Two months after being evicted from its on-campus offices at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, the academy’s alumni association is still without a permanent home.
“We haven’t made any progress. We’re still looking,” said United States Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation President Jim Tobin.
The association, which raises funds for the academy, vacated its offices on May 13 after a federal court refused to grant an injunction delaying its eviction from its rent-free Fitch Building offices.
The academy had sought to clear the space in advance of upcoming classroom renovations, sparking a dispute with the association and allegations that academy and U.S. Department of Transportation officials had targeted the association for eviction.
The association, Tobin said, is temporarily working out of Lerner House, a facility it owns in Kings Point. The Village of Kings Point has not zoned the property for commercial use, and the association is looking for other locations in Great Neck.
“We told [the village of Kings Point] we’re here because we have nowhere else to go,” Tobin said. “This is okay. The location’s great, but the facility in its current condition isn’t that great for us.”
The association is continuing its operations without interruption, Tobin said, but has not yet found a suitable alternative location in Great Neck.
“We just trying to do business as usual the best we can,” Tobin said. “We’ve been dealt a hand here and we have to deal with it. We owe that to our donors and to the midshipmen and the alumni.”
The eviction came after a federal judge issued a week-long reprieve in May to prepare for the legal challenge. The academy’s decision to remove its alumni association from its rent-free office on campus in advance of upcoming classroom renovations faced pushback from the group’s officials and supporters, but the academy maintained that the move was necessary and that the alumni association has refused to either pay rent or work with the school to find an alternative location.
“Following the court’s decision last week denying its motion, the alumni association and foundation vacated its offices in the Fitch Building and withdrew their lawsuit against the Academy,” wrote academy spokesperson Marcie Katcher in an e-mail. “The Academy continues to value its relationship with all alumni and seek opportunities to work with alumni who are committed to building a strong future for the Academy.”
“The Board of the USMMA Alumni Association & Foundation (AAF) regrets to inform you that we were unsuccessful in court in our attempt to remain on board the Academy,” wrote the association’s board in a May letter on its Web site. “The new Superintendent James Helis, backed by outgoing Maritime Administrator David Matsuda and outgoing Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, has been successful in forcing our Alumni organization off the campus where we have been at the invitation of the Academy for almost 60 years.”
The association’s board has portrayed the academy’s efforts to push the group out of its offices as a targeted attack on the association by Helis and other administrators.
But the academy has maintained that it needs the space for classrooms, and that it has tried to work with the association to find an alternative location.
Tobin has said he believed the group was targeted for its disagreements with decisions made by LaHood, whose department oversees the academy. The group had sparred with LaHood and academy administrators on matters including the 2011 reassignment of former Superintendent Philip Greene Jr. and the closure of the academy’s Global Maritime and Transportation School.
LaHood’s replacement as secretary of transportation, former Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx, was sworn earlier this month – a development Tobin views with optimism for the association’s future dealings with the department.
“I certainly would hope it helps us,” Tobin said.
According to the association’s board, the court ruled that the group did not have an irrevocable license to use the on-campus space. The association maintained that the millions of dollars it raises for the academy should have qualified as a consideration in substitution for rent, but the court declined to halt the eviction.
The academy stated prior to the court decision that it needs the offices for classroom space during renovations, and that the current rent-free agreement should be terminated “in order to avoid charges of preferential treatment.”
