Bennett College sues alumnae association over trademark use, donor confusion

Bennett College has gone to federal court in Greensboro to block its alumnae association from using the school’s name, logo and other branding, saying the dispute could confuse donors, alumnae and the public at a moment when the small women’s college is still working to protect its finances and reputation.

The complaint, filed May 4 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, names the Bennett College National Alumnae Association as the defendant. Bennett is asking the court to stop the group from using the college’s trademarks and to award punitive monetary damages, including profits the association realized from the disputed use.

At the center of the case is control of the Bennett name, a valuable asset for a Greensboro institution that says it is a private four-year historically Black liberal arts college for women. Bennett reported 180 undergraduate students in 2024-25, all female, with 174 enrolled full time and 6 part time. That small enrollment base makes donor confidence especially important, and the college says the association’s use of the school’s identity could complicate fundraising and create questions about who speaks for Bennett.

The college also says the branding fight could carry accreditation-related risks. Bennett says it is now accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, which awarded it Category II accreditation effective Jan. 1, 2023, for up to four years. The school’s own accreditation FAQs note that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges voted in December 2018 to remove Bennett from membership over inadequate financial resources, setting off a scramble that included an appeal and fundraising campaign to avoid closure.

The alumnae association, founded in 1948, has long presented itself as part of Bennett’s support network and says it provides scholarships for students. Its website says Emma O. Smith ’48, who later served as Bennett trustee chair from 1979 to 1985, helped secure a board seat for the association president, and that the group was reactivated in the 1970s under the presidency of Isaac H. Miller.

Bennett says that relationship changed after a 2022 investigation found the college’s former director of alumnae affairs stole more than $185,000 from Bennett and the alumnae association. The college says that episode raised concerns about financial controls and about who has the authority to use the Bennett name to raise money. In Greensboro, where Bennett remains one of the city’s most prominent historically Black colleges, the lawsuit signals another test of stability for an institution still trying to steady enrollment, fundraising and trust.