The University of Alabama System chancellor is recommending trustees return the largest financial gift in UA’s history and strip the Hugh Culverhouse Jr. name from its law school over what he says were attempts at micromanagement by the donor.

“As part of an ongoing dispute, last week Hugh Culverhouse, Jr. asked for the return of $10 million, repeating numerous demands about the operations of the University of Alabama School of Law,” the system said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “Consequently, yesterday Chancellor (Finis) St. John recommended to the board of trustees that it return all of Mr. Culverhouse’s $21.5 million donation to the Law School … which will be acted on at the Board’s meeting next week.”

St. John is recommending returning the funds, part of a $26.5 million pledge, and restoring the law school’s name to the University of Alabama School of Law.

The UA System board of trustees is scheduled to meet in Tuscaloosa on the UA campus on June 6-7.

The University Alabama System’s announcement Wednesday afternoon came hours after Culverhouse called for a boycott of state institutions including UA over the state's new abortion law.

In statements reported Wednesday by Florida Politics, Culverhouse encouraged the boycott because of the Alabama law that outlaws almost all abortions.

“I cannot stand by silently and allow my name to be associated with a state educational system that teaches students law that clearly conflicts with the United States Constitution and federal law, and which promotes blatant discrimination,” Culverhouse said in the report by Florida Politics.

The law, set to take effect in November and crafted as a vehicle for a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, would make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony for the abortion provider. The law’s only exception is when a woman’s health is at serious risk. The law is set to take effect in November and has already drawn legal challenges.

In the Florida Politics report, Culverhouse said he planned to shift his philanthropy to support a successful legal challenge of the new Alabama abortion law.

Attempts to reach Culverhouse by phone Wednesday afternoon about the UA System statement were unsuccessful.

The system said the issues and its actions were unrelated to the state’s controversial abortion law.

“None of the issues between the Law School and Mr. Culverhouse had anything to do with the passage of legislation in which the university had no role. Donors may not dictate university administration,” the system said in the statement.

In an email from the chancellor’s office to the trustees that was attached to the statement, the system office said Culverhouse had complained about the law school's administration of his gifts.

St. John made the recommendation after consulting with UA President Stuart Bell and Law School Dean Mark Brandon, according to the email. St. John said the UA leadership would be unable to meet the donor's expectations and did not share the same vision for the future.

The fallout between the university and its top donor of the past decade stands in contrast to the scene last fall as UA celebrated a $25 million gift by Culverhouse — the largest gift in UA’s history — by renaming its law school after the Florida business man and attorney.

Culverhouse Jr. and his wife, Eliza, donated nearly $40 million to UA during the last decade.

The Culverhouses also pledged $1.5-million gift to the law school in 2017 to establish the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. Endowed Chair in Constitutional Law.

Culverhouse is the chief executive officer and owner of Palmer Ranch Holdings in Sarasota County, Florida. He is also the principal in Culverhouse Limited Partnerships and invests in real estate, securities and hedge funds.

Culverhouse, an alumnus of the University of Florida, also served as a trial attorney for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement and an assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

The college of business is named after his father, UA alumnus Hugh F. Culverhouse Sr.