LIU senior Clarice Bell sues school for revoking golf scholarship while she recovered from injury

A Long Island University senior and former member of the women's golf team is suing the school, alleging her athletic scholarship was revoked while she recovered from injuries and that her coach told her the decision was due to budget cuts.

Clarice Bell, 21, who lives in Locust Valley and is originally from Holden, Maine, filed the lawsuit against the university in Nassau Supreme Court. The suit alleges the university acted in violation of NCAA rules when the administration revoked her scholarship, worth more than $46,000 a year, for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years.

A spokesman for the university said on Wednesday that LIU could not comment on pending litigation.

Bell, a recruited high school state champion in Maine, said she was injured in October of her freshman year and was granted a medical waiver by the NCAA to "redshirt" to maintain her eligibility.

She said she was diagnosed with slipping rib syndrome, which occurs when a partially dislocated rib slips in and out of place, causing intense pain. Bell worked with medical staff at LIU and specialists in Massachusetts. She underwent two surgeries in 2023 and 2024 and is still recovering.

"The whole goal was getting back to playing golf again," Bell told Newsday on Wednesday. "There was a lot of progress to be done and the surgery ended up not working out. All my teammates knew that, and the coach and program knew that I was trying to get myself in a position to be playing golf again."

Bell said she had been working with the team, attending practices during her rehab. She could not swing a golf club but continued putting drills.

Bell said she had a video call with her coach in March 2025, when she was told that her scholarship was being rescinded due to budget cuts and she would not be on the team the following year.

"Budget cuts are not a reason you’re allowed to terminate someone’s athletic scholarship," Bell’s Locust Valley attorney Alfred C. Constants III said. "Eventually, it went from budget cuts to nonattendance at training — even though she [Bell] was there — and so it went back and forth until in 2025, without opportunity for my client to respond to the false allegations, she was told they had arbitrated the issue and that was it."

The lawsuit, citing the NCAA Student-Athlete Core Guarantees policy, notes schools "cannot reduce, cancel, or fail to renew" athletic aid for reasons such as injury, physical or mental illness, ability or performance, roster management decisions or contribution or lack thereof to team success.

Bell said her appeal to save her scholarship was denied before she could provide proof that she attended practice and was communicating with her coach.

Bell is set to graduate in May. She has worked part time and received family support to finish her senior year, away from the team and living off campus.

"I’m really at a loss why they weren’t communicating with me. I was confused and offended by these accusations. I’m not a person to give up and not support the team," Bell said. "A senior year of college is supposed to be a fun and happy time and this has taken all my energy and joy affected by this whole process."