MSU board takes no action regarding president named in lawsuit

Missouri State University President Richard “Biff” Williams remains at his post after two closed-door meetings of the MSU Board of Governors following the news of Williams being named in a federal lawsuit related to Title IX violations.

No action was taken at either meeting, according to MSU communications officials, and the board’s statement expressing their confidence in Williams’ leadership is the only statement it has made on the lawsuit filed this month alleging discrimination and retaliation by Williams and others.

The board met in closed Zoom meetings on Nov. 8 and 13 regarding the lawsuit in Utah, where Williams presided over Utah Tech University through Jan. 5 before being tapped for MSU’s top post by the board in March.

Williams took office less than five months ago on July 1.  Prior to his hiring, Williams was the subject of a Title IX complaint at Utah Tech, but MSU officials were unaware of the situation, according to the university’s vice president of marketing and communications, Suzanne Shaw.

The lawsuit brought by three Utah Tech leaders lists 14 causes of action, according to the Nov. 7 filing, including discrimination and retaliation related to Title IX protections, and seeks a jury trial.  The plaintiffs all continue to work at Utah Tech, though plaintiff Rebecca Broadbent has been on involuntary administrative leave during the investigation.

Williams is the first of 30 defendants, both individuals and institutions, named in the suit that raises concerns about a possible “poisoned well” at Utah Tech when it comes to the investigation and enforcement of antidiscrimination laws.

“The board was not aware of the situation when they offered the position to President Williams,” Shaw wrote to SBJ on Nov. 13. “In mid-June, he informed the chair of the board of governors that there was an issue. The board only recently became aware of the extent of the circumstances.” 

Shaw’s communication came at the conclusion of the second closed meeting. After its emergency meeting Nov. 8, the board released a statement expressing its confidence in Williams and his ability to lead MSU. Of the Nov. 13 meeting, Shaw said, “They were taking the opportunity to review the situation in more detail.” 

As previously reported in SBJ, the incident at the heart of the investigation is an act involving a display of vegetables, specifically a long zucchini and two round eggplants arranged in the shape of male genitalia and placed on a fellow administrator’s porch. Williams later admitted to creating the display, and he was photographed by a doorbell camera while he was making it, his features obscured in a cinched hoodie.  

Along with the display, Williams left a letter falsely signed with the names of three administrators who were responsible for Title IX enforcement at Utah Tech, and he did not include his own name. These colleagues are the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit: Broadbent, Utah Tech’s most senior female administrator and the general counsel of Utah Tech; Jared Rasband, senior associate general counsel; and Hazel Sainsbury, a Black woman and the university’s director of equity compliance and Title IX coordinator. 

Williams referred to the display as a “zuweenie” in the note.

The suit alleges that the obscene display was followed by a sham investigation and a cover-up.

Williams resigned from the Utah Tech presidency and went on the job market in the middle of the 2023-24 academic year. At the time, he said the resignation was to pursue other career opportunities. His resignation was signed approximately six weeks after he created the vegetable display.

Williams earned an annual salary of $357,000 at Utah Tech prior to his separation, according to officials with the Utah System of Higher Education. In his separation agreement with Utah Tech, signed on Dec. 21, 2023, he is guaranteed the same $357,000 sum for his transition year in the period of Jan. 6, 2024, to Jan. 6, 2025.

The transition year is part of a Utah System of Higher Education policy that exists, according to policy language, “to provide for the orderly transition of executive positions.”

At MSU, Williams’ annual base salary is $475,000, plus an annual housing allowance of $50,000 and up to $50,000 in annual incentive payments based upon the achievement of specified metrics, according to past SBJ reporting. Former President Clif Smart retired at a base salary of $427,409.

An expanded version of this article is planned in SBJ's Nov. 18 print edition.