Font Size: 
Questions Arise After Law School Dean's Resignation in Wake of Prostitution Investigation
The Legal Intelligencer
July 07, 2009
Word of Villanova Law School Dean Mark Sargent's resignation last week was accompanied by little in the way of a pronouncement of his accomplishments or a formal press release announcing his next step.
Alumni were surprised at news of the resignation but had nothing but positive things to say about Sargent's 12-year tenure.
Over the course of the holiday weekend, however, a different picture was painted of Sargent's decision to step down. Reports in The Philadelphia Inquirer described Sargent's involvement as a one-time customer of an alleged prostitution house and his subsequent cooperation with state police who were building a case against the owner of the house and two alleged prostitutes. He has not been charged with any crime and is said to have fully cooperated with investigators, according to a report by The Associated Press.
It is unclear when university officials first learned specifically of the alleged prostitution connection. Sargent's resignation submitted to university President Peter M. Donohue cited "personal and medical" reasons -- the exact language the university used in describing the seemingly abrupt resignation. But the school apparently knew that Sargent was involved in some sort of police investigation.
"On Monday, June 29, citing personal and medical reasons, Mark Sargent resigned as dean of the Villanova University School of Law," the university said in a statement this week. "At that same time, Mr. Sargent informed university officials of his connection with a law enforcement investigation."
In the statement, the university said that it accepted the resignation at the time it was given and that Sargent would not be returning to the school to teach. "We are deeply saddened and disappointed about these events; as an institution of higher education we take the reputation of our administration and faculty very seriously," the statement continued.
Because Villanova is a Catholic university and Sargent's scholastic focus was on Catholic social thought and the law, the news adds yet another layer to the difficult public communications scenario.
Ellen Toplin, of public relations firm StarToplin, has both university and law firm clients. She said Villanova has a number of constituents that would come before even the general public, including its board, students, alumni, contributors, professors, the judiciary and even other law schools. Getting information out to those constituents in a timely manner is key, after which the situation can be explained to the general public, she said.
In this type of situation, there are not only perception issues but ethical concerns, Toplin said. It behooves any organization to assume the worst will happen and prepare for it by getting ahead of the situation and making sure the organization's key stakeholders are told in a timely and forthright manner, she said. "People are very forgiving when they believe they've been told the truth," she said.
It's important to show the key constituents that the organization is being proactive. The concerns of the stakeholders need to be taken into consideration when formulating a response, she said.
