Marywood University seeks court approval of a termination of a contract with a Florida firm for a study-abroad program in Florence, Italy dating to 2014, because the college now intends to run the foreign course on its own.
A private Catholic university in the Green Ridge neighborhood in Scranton and Dunmore, Marywood filed a lawsuit May 12 in Lackawanna County Court naming as defendant the International Studies Institutes Inc. of Kissimmee, Florida, and doing business as International Studies Institute: Florence.
The dispute involves an ISI study-abroad program in Florence, Italy, where Marywood has sent an unspecified number of architecture students over the years.
Details and allegations in the lawsuit include:
• The study-abroad arrangement started under a July 2014 memorandum of understanding between the college and the institute that allowed either party to terminate the agreement with at least nine months notice before the start of a next term.
• A later “consortium agreement” on July 7, 2022, amended and superseded the original memorandum, the lawsuit claims. The new pact did not obligate either party to agree to a minimum number of study-abroad students, and did not affect either side’s ability to enter into a similar agreement with other parties. Either party also could terminate the agreement with 30 days notice.
• Between 2015 and spring 2026, Marywood sent an unspecified number of architecture students to study in Italy through the institute. In the fall of 2024, Marywood advised ISI the university would not be able to continue under the terms of the agreement.
• On March 19, 2026, Marywood exercised its contractual right to terminate the agreement at the end of the spring 2026 term, thus providing far more than the required 30-days notice.
• In March of 2026, Marywood also executed a lease of space in Florence, Italy, to locate a Marywood campus there and with the intent to begin the college’s own study-abroad operations in Italy in August of 2026.
• The institute acknowledged receipt of the termination notice on April 9, 2026, and objected to the termination. ISI asserted the following: Marywood is required to continue sending students to ISI; nine months of notice of termination is required under the original agreement; and Marywood may not operate a competing program in Florence.
• On May 4, 2026, the institute served Marywood with a ‘cease and desist’ notice and threatened litigation in Italian courts, including seeking an emergency injunction to preclude Marywood from operating in Florence at a non-ISI location, as well as monetary damages.
• Marywood claims the institute’s position is meritless under the amended consortium agreement and competition was not prohibited. If the agreement is not terminated and remains in place for another academic year, and Marywood must pay the institute for students studying abroad during that period, Marywood anticipates ISI’s additional fees will exceed $1 million.
The lawsuit seeks the following declarations: Marywood has fulfilled its contractual obligations and has the right to terminate the contract with ISI; and the contract was properly terminated, thus releasing Marywood from further obligations beginning with the fall 2026 semester. The lawsuit also contends Lackawanna County Court, and not a court in Italy, is the proper venue for the litigation.
The institute has not yet formally responded to the lawsuit in Lackawanna County Court. Efforts were unsuccessful Tuesday to reach an ISI representative authorized to comment on the Marywood lawsuit.
According to its website, the International Studies Institute (ISI Florence) was established in 2001 as an independent private educational organization serving as an American center for higher education in Florence, Italy.
“Students make full use of Florence as a living laboratory during their semester, summer, or academic year abroad. They walk the same medieval cobblestones as Dante, gaze upon the stunning masterpieces of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and practice their Italian in the shadow of Brunelleschi’s dome. The Institute offers academic programs rooted in the liberal arts tradition — a fitting tribute to the birthplace of the Renaissance — and boasts a distinguished faculty and world-class student services team,” a description on the ISI website says.