Utah State Responds to Notice of Noncompliance From Department of Justice

In response to a notice of “substantial noncompliance” from the U.S. Department of Justice on Aug. 21, 2024, Utah State University has pledged to take additional action to address persisting climate concerns in the USU football program.

This commitment comes after the DOJ stated USU has “failed to take prompt, equitable, and effective steps to remedy an ongoing hostile environment within its football program” as required by a February 2020 resolution agreement.

The full letter from the DOJ and USU’s response is available to download on the USU website.

“We acknowledge and share the DOJ’s concerns. We will take all steps necessary to create an enduring culture of respect within USU and especially within USU Football,” USU President Elizabeth Cantwell said. “Our students, staff and faculty have put an enormous amount of work into making USU better, with a culture we can all be proud of. We will build on those accomplishments. We will fully ensure that our whole community not only knows our policies and state and federal law, but respects and are held accountable for them.”

In its letter, the DOJ acknowledged the work that USU has put into implementing the 2020 agreement and notes that the university has taken several responsive steps since it received the Husch Blackwell report. The DOJ also reiterated that significant work remains in how the university addresses sexual misconduct related to the athletics department, and the football program specifically.

USU's response outlines six steps, which the university has already put into motion:

• Updating training materials to further emphasize policy 340’s prohibition on employees conducting their own investigations of sexual misconduct.
• Developing an internal protocol to enhance the Office of Equity’s ability to identify and remedy culture and climate issues.
• Facilitating direct and prompt communications between the Office of Equity and Athletics staff.
• Engaging Athletics leadership in the development and delivery of training and customizing and tailoring training for Athletics staff and student-athletes.
• Ensuring that leaders of the football program send clear, consistent and firm messaging that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated.
• Establishing criteria and a process for determining appropriate interim measures, which is documented in an updated memorandum of understanding between the Office of Equity and Athletics. Additionally, Athletics is updating the student-athlete handbook to ensure a consistent Athletics-based response to arrests for criminal conduct.

"This is a renewed opportunity for leaders and coaches in Athletics to engage with university partners to create a respectful culture, and our staff is committed to this goal," said Vice President and Athletics Director Diana Sabau. "This will benefit our entire campus, especially our student-athletes, who are already contributing positively to the Cache Valley community."

Scrutiny by the DOJ began in 2017 after multiple news articles relayed stories of sexual assault by individuals in the USU football program as well as in fraternity and sorority life. The DOJ reviewed the university’s response to reports of sexual misconduct from 2013 to 2017, finding numerous systemwide failures. In February 2020, the university signed a resolution agreement with the DOJ to provide a blueprint for improvements.

Since August 2016, when the university released the results of an internal inquiry identified failures in USU policies, procedures and processes, the university has taken continuous action to prevent and address sexual misconduct appropriately.

Utah State University implemented biennial sexual misconduct campus climate surveys, adopted the Upstander bystander intervention program developed by the Utah Department of Health, revised policies and developed new procedures, expanded the staff of the Office of Equity to more appropriately address reports, created mandatory training for all students and employees, worked to create a reporting culture, created an annual Northern Utah Conference to End Violence in collaboration with CAPSA, and participated annually in the international effort to encourage “Start by Believing.”

The results of the sexual misconduct survey show these university efforts to improve the climate at USU are working. According to the latest sexual misconduct survey, students are feeling safer on campus now than in recent years. For the 2023 student survey, 98% of respondents said they feel safe on their USU campus, compared to 93% in 2017. Most student participants (86%) thought USU officials handled incidents against students in a fair and responsible manner. This is up from 52% in the 2017 student survey. The student survey has been conducted every other spring since 2017, and the university began conducting an employee survey in 2021.

USU policy defines sexual misconduct as including relationship violence (dating and domestic violence), sexual harassment sexual assault, and sex-based stalking. More information about USU policies related to sexual misconduct is available on the Office of Equity policy webpage.

More information about USU’s efforts to improve the prevention of and response to sexual misconduct, as well as information about how to seek support and report, is available at sexualrespect.usu.edu.