Joan Howarth, who was recommended Feb. 13 to the law college’s board of trustees, served as a facilitator in the college’s discussions regarding Blackburn. The former dean faced heated faculty criticism in spring 2006, took a leave of absence in October of that year and resigned in July 2007.

“Howarth was brought in to our school to serve in a mediation role in the process that led to former Dean Blackburn’s eventual resignation,” third-year law student Jared Geist said. “I think this represents a potential conflict of interest.”

The American Bar Association compiles a list of people who can serve as facilitators when these types of problems arise, MSU Provost Kim Wilcox said.

Howarth is on that list, he added. Her visit was neither an unusual nor extraordinary event, Wilcox said, adding that the subject matter of the discussion is private.

Howarth dismissed concerns that her recommendation to become dean of the law school presents a conflict of interest.

“My appointment is based on the future of the law school, not the past,” she said. “Being hired had to do with me being perceived as a strong leader for the law college, not anything in the past.”

Wilcox did say the conversations covered a wide array of topics regarding the school’s future. Alvin Storrs, professor of law and chairman of the Dean Search Committee, said Blackburn was explicitly discussed.

“It was during the time of the Blackburn issue,” Storrs said. “But my recollection is that we discussed more than Dean Blackburn.”

Bringing in outside facilitators is not routine, nor done on an annual basis, Storrs said.

Howarth, who was serving as an associate dean at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, at the time, visited MSU in person.

“We were facing issues that many faculties have faced,” Storrs said. “We had facilitators come in and work through those issues.”

Howarth is the law school’s first permanent dean since Blackburn’s leave in July 2006. Until Howarth is approved, the position is and has been filled by Acting Dean Clifford Thompson.

Presiding over the conversations about the law school’s problems presents no conflict of interest, Wilcox said.

“She wasn’t involved in whatever situation there may or may not have been with Blackburn,” Wilcox said. “She was brought in to facilitate discussions within the college.”

In May 2006, a group of senior faculty members sent a letter to the law college’s Board of Trustees requesting that Blackburn be removed from his position. In a letter sent Oct. 17 of that year, Clifton Haley, president of the law college, stated that there was not enough reason for his removal.

Blackburn was allowed leave until June 30, 2007, and announced three months before his leave was up that he would resign from his post, effective July 1, 2007.

During the initial tensions in 2006, Howarth and an unnamed colleague were called in to foster discussions, Wilcox said.

“She and her colleague met with faculty, met with me, and we all talked about the solution, what kind of challenges we had,” he said.

Both Wilcox and Storrs maintain Howarth’s recommendation doesn’t present a conflict of interest.

“From my vantage point, those are two separate situations,” Storrs said. “We hired her as our dean going forward, not looking back.”