The state College Board Thursday approved a pact between Mississippi University for Women President Claudia Limbert and a new alumni association, while she continues to fend off a lawsuit from the old alumni group.

Limbert created the new alumni association in March after she broke relations with the old group, led by alumni she clashed with for more than a year.

The Mississippi University for Women Alumnae Association sued Limbert in March to get a judge to halt her efforts to sever the university’s ties with it and create a new alumni alliance. The lawsuit is pending in Lowndes County Chancery Court, according to The Commercial Dispatch.

Limbert submitted the affiliation agreement she signed with MUW Alumni Association President Renee Flynt to the IHL board for the required ratification. All alumni affiliations must be approved by the board.

The new association is in the early phase of organizing itself under the direction of Flynt and an interim board with Limbert having veto power over its bylaws.

Despite the approval of the affiliation pact, negotiations for a compromise will continue, said Perry Sansing, Limbert’s legal counsel. The agreement does include provisions for the old and new associations to merge subject to Limbert’s approval.

“We have great hope that everything will continue to go on,” Limbert said.

A chancery court hearing was held May 8 with the alumnae association presenting its case on why Limbert shouldn’t disaffiliate it from MUW.

Sansing said Wednesday that another hearing had not been scheduled.