The leadership of Stetson University College of Law, located in Gulfport, Florida, is facing the very real prospect of donations drying up in large part because of alumna Pam Bondi’s performance as Donald Trump’s attorney general.
According to a report from BayNews9, there is a growing list of law school alumni who have signed onto a letter urging the school to denounce Bondi, a 1990 graduate, or face a donor boycott.
The push came to a head following Bondi’s appearance before Congress, where she faced criticism regarding her handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Stetson Law School alumni, many of them attorneys and former judges, expressed dismay at what they characterized as conduct beneath the school’s standards of professionalism.
More than 500 alumni have signed onto a letter demanding that Stetson Law School publicly denounce Bondi or face a coordinated donor strike. The letter, authored by Stetson graduate and attorney Johnny Bardine, was submitted to school officials last month.
Bardine and other signatories met with the school’s dean to discuss a path forward, but the meeting yielded no meaningful resolution. “This isn’t about politics,” Bardine emphasized. “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.”
Rachael Reese, another attorney involved in the effort, made clear that the alumni are not backing down. “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,” Reese said. “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.”
The group coordinated the boycott during the school’s recent fundraising campaign, urging fellow alumni to withhold donations.
Stetson’s leadership has largely stonewalled the controversy. When approached for comment, the dean declined to issue a statement, citing a longstanding policy against commenting on alumni matters. Bondi’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The alumni organizing the effort stressed this represents no personal vendetta. Rather, they argue that Bondi’s status as one of the school’s most prominent graduates makes her conduct a reflection on institutional values. The group plans to continue pressuring the school to engage with current students and expand outreach to additional alumni.
