ST. GEORGE, Utah — Utah Tech University has announced it is doing a reset in its search for a new president.
After launching a search last February that didn’t come up with a new person to lead the campus after previous president Richard “Biff” Williams resigned, the St. George university has announced a new search.
Williams resigned nearly a year ago to take the same position at Missouri State University. Since then, a lawsuit has accused him and other current administrators of discrimination and harassment of other staff members.
Bella Estes, Utah Tech’s student body president who will serve on the new 10-person search committee, says a revamped search was necessary.
“We were a little quick with the first initial search,” Estes said. “What the institution is going through and everything, what they're working on, and especially what the board and the System of Higher Education is... So we pushed back the timeline so now that more applicants could apply and we could have a further process."
What the university has gone through is bad press and a lawsuit that stems from Williams resigning nearly a year ago to take the same position at Missouri State University.
“The most important thing that students care about when it comes to the lawsuit is the reputation of the university,” Estes said. “And I think that's one thing that's frustrating them the most is they keep seeing all these news articles, you know, that's almost tearing down the university's reputation.”
Courtney White has been serving as interim president since last January, but in November, three members of Utah Tech’s administration sued White, Williams and other current members of Utah Tech administration including those who — like White — are considered to take the permanent leader position.
Just before Thanksgiving, the university’s faculty voted no confidence in the current administration and in a statement indicated that they wanted to see a new president come from outside current leadership.
But Estes, who will serve on the new 10-person search committee along with the faculty senate president, says the students she’s talked to don’t have that same lack of assurance.
“I've actually had a lot of students ask me why there's a presidential search even going on because they love the administration that we have on campus,” she said. “All semester I've been asked like, 'Why can't this vice president be president or even our interim president?'”
On the faculty side, Professor Matt Smith-Lahrman, who started teaching sociology at the university in 1998 when it was still a community college called Dixie College, told FOX 13 News off camera that he wants to see a new president who is open and honest with university employees when making decisions and willing to share governance more with faculty and students.
So unlike the 2024 search, will it be a little more speedy this time in 2025?
“Absolutely,” Estes said. “We'll have a president by March.”
