Stetson Law alumni stop donations after Bondi hearing

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After members of the Stetson Law School alumni asked the school to denounce U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, they are now calling on graduates to hold back donations to the school.

The move comes after a congressional hearing where Bondi came under fire about the handling of the Epstein files. Some Stetson Law School alumni said they’re disappointed in her conduct during that hearing.

Currently, there are more than 500 signatures on a letter that was addressed to Stetson Law School officials last month. Since then, the author of the letter, Stetson Law School graduate and attorney Johnny Bardine, was able to set up a meeting with school administration. In that meeting with the school’s dean was a group of alumni made up of attorneys, former judges and county leaders. They all signed that letter and met with the school’s dean to talk about next steps, and they say they didn’t get anywhere close to a solution. That doesn’t mean they are done.

Bardine said this isn’t about politics. They want Stetson Law School to reaffirm its ideals of professionalism, and they don’t believe those ideals were represented by Bondi during that congressional hearing.

Bondi is a Stetson Law School graduate. She spoke at a Stetson Law School graduation a few years ago. We reached out to Bondi’s office about the letter and haven’t heard back.

School leaders at Stetson referred us to comments made by the dean last week after that meeting where he said they’re not making a statement because universities don’t comment on alumni stuff.

For Bardine, this is about much more than that.

“Investing in the long-term value of our diploma because without the ethical standards of the institution instills in us then our degrees are worthless. So, I find this a deep commitment to Stetson Law School, and we all love it and want it to do well,” he said.

Rachael Reese is one of the other attorneys with the group who met with the dean about a path forward. And while she wasn’t satisfied with how the meeting went overall, she said they are not deterred.

“We reached out to as many alumni as we could, and we kind of began a strike, if you will, of closing all of our wallets and I mean, it’s become a lot bigger. We’ve reached out to the members on the board of trustees. We’re just basically trying to make this much bigger than people originally thought it was,” Reese said.

The school just had a fundraising campaign last week, and this group of alumni said they asked others to go on a strike with their donations. When asked, school officials said donations in their fundraising campaign last ended up being a typical year.

Reese emphasized that they don’t want this to sound like they’re piling on one person. Supporters of the demand letter said Bondi is one of their most high-profile graduates, and because of that, they want to make sure the school’s values are emphasized. They plan to continue to ask the school to do more, reach out to more alumni and engage current students.