Dive Brief:
- A draft report for a state legislative committee says that a University of Texas at Austin regent probably committed impeachable offenses in his efforts to oust the school’s president, Bill Powers.
- Among the likely offenses of the regent, Wallace Hall, were abusing his office and, possibly, breaking state and federal laws, according to the Texas House committee.
- The draft report, 176 pages long, accuses Hall of leaking confidential student information in an attempt to silence critics in the state legislature, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Dive Insight:
Hall is also accused of manipulating the House's investigation and coercing witnesses, trying to get University of Texas administrators to alter their testimony to legislators. Also, Hall’s records requests cost the University of Texas at Austin more than $1 million to comply with, according to the report, and he bullied university administration staffers. He also continued to try to get Powers fired even after Texas legislators asked him not to, according to the report. A lawyer for Hall declined to comment until he had read the draft report.