LITTLE ROCK — A former admissions director at Philander Smith College in Little Rock was sentenced Tuesday to five days in jail after pleading no contest Oct. 30 to a felony charge of promoting prostitution.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright Jr. also sentenced George Gray, 42, to serve three years of probation, pay a $7,500 fine, perform 250 hours of community service work, register as a sex offender and have no further contact with the victim.
The victim, now 18, testified in a sentencing hearing Tuesday that she was a student at the college and was about two weeks away from turning 17, when Gray tried to recruit her to perform sexual acts at a fraternity party.
Gray resigned from his post on Dec. 9, 2010, at the request of the college’s president, Walter Kimbrough, one day after the girl reported Gray had assaulted her on Dec. 3, 2010, in his office.
The girl reported that she had met Gray that fall with her parents during a recruiting event for the college. She said that inside his office on Dec. 3, 2010, he asked if she wanted to strip at a party for his fraternity brothers and discussed various fees she could earn for performing sexual acts.
She said he directed her to wear underwear matching the color of his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, even though she told him she wasn’t interested.
She also reported that Gray forced her to partially undress, and then, after she got dressed and started to leave, “turned her around against his desk and bent her over it,” pressing himself against her and grabbing her waist with both hands.
The girl told another employee of the college about the assault, and that employee notified the girl’s mother and Kimbrough. Kimbrough later told police that he found the girl “very credible.”
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Shareese Kondo, the college’s director of public relations and marketing, said, “Philander Smith College takes seriously its responsibility to its students. As such, once our administration learned of the allegations made by the student, swift action was taken to immediately respond and investigate the complaint.”
She said an internal investigation led to Gray tendering his resignation.
“The safety, security and well-being of our students are always our primary concern,” Kondo said. She added, “This college complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to protect the rights of the student.”
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 11/21/2012