Most Utah university trustees don’t understand their responsibilities. Here’s how that could change.

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When asked by state auditors recently, most Utah university trustees didn’t know that their role includes overseeing their school president and monitoring institutional spending.

Only about a quarter — 26% — correctly identified that’s what the position entailed. And that misunderstanding leaves a massive hole in the necessary checks at public universities and colleges throughout the state.

It’s one of the “very concerning” findings that came out of the state’s new audit focused on the extensive and largely unquestioned expenditures of Utah State University’s previous president, said state Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan. The university sits in his district.

Part of the problem? The duties of trustees have long been defined and delegated by the overarching Utah Board of Higher Education, but there is nothing outlined in state law. Wilson wants that to change, so there’s no confusion.

He introduced SB240 to clearly direct trustees to provide financial oversight of their school, as well as annually evaluate their president and set policy around the president’s spending. That includes thresholds for expenses that will require pre-approval.

It’s the first major bill this legislative session to stem from the highly anticipated audit released Jan. 30.

USU had already made some policy changes after The Salt Lake Tribune reported on the more than $660,000 former USU President Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell spent on travel, new cars and office renovations. She was in office for just 18 months before leaving in March 2025 to lead Washington State University.

The state audit also noted several times where it appears Cantwell and other top USU administrators broke Utah law, approving massive contracts without following set procurement processes. In one case, auditors allege Cantwell unilaterally decided to spend $200,000 with an external consulting group that she had “prior professional ties” with.

During that time, USU had few policies governing executive spending. There were no caps on travel, few limits for presidential office renovations and only one parameter for buying new cars. Trustees there said they did not feel empowered or know that they were supposed to check or question her spending.

The audit noted, too: “While USU was the focus of this audit, we found evidence that this may be a statewide issue.”

That’s why Wilson said it is necessary that the bill address concerns at all eight of the state’s public universities and colleges.

“Trustees are asking for this,” Wilson said; they want direction.

The bill received initial approval at its first committee hearing late last week, with a 4-1 vote to move the measure to the full Senate for consideration. The only opposing vote came from the sole Democrat on Senate Education Committee: Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights.

Riebe questioned whether the bill was giving too much power to trustees and, by extension, Utah’s governor, who is also responsible for appointing most university trustees in the state. Additionally, trustees, who are typically donors, are serving in their roles as volunteers.

“I realize we have a few things to learn about what happened at Utah State University,” Riebe said. But, she added, “I have a lot of concern with changing the role of what a trustee does right now.”

Wilson countered that the Senate is responsible for confirming or rejecting the governor’s candidates for trustee positions. Riebe, he said, can vet the nominees as “her prerogative of being in the Senate.”

Geoff Landward, the commissioner over higher education for the state, also said SB240 doesn’t so much change the role as it does clarify it.

The Utah Board of Higher Education has already directed university trustees to provide oversight of their institution.

The overarching board is 10 members, who are also volunteers, and is tasked with overseeing all 16 public higher educations institutions in the state: eight traditional colleges and universities, as well as eight technical colleges.

Those board members alone aren’t able to provide deep and detailed oversight of all 16 of those schools, Landward said, calling that “an impossible thing to do.”

So the Utah Board of Higher Education relies on the trustees at individual institutions to fulfill that role. University-level trustees, he added, are closest to the president and have the most direct line for providing those necessary checks.

They just need to be empowered to do so. “They need more support,” Landward said. “… We’re just simply not resourced, and the system is too big.”

As part of the bill, his office would also be given money to hire an independent staff member who could support trustees across the state, training them on their role and helping them understand their delegated duties.