Bethune-Cookman University is suing Virginia Union University’s president, Dr. Hakim Lucas, and other former Bethune-Cookman officials, alleging “illicit and fraudulent” conduct related to the construction of a 1,200-bed dorm.
In a 164-page complaint filed in Florida, BCU charges that the project developer, Maryland-based Quantum, made unlawful payments to Bethune-Cookman administrators.
With the acceptance rate at BCU up by 30 percent in 2015, the historically Black college in Daytona Beach, Fla., welcomed the largest enrollment in the school’s history.
More than 900 students lived in leased hotel rooms or off-campus residences. Many had to take shuttles back and forth to campus and approximately 300 accepted students had to withdraw because of insufficient housing.
New residence halls were deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees. The project’s stated cost was $59.2 million, based on the construction company’s figures, but BCU paid $85 million for the venture. The eventual price tag of the 40-year lease is $306 million, if the project proceeds through its scheduled maturity of expenses and interest.
Even with the uptick in enrollment, the university, already in debt, lacked the cash or credit to manage such a lucrative contract.
