The president of Jackson State University, 57-year-old William Bynum Jr. resigned on Monday after he was arrested in a prostitution sting in central Mississippi. Charges include giving a false identity and possession of marijuana, Alabama News Network.
Bynum was president of Jackson State since 2017. With nearly 9,000 students, Jackson State is one of the largest historically Black universities in the U.S.
Bynum was one of 17 people arrested in a two-day sting that led to eight felony charges.
Bynum wasn’t the only Jackson State employee who was arrested, according to The Root. Dr. Shonda McCarthy, a professor who also serves as director of Jackson State Art Galleries, got almost identical charges including procuring services of a prostitute and possession of marijuana while operating a motor vehicle.
The administrator and educator were caught soliciting prostitutes from an online ad, the Jackson Free Press reported. They were caught after meeting an undercover police officer at a hotel, Clinton Police Department Chief Ford Hayman said during a news conference on Monday.
“The felonies are charged as promoting prostitution,” Hayman said. “So if somebody assists someone with getting here (to Clinton) or enabling a person to complete these crimes, that’s a promoting-prostitution crime. That’s your felony charge.”
Bynum’s biography was taken down from the school’s website. He replaced Carolyn Meyers who resigned in 2016. The biography described Bynum as a god-fearing man who was married and the father of six children, MadameNoire reported. Before taking the job at JSU, Bynum was president of Mississippi Valley State University for four years.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 69: Jamarlin Martin
Jamarlin goes solo to unpack the question: Was Barack Obama the first political anti-Christ to rise in Black America?
Thomas Hudson, special assistant to the president and chief diversity officer at Jackson State University, has been named acting president.
A staff member since 2012 and a Jackson State alum, Hudson is well known and well qualified for this role, said Dr. Alfred Rankins, Sr., commissioner of higher education. “I am certain his leadership will keep Jackson State moving forward without any loss of momentum,” Rankins said in a statement.
Hudson “has a deep love for and understanding of the campus and all it means to the students, faculty, staff, alumni and the state,” said Hal Parker, president of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning.
