Mugar camp sets deadline for BU action

Boston businessman David Mugar’s lawyers will open suit against Boston University if the school does not return a $3 million donation by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Mugar spokesman George Regan said Monday.

Mugar’s lawyer, Joel Kozol, made the threat in a Dec. 12 letter obtained by The Daily Free Press to Robert Popeo, the lawyer representing BU in the matter. Regan said Mugar will sue the university for fraud under Massachusetts general law Chapter 93a if the school does not meet his demands. Regan said Mugar could receive up to three times the original donation through the suit.

The threats come after Mugar made the $3 million pledge in 1988 for improvements to BU’s main library, named after his grandparents, though the two sides’ lawyers dispute when the school actually received the money. Former BU President Jon Westling acknowledged in 2000 that the money would not be used to improve the library and Mugar demanded the money be returned or passed on to other area charities, according to letters between Kozol and Popeo.

Mugar declined offers from Chancellor John Silber to rename a dorm, theater or, most recently, public radio station WBUR’s studios in Mugar’s name, Regan said. Instead, Mugar asked the university to return the money or distribute it to WGBH-TV (Ch. 2) or Cape Cod Hospital, Regan said.

“The point was that David was solicited by the [BU] president for a new library,” Regan said. “They said they lost the money. Fine, so David says give me the money back.”

Boston University Spokesman Kevin Carleton declined comment Monday night.

Lawyers from both sides have exchanged threatening words over the past week about the issue and members of the BU Board of Trustees discussed options for dealing with the matter during a meeting in executive session Dec. 10, according to The Boston Globe.