A scholarship fund meant for students of color who demonstrate financial need is at the center of a lawsuit alleging New College of Florida hasn't given out the money in years and won't relinquish the funds as requested.
John J. Lentini and his children, Julia K.L. Marquis and Jerald Lentini, are suing the New College Foundation, seeking a return of the money, which amounted to $156,000 when the family endowed the scholarship in 2021, plus interest and court costs.
The foundation is an independent fundraising nonprofit. Its board of directors manages an endowment and assets that are invested for growth and distributed "as determined by donors for students' scholarships, academic programs, faculty research, and more," according to its website.
In 2023, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a slate of new trustees. Alongside the new president of New College, former House Speaker Richard Corcoran, they began moving the liberal arts honors college in a more conservative direction. The trustees swiftly voted to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
That year, the Lentini family asked for the scholarship money back, but New College refused.
"I wrote to them. I said, 'Hey, Judy, would be appalled at what you're doing to her school. We don't want to support the school anymore. Give the money back,' " John Lentini said in an interview with WUSF.
New College attorney David Brickhouse declined, responding in a letter dated July 12, 2023, that the New College Foundation "is not in any way violating the terms" of the scholarship and added that Florida law doesn't provide an "automatic right of revocability."
Last week, the Lentini family filed the lawsuit.
Lentini met Judy Kaye in 1969, when they were both students at New College. Years later, they married. As their two children grew, Judy was always concerned with diversity in education, he said.
"She would not let our kids go on a field trip unless everybody could go on a field trip. And so if there were kids that couldn't afford the $5 or $6 fee, she would cover that so that they could go," Lentini said.
After Judy died of lung cancer in 2010, the family decided to create a scholarship in her name.
"So we thought that to honor Judy's memory, we would put this stipulation on the scholarship that it should be given to people of color," Lentini said.
The amount would be around $6,000 a year, or 4 percent interest on the gift amount, given out in perpetuity, according to Lentini. The Judith Kaye Lentini Endowed Scholarship began in January 2021.
The scholarship hasn't been awarded in two years, and it is being charged an annual $3,000 administrative fee.
In Lentini's view, that fee "dissipates the fund and effectively defeats the purpose of the scholarship," according to court documents.
"Further, these restricted funds are likely being used for purposes other than the intended purpose of this scholarship," the court documents add.
In New College's view, the $3,000 fee is a routine charge applied to all scholarships and varies as a percentage of the initial amount.
A college official who requested anonymity because of the lawsuit said the foundation paused all scholarships for two years after receiving a $5 million gift from the state to use for scholarships.
The official said the college plans to resume awarding scholarships from individual funds this school year, and that a few students, including one person of color, have been notified they qualify for the Lentini scholarship this year, but awards haven't yet been made.
This isn't the first time the finances of the New College Foundation have come into question.
Two former finance officers with the foundation told Suncoast Searchlight they were ousted when they raised questions about using scholarship money to pay for the president's $1 million salary and bonuses.
And Ben Brown, the former head of the New College Alumni Association, resigned this year, saying the foundation ignored concerns about financial mismanagement.
