ST. GEORGE, Utah — The former president of Utah Tech University is the focal point of a federal lawsuit by three staff members at the St. George school saying he led a toxic culture of harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
When Richard “Biff” Williams resigned as the president of Utah Tech University late last year, he said it was to pursue other professional opportunities. While the resignation was officially voluntary, some have questioned why Williams has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation since leaving the university.
State records show that Williams has been paid $280,294 by Utah Tech this year even though he has not been the school’s president since January.
Now, just weeks after he was officially inaugurated as president of Missouri State University, Williams has sent out an apology to the staff and students of the Springfield campus after a federal lawsuit was filed against him as well as Utah Tech and state higher education leadership.
The lawsuit, initially reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, claims Williams led a prank to leave vegetables shaped like male genitalia and a note on the doorstep of marketing and communication vice president Jordon Sharp as he recovered from a vasectomy. A note was left with the misspelled names of Utah Tech’s top two lawyers and its Title IX coordinator.
Those three people — Rebecca Broadbent, Jared Rasband and Hazel Sainsbury — who say they had nothing to do with the prank, are the ones suing. When contacted by FOX 13 News, they declined to comment saying they have adequately shared information in the lawsuit.
In an email shared with Missouri State staff over the weekend, Williams admitted to participating in what he said was intended as a humorous gesture.
“I have since come to realize that the prank was not appropriate,” he said. “This was a mistake. I regret my lapse in judgment.”
The Springfield News-Leader in Missouri reports that the university's board of governors will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday ”on a legal matter” though it is not clear Williams is the subject.
FOX 13 News has obtained the separation agreement between Williams and Utah Tech. The separation was described as voluntary and included Williams continuing to be paid his yearly $357,000 salary in a transition year until he obtained a new position. He was named as Missouri State’s new president in July and officially took the position at the start of October.
Sharp said he couldn’t speak to FOX 13, deferring to his deputy Jyl Hall who confirmed that Williams was paid until taking the new position as terms of the separation agreement but did not receive additional compensation for resigning.
That still made Williams the third-highest-paid Utah Tech employee this year.
Broadbent, who was placed on an involuntary leave in February and remains so for what the university said was an investigation into the “prank,” is the fifth-highest paid employee at Utah Tech this year according to state records, with a total of $266,774.34.
