University of Alabama rejects $26.5M from donor critical of abortion ban

But in a news release last week, he urged students to participate in a boycott of the school. “I don’t want anybody to go to that law school, especially women, until the state gets its act together,” Culverhouse said. The Alabama ban would make abortion at any stage of pregnancy a crime punishable by 10 years to life in prison for the provider, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Hours later, Alabama announced it was considering giving back his money and is expected to remove his name from the law school that was named in his honor. The university claims the dispute has nothing to do with Culverhouse’s calls for a boycott. Instead, officials say it was in an “ongoing dispute” with Culverhouse over the way his gift was to be handled.

The university said that on May 28 — the day before Culverhouse’s boycott call — its chancellor recommended the trustees return the donation. The university said donors “may not dictate University administration” and that Culverhouse had made “numerous demands” regarding the operation of the school.

Culverhouse acknowledged there were some disagreements over the handling of his gift. He said he told university President Stuart Bell that the law school should admit more students and that his donation was to fund scholarships to achieve that. But he said he thought the matter had been resolved.

Culverhouse did not attend Alabama, but his parents did, and the business school bears the name of Hugh Culverhouse Sr., a wealthy tax lawyer and developer who owned the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.