Plans to rename the University of Montana School of Law in recognition of a $10 million gift are being questioned by a member of the university's board of regents, the Missoulian reports.

The gift from alumnus Alexander Blewett III ('71), whose father and two sons also graduated from the law school, will be used to create an endowed chair in consumer law and protection and provide $2.7 million in programmatic support; provide $1.5 million to match contributions to the Access to Legal Education Scholarship Fund; and establish an endowed general support discretionary fund. In recognition of the largest gift in the law school's hundred-year history — a gift that will nearly double its endowment, to $21 million — the school will be renamed the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana "in perpetuity," subject to approval by the board of regents.

According to the University of Montana Foundation, the law school faculty, the UM faculty senate, and school and university officials already have signed off on the naming gift. At the board of regents' meeting on Thursday, however, regent and alumna Martha Sheehy questioned the process, arguing that the public has the right to deliberate when a public body sells a public asset, and noting that "every single part of this was done in private." UM president Royce Engstrom said the university had followed identical procedures for other naming gifts and that the renaming of the law school would not give the family any authority or control over the institution. UM Foundation guidelines allow the university to negotiate naming a school with a gift of $10 million, Greg Munro, interim dean of the law school, told the Missoulian.

Sheehy, who praised Blewett for his "mind-boggling" generosity, noted that Montana's open meeting and public participation laws afford taxpayers the right to participate in the naming decision, yet the public did not have enough information to consider the proposal in time to comment. "I think the law school needs to be named by the people of the state of Montana. And if they choose to name it after Alexander Blewett III, that would be fantastic. But they haven't been at the table," said Sheehy, adding that leaving the public out of the process demeans the gift.

Others at the meeting on Thursday said private dealings are important when dealing with major donors. Munro said secrecy is paramount in negotiating large gifts because of the need to protect a donor's privacy and shield the family from other parties who may want to get involved in the negotiations.

"We need to be careful about making the process so difficult that it perhaps inhibits folks from coming forward," said regent Fran Albrecht, who is executive director of the  Providence Montana Health Foundation and recently taught nonprofit administration at UM. The board of regents were scheduled vote on the naming gift on Friday.