The report highlighted such expenses as new furniture for the president’s office remodel, which cost $184,433, including a $750 bidet toilet and a $430 mirror.

“The original plan for the office remodel started at $10,000 but grew significantly and totaled nearly $300,000,” legislative auditors noted in presenting findings to the Legislative Audit Subcommittee on Friday.

The pricey purchases, which have dogged the university since the previous president ended her short stint there early last year, were showcased in the audit that also found the school’s procurement practices failed to follow state code, and revealed a lack of regard for internal audit practices.

While the university president is entitled to a vehicle allowance, auditors said, the university bought three; a Toyota Highlander for almost $43,000, a Chevy Suburban for $74,165 and a golf cart for $29,200.

There were “very troubling trends in decisions made by leadership,” auditors said, especially with issues involving the university’s internal audit team. The audit also found inadequate procurement processes for contracts that amounted to millions of dollars and lacked oversight.

Pricey trips included Washington, D.C. for $16,411, one to Harvard at $11,448 and another to Ireland at $12,791. Auditors found $13,637 spent on New York City hotel costs, which they described to be “significantly higher for some USU leaders when compared to other USU personnel on the same trip who stayed at different hotels.”

USU President Brad Mortensen, who has been in the role for 81 days, concurred with all findings and committed to step in. He said that the university’s internal audit team will continue to look into issues from the past. But it’s not clear yet whether there will be accountability for past leaders.

Former President Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell moved on to Washington State University, where she started a presidential role in April 2025 after a short 18-month tenure at USU. However, the bidet remains.

Cantwell did not respond to a request for comment from Utah News Dispatch.

After the meeting, Mortensen said that all of the mentioned purchases are still assets in the university inventory.

“I’ve been trying to be careful about additional expenditures that are happening out of the president’s office. Some of those things … removing a bidet will cost money,” he said. “So we’re trying to be responsible with resources going forward, but to the extent that things are already in place, we’re trying to make the best use of those.”

Mortensen added that the university’s internal audit process is now strong and transparent.

“If we find anything, we’ll make sure that any necessary steps are taken,” Mortensen said. “But really, I’m trying to focus on going forward and making sure that we set the right tone.”

Auditors found that the university sometimes skipped the normal procurement processes when selecting vendors for outside goods and services, the audit found.

One university department renewed contracts with a vendor exceeding $12 million without a documented competitive process. After the vendor’s contract expired in 2023, the university agreed to a one-year extension “with the understanding that the following year’s contract would go through the proper process.”

But those instructions were ignored, and the university ultimately signed a new five-year contract with the vendor.

“USU’s legal department also raised concerns but approved the contract, citing ‘desired administration relationships.’ Purchasing requested clarification on why this department did not follow procurement policy but received no response.”

The president’s office also made purchases from individuals and consulting companies with prior professional ties to the university without following proper procedures. Those resulted in expenditures that grew from an initial $30,000 estimate to $100,000 in four months.

Internal audits went unaddressed

USU has a state-mandated internal audit program, but, according to legislative auditors, “USU leadership has not supported the role of Internal Audit, to the detriment of the university.”

Instead of relying on internal audits to investigate university issues, leadership used other internal or external resources to review and solve them.

Leadership also removed the internal audit program from the university’s anonymous Ethics Point hotline for over three months. During that time, complaints on employee financial misconduct, policy violations, hostile work conditions and classroom misconduct were still being reported to the hotline.

“While the hotline administrator may have assigned some of these cases for internal audit to review, internal audit did not initially have access to 45% of all allegations in 2024,” auditors wrote. It is unclear why the internal audit program was removed from the hotline during that time. But, they added, “appears to be an attempt to limit access.”

Additionally, the university’s president and a vice president managed at least one complaint directly, “which may stifle future institutional improvement and infringe on hotline independence,” according to the audit.

The internal audit team also failed to make standard follow ups on its recommendations.

Legislative auditors found that a 2024 internal audit had recommended establishing limits for staff lodging. However, the university didn’t pass a policy on the issue until November 2025.