Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
Utah State University has a new president — the first to be picked under the state’s now entirely secret hiring process for higher education’s top posts. The public wasn’t informed about any finalists or told about their experience or backgrounds. But the name of the new leader may still be familiar to many: Brad Mortensen, currently the president of Weber State University in Ogden, will now head north to take the helm of USU in Logan. The hope is that Mortensen will usher in a fresh era for the university after a rough and rocky past few years. Its previous leader, Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, stepped down after a historically short term. Her brief year and a half was marked by continued allegations of a toxic football program and unchecked spending that has now prompted a statewide audit. She left abruptly in March to become the president of Washington State University after many criticized her leadership. One Utah lawmaker previously called the process that resulted in Cantwell’s appointment “a failure.” The state Legislature soon made Utah’s public university presidential searches completely secret, conducted fully behind closed doors. Mortensen marks the first to be selected under the private process, with no opportunity for the public to vet candidates. His name was only made public by the Utah Board of Higher Education during its much-anticipated USU announcement Thursday. The hope was to attract more top-tier candidates, without the worry that their names would be released, alerting their current employers they’d applied elsewhere. Mortensen will take the helm at a challenging time for the institution. Immediately, he will be tasked with reshaping the school’s proposal to cut its budget as required by the Legislature this year. Each school was required to cut their share of $60.5 million that legislators slashed from higher education overall, then directed to reallocate that money into programs the state says lead to high-wage, high-demand jobs. USU’s cut was $12.6 million. Alan L. Smith, a USU administrator who’d been serving as the school’s interim president, shared a plan with lawmakers that included consolidating colleges and reinvesting in nursing. But legislators raised concerns about the recommendations and waited to approve anything until the new president could weigh in. Smith was not among the candidates to become the next leader of the school, because his contract for the interim post specifically outlined that he wouldn’t submit his name for consideration, according to a copy obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune in a public records request. Mortensen now comes in at the tail end of a major shuffling of leadership at universities across Utah, with USU having the most turnover. Cantwell’s troubles The new president will also be in the hot seat for other concerns that have stacked up. Staff with the Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General did an initial “assessment” of executive spending at the Logan school following reporting by The Tribune and whistleblower concerns about Cantwell’s spending during her brief 18-month tenure. Through public records requests, The Tribune tracked $661,800 that Cantwell spent on two new cars, a climate-controlled golf cart, an apartment in Salt Lake City, extensive national travel and new furnishings for her office, including a $750 bidet. The Tribune’s reporting noted there appeared to be little oversight of her purchases by the university’s board of trustees, which is responsible for checking the school’s finances and auditing all spending. The state’s assessment confirmed that. In their preliminary review, auditors found a “culture of policy noncompliance” at USU. The Utah System of Higher Education will now audit the presidential expenditures for each public institution in the state. USU has also said it plans to assess its own spending. Tessa White, the recently appointed chair of the university’s board of trustees, told lawmakers the school is already working on improvements. “There are areas that we are aware of and taking aggressive steps to remedy,” she said. Cantwell came into the position following the troubled tenure of former President Noelle Cockett, who stepped down in July 2023 amid scrutiny over the football program. Some of that carried into Cantwell’s term, including several lawsuits. But Cantwell made new headlines when she chose to fire then-football coach Blake Anderson. Cantwell said an independent investigation showed Anderson failed to appropriately respond when a player was arrested for domestic violence — allowing the player to continue with the team while the coach conducted his own fact-finding mission that allegedly included contacting the victim. Anderson has denied the allegations and has sued the school for $15 million, saying USU used “sham” claims to purposefully get out of having to pay him a $4.5 million buyout with his coaching contract. That kept a harsh spotlight on Cantwell, even as she was able to wrap up the ongoing oversight agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over concerns with how the school had previously responded to victims’ reports of sexual violence. Her departure also came amid scrutiny from the Utah Legislature, which passed a bill this spring banning transgender students from living in dorms that align with their gender identity. The measure was drafted, in large part, in response to a roommate conflict at USU that saw widespread attention.
