This is your daily news rundown for Wednesday, September 11. In this edition:
- The University of Utah plans to add 1,450 beds of on-campus housing
- A judge ruled that Deseret News can't access college athlete contracts
- Gov. Cox has announced a new senior advisor and director of communications
- A federal judge has blocked Utah's social media law from going into effect
- Utah State University responded to a recent notice of Title IX noncompliance
U of U plans to add 1,450 beds of on-campus housing
2:42 p.m.
The University of Utah is planning to add 1,450 additional beds of student housing on the historically commuter-focused campus.
The university’s trustees voted on Tuesday to authorize the university to enter a public-private partnership with American Campus Communities, a company that develops, owns, and manages student housing communities.
The new student housing facility will be built on the corner of Mario Capecchi and South Campus drives, a lot previously used as parking for other student residents. It’s anticipated to be completed by fall 2026.
Judge denies media access to college athlete contracts
2:42 p.m.
A judge has ruled that the newspaper Deseret News can’t review name, image, and likeness contracts for college athletes under public records law.
Name, image, and likeness contracts are how college athletes make money. Utah's public universities opposed Deseret News' public records request for those contracts, which
Utah’s public universities opposed Deseret News’ public records request for those contracts, which are how college athletes make money. The request went to court last year, then in the last legislative session, lawmakers changed state law to eliminate name, image, and likeness contracts from public view.
In a new case, Deseret News argued it should be allowed to still view contracts drafted before the law into effect, as their request happened beforehand. The judge, however, ruled that the statute’s language applies to all name, image, and likeness contracts.
It’s unclear if Deseret News will appeal the ruling.
Gov. Cox announces new director communications
2:42 p.m.
Gov. Spencer Cox announced a new senior advisor and director of communications on Wednesday.
Robert Carroll previously served as the chief of staff for 47G, Utah’s aerospace and defense industry group, and holds degrees in management strategy and public policy.
He will join the Cox administration on Monday, September 16.
Federal judge blocks Utah social media law
8:51 a.m.
A federal judge blocked Utah's landmark social media law from going into effect.
Chief Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a written order Tuesday granting a request from NetChoice, a tech industry group, for a preliminary injunction. This means Utah will be unable to enforce its social media law as litigation plays out. This is not a permanent block.
The law was scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1. Under the law, social media companies would have been required to enable the maximum default privacy settings on Utah children's accounts. The companies would have had to verify the ages of their users and also restrict the visibility of Utah children's accounts, including by disabling search engine indexing.
During the 2024 legislative session, Utah lawmakers had made changes to the law as it had been challenged in court. A spokesperson for the Utah attorney general's office did not immediately return request for comment.
Utah State University releases response to Department of Justice's notice on Title IX noncompliance
8:51 a.m.
On Tuesday Utah State University released a lengthy response to last month's notice of noncompliance from the U.S. Department of Justice stemming from an investigation into the USU football program, promising to ensure that leaders of the football program will send clear, consistent, and firm messaging that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated.
The University says it is updating the student-athlete handbook to ensure a consistent Athletics-based response to arrests for criminal conduct.
In August the Justice Department informed the university it was "not compliant" with certain requirements agreed between the school and department in a resolution agreement in 2020.
The DOJ stated that "significant work remains" in addressing sexual misconduct within the athletic department, and particularly the football program.
Former head coach Blake Anderson was fired a few weeks before the start of preseason training camp for violating Title IX policies regarding timely reporting of domestic and sexual abuse.
