Randolph College is taking another step to sell four valuable paintings despite efforts by critics to block the sales. The Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo’s “Trovador” will be on the block during a May auction in New York City, said the Virginia college’s president, John E. Klein, in a written statement distributed this morning.

“Trovador,” by Rufino Tamayo

The shaky finances of the former Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, which began admitting men last fall, earned it a 2006 warning from its accreditor. College officials had planned to auction off the four paintings last November, and they hoped to get more than $32-million for the artworks. They estimated Mr. Tamayo’s work would fetch as much as $3-million.

But a group of alumni, donors, students, and others, calling itself Preserve Educational Choice, sued to block the sale. The lawsuit was one of several high-profile legal battles in higher education over donor intent.

Then the group announced in March that it was dropping that case, and was focusing instead on a broader lawsuit against Randolph that challenges its right to use any of its assets in a coeducational setting. Virginia’s Supreme Court heard arguments in that case earlier this month. —Paul Fain