Bethune-Cookman Alumni Demand Trustee Resignations

In a stern letter addressed to Bethune-Cookman University Board of Trustees Chair Michelle Carter-Scott, leadership of the university’s national alumni association has demanded the immediate resignation of several board members. 

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports on the association members’  outcry which cites mounting debts, accreditation and bond rating downgrades and leadership chaos among several reasons they say a change must happen immediately. 

Just to refresh the memory of board members, let me point out just a few of your accomplishments,” wrote BCU National Alumni Association President Robert Delancy. 

1. Took the school’s bond rating from A+ to junk status
2. Are directly responsible for the school being placed on probation by the school’s accrediting association
3. Are directly responsible for getting the school embroiled in lawsuits costing thousands of dollars a month in legal fees
4. Denied alumni representation on the Board of Trustees resulting in a lawsuit filed against the board by the school’s alumni association
5. Are directly responsible for the school being over $120 million dollars in debt
6. Are directly responsible for alumni placing restrictions on funds they donate to the school because of a lack of trust and the lack of ownership of a problem you created
7. Are directly responsible for building dormitories the school cannot pay for

A former Internal Revenue Service agent and frequent critic of the BCU board, Delancy sued its membership last spring after they refused to seat him as a member. The case was dismissed last June.

The demand comes less than a month after school officials successfully petitioned a circuit court to keep records associated with the controversial dormitory construction deal from becoming publicly reviewable, and less than two weeks after streaming network Netflix debuted a new docu-series featuring the university’s marching band. 

According to recent financial audit documents, Bethune-Cookman’s five-year payment schedule for building leases beginning this year ranges from $6.2 to $6.5 million annually towards a total obligation of more than $303 million. In 2017, total expenses outpaced revenues at the university by $24.8 million.