College President Fired Over Work-Trip Accusations

A private Christian college in Kentucky on Tuesday announced that it had fired its president over sexual assault allegations. Georgetown College, which is located about 70 miles from Louisville, said its Board of Trustees met Monday and terminated William A. Jones that same day; it was told of the allegations on Sunday. "We are surprised and deeply disappointed by what we have learned," said board chair Robert L. Mills, per NBC News. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports a female employee filed an emergency protection order against Jones a few days ago that depicts him as a "threat to safety." WKYT reports the order was granted Monday.

Per the order, she says that while on an October work trip in Indianapolis, "William Jones sexually harassed me in the lobby of [the] hotel before later sexually assaulting me in his hotel room. Multiple times throughout the incident’s timeframe I told him to stop." In the order, the employee asks that Jones be prevented from coming within 500 feet of the school. He has a Nov. 10 court date to respond to the allegations. A statement from the school says that in addition to learning about those allegations, on Sunday it also learned of "inappropriate behavior with another female College employee, and other conduct in violation of Jones’s employment agreement." He became president of the college in July 2019. (More college president stories.)