Culverhouse Claims UA 'Fabricated Narrative' With Altered Emails

TUSCALOOSA, AL - The ongoing saga between the University of Alabama and donor Hugh Culverhouse continued Thursday, when Culverhouse issued a statement saying emails released by the school Sunday that countered his initial claims against the school were altered. Culverhouse took to national media last week saying UA returned $21 million he donated to the law school because of his stance on Alabama's abortion bill.

The emails released by UA Sunday showed a much different story than Culverhouse told to the public last week. And timestamps on the emails revealed that the school had already decided to return Culverhouse's donation before he went public with his call to boycott the school over Alabama's abortion ban. Culverhouse said today those emails do not tell the full story, and that some of them could have been altered.

Culverhouse said one email shows that he addressed an issue with UA President Stuart Bell regarding law school admissions and the "School of Law’s manipulation of admission standards to control enrollment."

A second email Culverhouse released shows the president and dean responding to Culverhouse, which Culverhouse says "debunks UA’s defense for returning my donation beyond the $10 M I had paid well in advance, ahead of schedule." Culverhouse added, " UA claims it has returned the money to stop me from interfering with the school operation. Given the fact President Bell and Dean Brandon had agreed to increase the class size, that issue had already been resolved. It is sad that UA is now using that issue as a pretext and has played the media to distract coverage from the real issue here."

In the third email exchange, Culverhouse says the school is telling him for the first time that they are returning his donation. The date and time on the email released by Culverhouse are after Culverhouse made his statement to boycott UA.

"The email from Sid J. Trant, General Counsel and Secretary of The Board of Trustees at UA, was sent May 29, 2019 at 6:21:49 PM EDT to my attorney Larry Kellogg," Culverhouse said in a statement. "This was nearly 6 hours after I issued a press release calling for students and corporations to boycott enrollment at UA and doing business in Alabama, respectively, until the anti-abortion law was undone. In that email, Trant said Chancellor St. John had recommended to the Board of Trustees a day earlier (May 28) to return my donation. Yet, the emails that UA released to the media on Sunday made it look like that recommendation had been made on May 24. The time discrepancy shows UA emails have been altered to mislead reporters. It is clear UA decided to get rid of me as retaliation for my press release calling for a boycott."

The emails released Sunday by the university showed that the recommendation to return Culverhouse's money was made by Chancellor Finis St. John before any public statement by Culverhouse was ever made regarding his opinions of the abortion bill or the university itself.

"The donor's continuing effort to rewrite history by injecting one of society's most emotional divisive issues into this decision is especially distasteful," the UA statement said.