SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Valley University's former Title IX director claims in a lawsuit that she was fired in retaliation for alleging the Orem school failed to comply with federal and state civil rights laws.

The civil complaint Melissa L. Frost filed in 3rd District Court on Tuesday includes a wide range of allegations, including campus police treating gay male students' sexual assault complaints less seriously, administrators' reluctance to provide training that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected from discrimination and harassment, and a pattern of not hiring the most-qualified applicants for jobs.

UVU hired Frost to head its new Office of Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Title IX in 2014. It fired her in June 2017. A week after her firing, Frost filed a complaint against the university with the U.S. Department Education's Office for Civil Rights, alleging Title IX violations and retaliation for her voicing her concerns about compliance.

The school has been under a federal Title IX investigation for how it handles sexual assault reports since last fall.

UVU issued a statement saying it is a safe, welcoming and supportive environment for everyone, due in part to its commitment to Title IX.

"University leaders are aware of and disappointed in Ms. Melissa Frost’s allegations. We do not share her views," said UVU spokesman Scott Trotter. "We are confident the actual facts in this matter will prevail and will rebut Ms. Frost’s story."

Trotter said the school isn't able to comment on the details of the lawsuit because it is a pending legal matter, "but we can say that UVU leaders took immediate action to review her allegations when she first raised her Title IX retaliation claim" last June.

Frost, who filed the lawsuit on her own behalf without a lawyer, claims school officials were slow to refer students the Title IX office and dragged out a sexual assault case involving athletes for more than a year.

Furthermore, Frost said she told her supervisor she had seen a pattern of women being required to work longer and harder than men, women earning less than men and that people of ethnicity or who are not members of the LDS Church, if hired, don’t stay at UVU, according to the lawsuit.

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Frost said she also received reports of misuse and waste because UVU reportedly processed LDS Church missionary visas while representing the university abroad and that a vice president inappropriately used grant money.

Frost gave the investigator UVU hired to look into her retaliation claims a 37-page summary of her concerns, including that she had told the school's attorney she was about to start a "discrimination harassment" investigation into allegations by three women against "white males" in upper management.

The attorney specifically requested to review the case to determine whether there was sufficient information for Frost to move forward, according to the lawsuit.

"This level of review had never been required previously," Frost wrote in the lawsuit.

Trotter said the university hired a "nationally respected, impartial" Title IX investigator with no ties to UVU.

"The investigator thoroughly investigated Ms. Frost’s retaliation claim and found it wholly unsubstantiated. We continue to fully cooperate with the Office for Civil Rights, including having already provided (the office) with the investigation report," he said.

Frost is seeking reinstatement at UVU, payment for lost wages, benefits and seniority rights, and if she is not reinstated, compensation for future lost income and diminished value of her retirement account, according to the lawsuit.

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