In the midst of controversy, W.H. "Joe" Knight, dean of the School of Law, announced Thursday his decision to resign from his current post.

Knight has served as dean of the Law School since 2001.

The decision came after an ethics complaint came to light last quarter regarding the dean's use of University resources.

Complaints were regarding the use of UW computing equipment and facilities to conduct business for State Farm Insurance Company, of which Knight is a board member.

Despite circumstances, Knight said neither the complaint nor his scheduled five-year performance review were reasons for his intended departure. All deans are reviewed every five years.

"Six years is a long time to be a dean," Knight said. "The average tenure for a law school dean is four years ... I'm ready to move on."

UW media representative Norm Arkans confirmed Knight's resignation was unrelated to recent events.

"I think he felt that he had reached a point in his career where he had accomplished a great deal, and I think that being dean for six years [took up] a big chunk of his professional life," Arkans said. "There were some issues in the school, but he decided that it was a good opportunity to step aside."

Knight said he is disappointed by the press coverage regarding his decision, and believes the media have spun the situation into something that it is not.

"I'm sorry that people want to make this a bigger story than it is," he said. "Some of the people that have written about this have not even gotten in contact with me."

Although recent events have been cast in a negative light, Knight looks on his time at the UW thus far with high regard.

"Deans come and deans go," he said. "It was a great experience, and I've learned a great deal. The progress our law school has made, honestly, is as much as any law school in the country has. It's time for someone else to take the reigns of this institution."

Knight will be staying on as dean until June, at which point he plans to take a sabbatical and return as a tenured instructor.

As far as the law school itself is concerned, the status quo will remain largely unaffected, Arkans said.

"Whenever there's a change in leadership, you of course will have a reassessment and change in direction," he said. "It won't affect the operation of the law school."

The administration views Knight's overall performance as dean in a positive light.

"I think he had a good run while he was dean," Arkans said. "He accomplished a lot, and the school's in a lot better shape than it was when he took over."

Reach reporter Jeff Tripoli at jefftripoli@thedaily.washington.edu