University officials say a sexually oriented offender who was a teaching assistant wasn’t a risk to other members of the university.

Carl Allen Neighorn, a doctoral communication studies student, had registered with police as required by law.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong here,” university spokesman Ron Kirksey said. “He has done everything he’s supposed to.”

According to Kent State’s public safety Web site, a sexually oriented offender is someone who was convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, committing a sexually oriented offense, but was not designated a sexual predator or habitual sex offender. A sexual predator is someone who officials believe will commit further sexual crimes, and a habitual sex offender has committed such crimes in the past.

Neighorn, 64, is registered as a sexually oriented offender, the lowest level. According to TV2, which first reported the story on March 22, Neighorn was convicted in 1998 of performing oral sex on a minor in California and sentenced to six years in prison.

He is not considered a risk by the courts or the police, Kirksey said.

“If there was a need to be notified, we would have been notified,” Kirksey said.

TV2 reporters Carrie Wise and Jonathan Kraft first discovered Neighorn’s status on the university Web site. The two had been doing background checks on the students listed on the site when they discovered Neighorn was teaching a class.

A sexually oriented offender is required to verify his or her address with local authorities once a year for 10 years, Kirksey said. Residents do not need to be notified of his or her presence in an area, but the information is available. Kent State lists offenders attending its campuses on its Web site. Neighorn is one of four at the Kent campus and the only one living in campus housing.

Neighorn lives in Allerton Apartments. He could not be reached for comment.

Kirksey said Neighorn registered when he moved to Kent in the fall.

Until about a month ago, Neighorn taught a section of Introduction to Human Communication, an entry-level LER course in the School of Communication Studies. He was reassigned to another job in early March for performance reasons not related to his prior conviction, Kirksey said. The class is still continuing under a new teacher.

This spring was the only time Neighorn had taught, Kirksey said.

The university does criminal background checks on possible full-time faculty members, Kirksey said, and makes decisions on a case-by-case basis. Because Neighorn was a graduate assistant and not a full-time faculty member, that was not necessary, he said.

Contact administration reporter Rachel Abbey at [email protected].