caner knew about the relationship was not “credible.”

But leaders of the Georgia Baptist Convention, including its mission board, apparently found some substance in Swinson’s account and the concerns of other TMU faculty, staff, students and alumni.

On May 30, convention officials called for a thorough investigation by TMU trustees, who should “take the appropriate actions to fully understand what happened and to ensure this type of behavior will never be repeated.”

As of June 6, more than 2,300 people had signed a Change.org petition. It calls for the school to investigate what Caner and other TMU executives knew about the allegations, and the degree to which they “may have enabled, minimized, or failed to act.”

Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.