Judge dismisses lawsuit brought by former Mount Ida students over college’s sudden closure

Mount Ida

Former Mount Ida campus.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by three students of Mount Ida College, who sued the school over its sudden closure.

Judge Richard Stearns, in a 17-page ruling issued Friday, found in favor of Mount Ida College.

The small Newton school closed suddenly at the end of the 2018.

The plaintiffs were Tristan Squeri, a former Mount Ida student; Madeline McClain, a prospective student from New Jersey who had planned to enroll in the fall; and George O'Dea, a former student in the college's funeral service program.

The three claimed that Mount Ida College failed to notify them of the school’s dire financial straits despite a duty to do so. They also said the school shared their academic and financial information with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth without their consent as part of an arrangement to allow students to continue their studies at the school.

Stearns wrote in his ruling that Mount Ida officials had a legitimate purpose in sharing the students’ files, to help students enroll at UMass Dartmouth as a “successor institution.”

The judge found that the students did not show that Mount Ida lied about its financial condition, only that it did not volunteer additional information. The judge disagreed with the students’ argument that the school had a duty to provide that information.