The cascade of institutional failures that has apparently troubled Utah Tech University goes far beyond a tasteless joke involving an erotic and sophomoric arrangement of veggies.
The school’s board of trustees, as well as the board and staff of the Utah System of Higher Education, have at the very least failed in their duty to oversee the college and could be accused of facilitating a toxic atmosphere where wrongdoing by top officials is kept under wraps and whistleblowers suffer the consequences.
Not long before he quit as president of the state university in St. George, Richard “Biff” Williams was the prankster who left a rather phallic arrangement of produce on the front porch of one of the school’s administrators. Accompanied by a note purported signed by three other college officials who were, at the time, and since, allegedly the target of harassment.
After he was called out about it, after he had moved on to become president of Missouri State University, Williams apologized for his inappropriate attempt at humor.
What Williams fails to recognize, so far, is that the feeble jest is the least of what was wrong with the university under his leadership. And, as far as we can tell, still is.
A sophomoric joke that falls flat can be forgiven. An institutional culture that openly mocks, harasses and punishes those who try to enforce the rules cannot.
Utah Tech administrators whose job it was to monitor and enforce federal rules concerning discrimination and harassment have now filed a federal lawsuit against the school. They allege that Williams and many other top school officials not only did not respect those rules, they openly denigrated federal Title IX standards and belittled those who tried to uphold them.
Telling us how upside-down the school’s treatment has been of its former president and of one of those administrators who complained about the school’s culture, the following happened:
When Williams moved to resign — in search of “other professional opportunities” — he continued to live in the official presidential residence and draw his annual $357,000 salary. All that while the school’s general counsel, Becky Broadbent, was suspended from her duties and escorted off the campus in apparent response to having lodged complaints against Williams and other university leaders.
Suspending the accuser while coddling the accused is exactly the opposite of how these things are supposed to work. That suspension has now lasted for more than nine months, even though the internal investigation at the school was closed when Williams left.
That is something else that’s not supposed to happen. Federal rules do not allow such investigations to be closed just because the subject of them has left his or her employment.
All of this was kept secret by the school, where officials apparently were more interested in circling the wagons and keeping everything out of public view than in being open about how taxpayer-supported institutions are run. We only know about any of this because Broadbent and two others have taken the matter to court.
The Utah Tech Board of Trustees and the Utah Board of Higher Education need to be much more assertive about their oversight of the school and take responsibility for its administrative shortcomings. And keep the public informed.
There’s a lot more going on here than just rude eggplant.
