TMU President Emir Caner on Leave While Sex Abuse Claims Investigated
Truett McConnell University President Emir Caner has been placed on administrative leave while school trustees investigate claims that he ignored or disregarded allegations that his VP of academic services groomed and then sexually abused a student.
The school shared in a statement that the Trustees met on Friday and made a series of recommendations which were all unanimously agreed to, including:
- A third-party investigation be conducted by Richard Hyde with Phoenix Research LLC;
- President Dr. Emir Caner be placed on administrative leave until the investigation is completed;
- Dr. John Yarbrough serve Truett McConnell University as acting president until a final determination can be made regarding the trustees’ ultimate decision on this matter.
Days ago, former student Hayle Swinson publicly accused former Truett McConnell University administrator and professor Dr. Brad Reynolds of targeting her and abusing her during her time as a student and, later, as a staff member between 2013 and 2018. Swinson provided the Roys Report emails of Reynolds being a creep where he would urge her to keep their relationship a secret while talking about his wet dreams.
At the advice of her counselor, Swinson eventually reported Reynolds to law enforcement in 2024. He resigned from TMU but was neither terminated nor publicly exposed. Swinson and supporters are alleging that Emir Caner was made aware of the inappropriate relationship prior to 2024 but did not do his due diligence in investigating the claims and ultimately failed to act to protect female students under his care.
Notably, both Swinson and Reynolds were adults when this relationship formed, leading many to conclude that while Reynolds may have targeted and manipulated her, he did not ‘groom her,’ as that is a designation that should be exclusively used with minors.
A decade ago, Emir Caner was notably entangled in a controversy surrounding his brother, Ergun Caner, who was then the dean of Liberty University. Ergun falsely claimed to have been a Muslim jihadi, trained as a terrorist in majority-Muslim countries, where he learned English by watching American television, before arriving in America at age 15 with the intent to commit acts of terrorism.
In truth, Ergun spent his early years in Sweden, moved to the United States at age three, and grew up in Ohio as a nominal Muslim named Michael “Butch” Caner, later changing his name to Ergun Mehmet Caner where he built a reputation as a prominent apologist, author, and public speaker on the back of perpetuating these falsehoods.
Throughout the years, Emir remained silent, neither addressing the claims nor setting the record straight, despite knowing his brother was repeatedly and explicitly leveraging these falsehoods in his public and professional life. Later, after Ergun was exposed as an inveterate liar and during the height of the controversy, Emir still maintained his silence and never once spoke up.
About Author
Our dreams are a product of our thoughts, experiences and the pizza we had the night before. If they are evil, we need to repent of them just like we need to repent of sin when we are awake.