Former Utah Tech president faces lawsuit over ‘vulgar’ display attributed to employees, alleged retaliation
NOTE: A lawsuit represents only one side of a story.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Richard “Biff” Williams, former president of Utah Tech University, is facing a lawsuit over a “crude, sexual, vulgar, obscene, and damaging” gift that was left on one employee’s porch and attributed to the three employees who are now suing Williams and the university.
Williams — who officially stepped down as president of Utah Tech in Jan. 2024 — now serves as the president of Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. On Saturday, Nov. 9, Williams sent an email to the MSU community regarding the lawsuit, which was filed in Utah court on Nov. 7.
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In a screenshot of the email obtained by ABC4’s sister station KOLR, Williams wrote to students that he “initiated what [he] intended to be a humorous gesture” toward a Utah Tech staff member.
“This was a mistake. I regret my lapse in judgment, and I accept this as a learning moment,” Williams wrote to MSU students. “I apologize for the undue attention this has brought to the university.”
Williams is one of 20 identified defendants — including Utah Tech University and the Utah Board of Higher Education — listed in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs — one male and two female employees — are suing for economic and non-economic damages associated with emotional distress, humiliation, pain and suffering, and retaliation.
Background
Each of the plaintiffs in the case worked, in some capacity, with Utah Tech’s Title IX office — for example, in a supervisory, advisory, or managerial role — and each of the plaintiffs joined the staff at Utah Tech between Jan. and Aug. 2020, according to the lawsuit.
In Sept. 2021, the plaintiffs responded to the display of “highly obscene and vulgar sexual comments” in a public break room, after the display reportedly lasted for more than four years. The plaintiffs’ response in Sept. 2021 led to a “hostile work environment” and a “poisoned well,” the suit claims.
“Utah Tech’s pattern of hostile and brazen misconduct, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation by the senior male administrators culminated in a crude, sexual, vulgar, obscene, and damaging display left on the porch of a Utah Tech administrator by the then-sitting University President Williams, and falsely attributed by him to the Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit alleges.
The display was made up of vegetables arranged in a phallic shape on the porch of the university’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, following a medical procedure.
Williams is accused of attributing the “innately sexual” display to the three employees who filed the lawsuit. Documents said the plaintiffs’ names were listed in a note that accompanied the display, which included sexual innuendo and misspelled names of two of the plaintiffs.
Williams was caught on home security footage leaving the display and the note, though his face was obscured by his hoodie, the suit claims. Before the incident, Williams reportedly told his chief of staff that he intended to drop a gift off for the administrator after the medical procedure.
The suit claims, in part, that “Williams’ misconduct was directed toward Plaintiffs in response to their execution of their duties” during the incident addressed in Sept. 2021.
The images of the display and the note attributing it to the plaintiffs were shared in a group chat with 11 other staff members, and the images were also shown at a Board of Trustees meeting and a luncheon.
Prior to the luncheon, the lawsuit says none of the plaintiffs were made aware of their names being attached to the display, and no other staff members reported the incident to the proper channels.
When confronted about the display and the note in front of members of the Board of Trustees, one of the plaintiffs was “shocked, embarrassed, and humiliated,” the suit says.
The lawsuit further alleges that the university did not provide the employees with “a timely and adequate remedial process,” according to the university’s policy.
The suit claims the university and the Utah State Board of Higher Education conducted a “sham investigation” and that their claims against Williams were dismissed after the former president announced his departure since the Utah Board of Higher Education “would no longer have ‘jurisdiction’ over Williams after he stepped down as President.”
One of the plaintiffs was placed on “involuntary leave” in Feb. 2024 and was “banished” from the school’s premises. That employee has not yet been able to return to their duties, the lawsuit said. Another plaintiff has reportedly been “frozen out” of duties and left out of other processes.
The plaintiffs are suing over fourteen causes of action, including discrimination (based on sex, race, and national origin), retaliation, defamation per se, and breach of contract, among others.
“This experience continues to remind me how important it is to always strive to foster a campus environment that is safe and welcoming to all students, faculty and staff,” Williams wrote in the email to MSU.
ABC4.com reached out to Missouri State University for further comment, and received the following statement from the Board of Governors:
The Board of Governors of Missouri State University is aware of the pending lawsuit and continues to have confidence in President Williams’ ability to lead Missouri State University. We are committed to working alongside him to ensure that the university is a safe and welcoming environment to all students, faculty and staff.”
Board of Governors of Missouri State University
The lawsuit can be read in its entirety below:
RICHARD-WILLIAMS-UTAH-TECH-LAWSUITDownload
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