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.”