University Drops Donor Name From School After Abortion Remarks

(Bloomberg) -- The University of Alabama rejected a $26.5 million gift from its largest donor and stripped his name from its law school after the real estate developer said students should boycott the state for banning nearly all abortions in a law adopted last month.

Hugh Culverhouse Jr., the son of a former owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in an op-ed in the Washington Post called the university’s actions a “charade” that will penalize the students who would have benefited from the contribution.

“It has been painful to witness administrators at the university choose zealotry over the well-being of its own students, but it’s another example of the damage this attack on abortion rights will do to Alabama,” Culverhouse said in the Post op-ed.

The decision to return the money wasn’t related to Culverhouse’s abortion comments, but due to his “ongoing attempts to interfere in the operations of the Law School,” Kellee Reinhart, a spokeswoman for the university’s board of trustees, said in a statement. “Any attempt by Mr. Culverhouse to tie this action to any other issue is misleading and untrue,” she said.

Donor Lauded

In September, the university hailed Culverhouse’s donation, noting it was the largest gift in the school’s 187-year history and that $1.5 million funded a program on constitutional law. The money, $21.5 million of which had been given so far, was also going to fund scholarship programs for students, according to a university press release.

Culverhouse, who is chief executive officer of a planned community in Sarasota County, Florida, didn’t attend the University of Alabama, but his parents did. The university’s business school is named after his father.

Before getting into real estate, Culverhouse, who has a law degree from the University of Florida, served as a trial attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission and was a Justice Department prosecutor.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on May 15 signed into law a measure passed by the Republican-controlled legislature to ban most abortions in the state. Lawmakers rejected a proposal for a rape and incest exception but would allow abortions when a woman’s health is at “serious” risk.

Under the law, which is expected to be challenged, doctors who perform abortions in the state could be charged with a felony and face as much as 99 years in prison.

Ivey is a member of the university’s board of trustees.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Schoenberg in Washington at tschoenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steve Geimann at sgeimann@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka

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