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KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — The University of Montana School of Law will be renamed within the next month for a Great Falls attorney who donated $10 million, after the state Board of Regents approved the plan on Friday.
The board approved the contract between Alexander Blewett III, his wife, Andrea, and the university by a unanimous vote with one abstention during its meeting in Kalispell. The regents also approved a new tuition freeze for in-state students, a move meant to keep the university system's schools affordable after three years of declining enrollment
Regent Martha Sheehy abstained from the law school vote because she said there should have been more opportunities for the public to comment on the decision.
The school announced the proposal earlier this week. Sheehy said she received dozens of comments from people who wanted the chance to speak, and she asked for a delay in the vote.
"The overwhelming comment that I got was that we haven't had enough time to look at this," Sheehy said.
The board went ahead after interim law school Dean Gregory Munro and university President Royce Engstrom said a delay would send a damaging message to potential donors.
"I think it would be exceptionally detrimental if we were to set this off," Munro told the board.
The agreement with Blewett calls for the school's renaming to occur within 30 days of the contract's approval, unless Blewett asks for a delay.
Blewett will pay $1.3 million a year through 2021, with the money going to fund a professorship in consumer law and protection, a consumer law program fund, a scholarship matching fund and a discretionary fund. A previous $800,000 donation Blewett made in 2013 will count toward the $10 million, according to the contract.
A banner soon will be placed outside the school announcing "The Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana," Munro said. The school plans to have a renaming ceremony in September, when the state bar association holds its annual convention in Missoula, Munro said.
The freeze approved by the regents will keep tuition costs the same for Montana residents attending colleges and universities for the next two years. The tuition freeze was made possible by a $26 million funding increase by the state Legislature earlier this year, Higher Education Commissioner Clayton Christian said Thursday.
Out-of-state students' tuition will rise by up to 3 percent next year, depending on the school, and up to 5 percent in 2017.
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