UW law-school dean quits over infighting

A bitter internal feud over the management style at the University of Washington School of Law culminated this week in the resignation of law-school dean W.H. "Joe" Knight Jr.

Knight said Friday that the decision to leave was his own. Following his resignation, effective June 15, he plans to take a year's paid leave and then return to the law school in a teaching role. He added, however, that he is open to exploring opportunities at other schools.

Almost from the time he began nearly six years ago, Knight, 52, has been at odds with some of the senior faculty, according to those familiar with the situation.

He is credited with delivering inspired speeches to students and community members, recruiting talented new faculty and improving the Asian law and intellectual-property programs, among others.

But some criticized him for perceived lapses in day-to-day management: not completing faculty performance reviews in a timely manner; allowing a clerical error to precipitate a drop in the law school's national rankings; not focusing enough on fundraising during a universitywide capital campaign; and becoming distracted by outside work, which included serving on the board of State Farm Insurance.

The criticisms morphed into a campaign by some faculty to remove Knight from his post.

Faculty e-mailed concerns to the provost; peppered his five-year performance review — which was due in two weeks — with negative comments; even approached outsiders to pressure UW leaders to do something.

A UW employee last fall anonymously filed a complaint with the state Executive Ethics Board about Knight's e-mails to State Farm during work hours.

"There has been substantial conflict here," acknowledged professor Roland Hjorth, who was dean of the law school before Knight.

All schools have infighting, Knight said, but it can become tiring when one is embroiled in it. He pointed out his achievements during his deanship but said he didn't know if he had the energy to continue improving the school.

"I'm a very strong-willed and strong-minded person, and an advocate for change in this institution. Some people embrace that and some people are fearful," Knight said. "Does that create rancor? Perhaps. But I harbor no ill will, no rancor or animus."

Academic deans increasingly are expected to take on fundraising responsibilities. Under Knight, the law school received one of its biggest gifts ever: $33 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Linden Rhoads, a Seattle high-tech entrepreneur and 2000 law-school graduate, donated $1 million to the law school in 2001. But, she said, her concerns over haphazard communications with the school's fundraising staff have meant she hasn't yet allocated the money, effectively keeping it in limbo.

She added that she found the U.S. News & World Report rankings drop, from the 20s to the 30s several years ago, "heartbreaking." The school has since risen in those rankings to 27.

Rhoads said everyone was excited at first with the arrival of Knight, who presented a radically different style to the gravitas of Hjorth.

"He was much more of a modern person. ... And he was much more personally ambitious," she said. "But even stylistically it didn't play well with certain faculty."

UW administrators are planning to install an interim dean from the ranks of the law-school faculty next spring and later begin a wider search for a new dean — a position that currently pays $251,580 annually. The law school is home to 56 full-time faculty and more than 500 students.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com