Beverly James
(Florida Courier)
A federal appeals court cited Bethune-Cookman University’s yearlong wait to try to block an alumni group from using the institution’s founder’s name as the reason the school has lost its latest appeal.
B-CU filed a lawsuit against the newly formed Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune National Alumni Association (MMBNAA) for trademark infringement in 2022. The lawsuit asked for a temporary and permanent injunction to stop alumni from using Bethune’s name as part of their new organization.
The Federal District Court in Orlando denied the initial request, and the university filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. That appeal was heard, and failed, on Tuesday in Atlanta.
“The MMBNAA is very pleased with the recent favorable court ruling and this has been our expectation because our association has been historically nothing but positive for our students and alumni,” said attorney Johnny McCray, a 1978 alumnus and the organization’s president, who was named in the suit. “We take pride and look forward to continuing the legacy of our esteemed founder, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.”
Bethune created the Bethune-Cookman University National Alumni Association in 1938, which was renamed the Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune National Alumni Association last year.
According to alumna and Bethune historian Dr. Sheila Flemming, the association “has a long history of being independent and always had a congenial relationship with the institution.”
Flemming, former dean of B-CU’s School of Social Science, said she was taken aback because alumni met with B-CU Board of Trustees President Belvin Perry and discussed expectations on transparency and viability of the university. “We expected there would be a back and forth, which we were accustomed to,” she said.
History of trouble
Trouble began when the B-CU Board of Trustees, on Sept. 17, 2021, sent a letter to officers of the former Bethune-Cookman University National Alumni Association that the university was disassociating with the organization and forming its own alumni Direct Support Organization (DSO).
The lawsuit states that via the DSO model, “alumni will work directly with the Bethune-Cookman University Office of Alumni Affairs, which allows the University to exercise sufficient direction and control over the fundraising activities for the University, as required by SACS accreditation standards, and for more direct, efficient, and effective alumni engagement.’’
The board also asked the National Alumni Association to dissolve. The request was in response to a letter from the alumni association’s attorney, Willie J. Walker of the Walker Law Firm, asking the board to enter mediation to iron out their differences.
The university responded with the letter requesting that the association stop using Bethune’s name and that the organization dissolve. The letter, from B-CU’s attorney, Michelle Bedoya Barnett of Alexander DeGance Barnett, P.A., states:
“Please understand that B-CU appreciates the efforts of its alumni and is appreciative of the support its alumni have afforded over the years.
“However, as B-CU works to ensure that there is uniformity in its practices and that B-CU’s records are appropriately maintained, B-CU is moving towards establishing a Direct Support Organization program to support the efforts of alumni affairs and other auxiliaries that represent the B-CU.”
The letter further states, “As it relates to the National Alumni Association of Bethune-Cookman University, Inc. (“NAA’’), at the board meeting on September 1, 2021, the Board unanimously approved a resolution stating that it is in the best interest of the University that the NAA in its current form be dissolved. To the extent that it is not dissolved and continues to exist as a Florida non-profit corporation or other 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, the NAA should cease any mention or representation that it acts in any manner on behalf of B-CU.”
Barnett’s response adds that the NAA “is not sanctioned by B-CU and for this reason, it is not legally authorized to use B-CU’s name, likeness, logos, facilities or to represent itself publicly as being associated with B-CU in anyway.’’
A new identity
Members held a virtual board meeting in September 2021 and changed the organization’s name to the Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune National Alumni Association.
“Unfortunately, the name change is something they had to do because the university doesn’t want to be associated with them,” Walker said.
The new name elicited backlash from the board of trustees. In January 2022, the board filed a federal lawsuit against the renamed organization and McCray, its president.
Nevertheless, the university can’t act as gatekeeper to Bethune’s name, McCray said.
“Her name is in public domain. Schools across the nation are named after her and they didn’t ask permission from Bethune-Cookman University,” he explained.
The case is now back in the federal district co
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