Utah news report sheds light on Biff Williams investigation

While a lawsuit filed against him and others is ongoing, Utah Tech University found no documentable evidence of misconduct by Richard "Biff" Williams in an investigation into allegations of a hostile work environment and violations of Title IX protections when he was president of that school.

That's according to May 19 reporting by The Salt Lake Tribune and reporter Courtney Tanner, who has been seeking records from Utah Tech through Utah State Records Committee proceedings. The committee ruled against Tanner's request on March 31.

Salt Lake Tribune reporting indicates that during the hearing, an attorney representing Utah Tech said Williams' conduct did not break any school policies. The school had hired a third party, Grand River Solutions, to conduct the investigation.

"Utah Tech does not have a report with sustained findings against former President Williams that it can provide in response to the request," the attorney wrote in a briefing, according to The Salt Lake Tribune report.

In the wake of the November 2024 lawsuit filed against Williams and other defendants, the Missouri State University Board of Governors retained him as president via unanimous decision, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Williams became MSU's president on July 1, 2024, after previously resigning from the Utah Tech presidency.

Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag, a member of the MSU Board of Governors who served during the hiring and retention of Williams late last year, said at SBJ's 12 People You Need to Know event on May 20 that he stands by those decisions.

"I would do both of those things again, knowing everything that I know now," Schrag said. "We just simply could not find evidence of a hostile work environment."

MSU declined to comment on the Utah Tech investigation detailed in The Salt Lake Tribune report.

"The university does not comment on investigations conducted at other universities," MSU spokesperson Emily Letterman said by email.

The November 2024 lawsuit was filed by Rebecca 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.

The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Southern Region describes Williams clad in a hoodie tightened around his face to obscure his identity crafting an obscene display of vegetables on the front porch of Utah Tech’s vice president of marketing and communications, Jordon Sharp, who had just had a vasectomy procedure. Sharp is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Williams left a note with the display and signed the names of the three officials without their knowledge, his own name not included.

Williams later admitted to the act, which he committed Nov. 8, 2023, in an email to the MSU community.

“While I was there, I initiated what I intended to be a humorous gesture toward a member of our staff. I have since come to realize that the prank was not appropriate,” Williams said in an email last November to MSU students, faculty and staff. “This was a mistake. I regret my lapse in judgment, and I accept this as a learning moment.”

A conclusion has not yet been reached in the lawsuit, with filings made as recent as this week, online court records show.