The University of Utah has agreed to a $15,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit that alleged a campus officer racially discriminated against a Salt Lake City woman when she was ejected from a BYU-Utah basketball game last year.

The settlement followed a judge’s ruling in May that dismissed Elizabeth Wright’s claim against the officer but said her other allegations against the university and employees could proceed toward trial. Wright attended the Jan. 18, 2025, game in the Jon M. Huntsman Center with her family.

She sat with her husband in a row behind three of their four children, who held two signs with messages her lawsuit described as “frivolous but harmless.”

The dispute with the U. began, her lawsuit said, when guest services employees approached the children and took the signs, which court documents said read “BYU went to the Diddy party” and “Shut the F up.”

Police eventually accused Wright, a U.S. citizen who immigrated from Peru, of assaulting a university employee — which she denied — and ordered her to leave, her lawsuit said. Her husband, who is white, was allowed to stay in the arena, it said.

The U. wanted the case dismissed

The university asked U.S. District Judge David Barlow to dismiss the case earlier this year, arguing Wright hadn’t provided sufficient evidence of intentional discrimination.

Her lawsuit ignored the fact that campus police approached her because she “escalated” the disagreement over the signs, lawyers for the U. wrote.

“The logical disconnect between Plaintiff’s apparent belief that her children were mature enough to engage in sexually charged statements aimed at student athletes,” they wrote, “but were not mature enough to have the offensive signage confiscated is also disregarded.”

“Rather than acknowledge that her escalation of the dispute could be reason for her ejection,” they wrote, “she immediately accused [the campus officer] of ‘bias’ and that she was being ejected because she was ‘Hispanic.’”

In response, Wright’s team pointed to this discrepancy: She and her husband did the same things that night, spoke to the same staff and, they asserted, touched no one, yet only she was removed.

In his May 11 ruling, Barlow said a discrimination claim against the university could proceed, finding Wright had made a “plausible” case that she and her husband were treated differently because of her race. That was all that was required at that stage of the litigation, he explained.

Her breach of contract claim was not affected by the ruling and also was poised to move toward trial.

What Wright alleged

Wright sued the university in November 2025, seeking at least $50,000 for allegedly suffering “severe emotional distress” by being “singled out and falsely accused of assault due to her ethnicity.”She alleged that guest services employees “yelled abuse” at her children when they took the signs.

“They [were] not even saying, ‘Hey, put that down.’ Or nothing like ‘give me that.’ They ripped the poster in a very rude manner,” Wright told The Salt Lake Tribune last year. “My kids were in tears.”

Afterward, Wright and her husband were asked to get up and speak with two guest services representatives, according to the lawsuit. After the pair returned to their seats, five or six police officers allegedly approached Wright and her husband.

While the officers accused Wright of assaulting a university employee, neither Wright nor her husband “made any physical contact with either guest services representative,” her lawsuit said.

Settling the case

Wright and the U. agreed to the settlement in an agreement dated May 29, shortly after the judge’s ruling, according to court records. The university and the campus police officer were responsible for $7,500, while two other university employees agreed to pay responsible for the remaining $7,500.

The U. declined to comment on whether the officers and the employees paid the amounts themselves. However, it assures employees online that Utah State Risk Management generally pays any settlement or judgment related to their jobs.

There was, however, one more wrinkle.

After the defendants failed to pay by the 30 day-deadline they had agreed to meet, Wright’s attorney filed a motion asking the judge to enforce the agreement, attaching the settlement.

The court ultimately never had to rule. On July 28, all parties jointly filed a stipulation to end the case.

“The university considers this matter resolved,” the U. said in a statement, “and has no further comment.”