A Utah Tech University vice president who came under fire for inappropriate comments he and his staff allegedly hung up in their office — which are detailed in a damning lawsuit against the school — announced that he is stepping down.
Jordon Sharp, the vice president of marketing and communication at the St. George university, wrote in a Facebook post that he has accepted a new position in the private sector. His new job is with MINT, a Salt Lake City marketing company that is opening an office in southern Utah.
His last day at Utah Tech is Friday, according to a letter from the school’s new president that also announced the change.
“As with all employees who depart our institution, we wish them well in their future endeavors,” reads the note from President Shane Smeed that was sent to employees and shared with The Salt Lake Tribune.
Sharp told The Tribune on Monday that he is “leaving Utah Tech on my own accord for a company I’ve been talking to for a while.”
He has been at the university for nearly 14 years and added that “I have loved my time at Utah Tech. It’s a bittersweet thing for me. I love this institution. I love the students. I think it has a bright future under President Smeed.”
In his position, Sharp had been a member of the school’s executive cabinet, reporting directly to the university’s president.
The school has been roiled by a lawsuit filed late last year alleging a toxic work environment. The suit comes from Becky Broadbent, then the university’s top attorney; Jared Rasband, its second-in-command attorney; and Hazel Sainsbury, Utah Tech’s Title IX coordinator, who is tasked with responding to complaints of sexual misconduct.
The employees’ case mostly centers on a phallic gag gift left by the previous president, Richard “Biff” Williams, for an administrator who had recently had surgery. Williams signed the gift as if it was from the three plaintiffs — which they say felt like “payback” for their efforts to clean up the school and address harassment.
That included their work, they say, to investigate in September 2021 a display of more than 200 sticky notes that staff had stuck up. Each one featured a crude or sexual phrase that someone in the university’s marketing department had allegedly said or was supposedly taken out of context. The Post-it notes covered a metal cabinet in the team’s break room that was also used by some student interns.
(Screenshot) Pictured is the cabinet at Utah Tech University that was covered with Post-it notes — which have been redacted for privacy in this photo — that included crude sayings from staff members of the school's marketing department. The notes are part of a lawsuit filed by three employees who allege there was a toxic culture at the university.
The largest share of the notes was attributed to Sharp, who oversaw the department. Sharp has been the vice president of marketing at Utah Tech for about six years and was in the department before that. His most recent salary, for 2024, was $205,658, according to Utah’s state transparency website.
“I’ve accidentally hired 2 prostitutes,” said one of the notes credited to him. “Oh my gosh. I just grabbed his little penis. That felt really unnatural,” read another with his name on the bottom.
In a recent ruling, the judge presiding over the case ordered that what was written on each slip of paper should be unsealed and made publicly available — because, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer wrote, the public interest is “significant” given that the allegations concern a state-funded school.
The school said in a previous statement to The Tribune about the Post-it notes that it “acknowledges challenges over the past few years.” That includes, it said, an “internal confidential Title IX investigation conducted four years ago related to a quote board, which included statements taken out of context.” It noted that the investigation did not result in findings of a violation.
A separate review into Williams’ conduct with the gag gift also ended with no “sustained findings.”
In the Facebook post announcing his departure, Sharp highlighted his accomplishments during his time at Utah Tech — and said his experience at the school has been “exciting, challenging, impactful, personal and meaningful.”
He also gave a nod to the “leadership of President Biff Williams.” Together, he said, they worked to double the size of the campus, increase enrollment, transition athletics to Division I and shift the school away from its previous “Dixie” name and racist associations.
(Chris Caldwell | Special to The Tribune) Utah Tech University campus Monday, July 14, 2025.
“Alongside my incredible teams, I had the privilege to create and launch the Trailblazer identity and Brooks the Bison,” he said. “… Our team worked, succeeded, failed, laughed, cried and built together tirelessly for the good of our campus; and they are my forever family.”
In his email to employees, President Smeed said he is proposing a plan to combine the marketing position with enrollment efforts into one cabinet-level post. Smeed wrote he aims “to build a leadership team aligned with the needs of our campus.”
Smeed added that “this new leader will also work closely with the Academic Affairs division to ensure alignment from recruitment through graduation.”
The search for someone to fill that job, Smeed said, will begin soon.