Legislators Send Report on Regent Hall to Prosecutors

By Andrew Roush in Promote & Protect on April 15, 2014 at 9:00 am | No Comments

Editors Note, April 28: The Travis County District Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation into Hall’s actions, and whether the regent broke state and federal law. Read more.

A recent report on the actions of UT System regent Wallace Hall alleged that Hall may have violated state and federal statutes, along with other potentially impeachable offenses. Now, a copy of the report has been sent to the Travis County District Attorney’s office to consider a criminal investigation.

The report was generated by Rusty Hardin, the special counsel for the select Texas House committee investigating Hall. The report outlined four grounds for impeachment, and included possible violations of the Texas Public Information Act regarding private student records. The formal referral from committee co-chairs Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) and Dan Flynn (R-Van) to Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg and Travis County Attorney David Escamilla does not necessarily induce a criminal investigation, but it does serve as a formal sharing of information.

Last year, the House committee on transparency in stage agency operations was charged with investigating Hall, whose requests for records from UT-Austin raised eyebrows for both their unusual nature and their unprecedented size. Following testimony last year, Hardin issued a 176-page report last week concluding that the committee should impeach Hall, even though criminal activity is not necessary to bring articles of impeachment.

Also today, the Texas Coalition for Excellence in Higher Education called for Hall’s resignation, saying his actions amount to toxic distractions that have created havoc and a culture of intimidation.

You can read the letters below. Can’t see them? Click here.

Lehmberg and Escamilla Letters Regarding Wallace Hall, April 11 2014

Photo courtesy Scott* via Flickr Creative Commons.

Tags: board of regents, Carol Alvarado, Dan Flynn, texas legislature, ut system, wallace hall