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LOGAN — Utah State University officials announced shake-ups in its Title IX office Wednesday, less than two weeks after a report dinged the university’s piano program for how it handled sexual misconduct claims.
Stacy Sturgeon is no longer serving as the school's Title IX coordinator and the university will search for a replacement, USU President Noelle Cockett announced in an email to faculty, staff and students obtained by KSL. Scott Bodily will serve as the interim Title IX coordinator until a replacement is named.
Bodily has served in the school’s Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office since 2017, and worked as a Logan police detective investigating rape, homicides and child abuse prior to that, Cockett said. As of Wednesday afternoon, the university’s website showed Sturgeon still employed as a specialist in the school’s Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office.
Cockett said more changes are in the works for the Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office, including hiring additional staff and a prevention specialist.
“These changes will help us more effectively prevent future sexual misconduct and discrimination, thereby enhancing the safety of our campus,” she wrote in the email.
Planned changes to Title IX and the school’s Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office were first announced during a press conference April 6, in which the school released a report of sexual misconduct and gender discrimination within the school’s piano program.
The 18-page report offered six suggestions for the university moving forward, including shake-ups within that program and the Title IX office.
“The authority and scope of Title IX must be undeniable here on the campus,” Cockett said at the time.
The investigation into the program began in February after at least two former students shared their experiences with the program in Facebook posts earlier that month. Two more posts describing incidents of harassment within the music program, dating as far back as 1999, were reported shortly after the investigation began.
