Wallace L. Hall, Jr.

Wallace L. Hall is a controversial member of The University of Texas System Board of Regents.^[1][2][3] Hall was appointed to a six-year term in February 2011 by Governor Rick Perry.^[4]

Following his appointment as a regent to the 14-institution University of Texas System, Hall began a series of investigations specifically into the administration of The University of Texas at Austin. He was the first regent to publicly raise concerns about external influence on the admissions process at the school.^[5] A state legislative committee subsequently initiated controversial impeachment proceedings against him. The proceedings were eventually dropped but led to a censure by the committee for “misconduct, incompetency in the performance of official duties, or behavior unbefitting a nominee for and holder of a state office.” ^[6]

On December 14, 2015, State District Judge Scott Jenkins of Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals threw out a lawsuit filed by Hall against Chancellor William H. McRaven, who had denied Hall's request for confidential student records relating to his ongoing investigations.^[7]

Early Life and Career

In 1980 Hall graduated from the St. Mark's School of Texas, a preparatory day school for boys in grades one through 12. He has served as President of the school's alumni association and was a long time member on the school's board of trustees.^[8] He earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984.^[9]

He is the founder and President of Wetland Partners, LP, which operates the controversial Trinity River Mitigation Bank.^[9][10] Trinity River Mitigation is a wetlands bank the stated purpose of which is to mitigate U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approved environmental impacts to the aquatic system as per the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists object that Hall's bank allows hydraulic fracking in environmentally sensitive areas.^[11] Hall had a 15-year career in the financial services industry, as a securities analyst, financial futures trader and as financial principal of a NASD broker-dealer. Hall's other business include oil and gas investments.^[9]

Appointed to UT System Board of Regents

In August 2009, Hall was appointed by Governor Perry to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

In 2011 Governor Perry appointed Hall to the University of Texas System Board of Regents. In February 2011, Hall was unanimously confirmed as a Regent by the Texas Senate. The UT System Board of Regents oversees nine universities, including the flagship University of Texas at Austin, and six hospitals or medical institutions. The University of Texas System is one of the largest higher education organizations in the United States, its enrollment is more than 213,000 students and it has an annual operating budget of more than $14.6 billion. The System’s nine regents are in charge of appointing the universities’ presidents, approving budgets, creating new schools, and creating policies and procedures for the students and faculties.^[6] He is now Chairman of the Technology Transfer and Research Committee and is a member of the Audit, Compliance, and Management Review Committee and the Finance and Planning Committee. He is the Board’s Liaison to the Governor’s Office on Technology Transfer and Commercialization Issues.^[12]

University of Texas at Austin investigations

After he was appointed in 2011, Hall began looking into what he believed to be administrative and management issues specifically at The University of Texas at Austin.^[13] Although the Board oversees nine separate universities, Hall's energy was increasingly focused on investigative activities relating to the flagship campus in Austin. The investigations unfolded in stages concerning the following areas:

• Reporting of donations in UT Austin's capital fundraising campaign ^[14]
• A forgivable loan program at UT School of Law ^[15]
• External influence over the admissions processes at UT Austin ^[16]

Hall filed four open records requests with The University of Texas at Austin after his inquiries via his role as a Regent were delayed.

Forgivable Loans

Early in Hall's tenure on the board, the university revealed to regents problems with a large private endowment used to provide off-the-books six-figure forgivable loans to certain faculty members. This had not been reported to the board and was out of sight of the university's formal compensation system. Hall wanted to know how large the forgivable loans were and who had decided who received them.^[17]

In March 2013, the Board of Regents voted to re-open the forgivable loans investigation rejecting and abandoning a previously prepared report by then UT System General Counsel Barry Burgdorf.^[18]

Legislative influence over admissions

Hall used Open Records requests to investigate whether the legislature had improperly used political influence in admissions, specifically at the law school. According to Texas Monthly, "The allegations set off an uproar, and most of the fury was directed at Hall himself. Politicians, fiercely loyal UT alumni, and some of Hall’s fellow regents came to (University of Texas President) Powers’s defense, claiming that Hall was carrying out what many of them described as a “witch hunt.” " ^[6]

Ultimately, the System investigated the allegations. In a report, UT System Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa concluded, “A disproportionately high number of applicants were admitted notwithstanding the fact that most of the legislator letters did not contain any significant substantive information about the applicant,”^[19] and “in more than one-half of them, there is no evidence that the author of the letter even knows the student, much less knows him or her well.”

Impeachment proceedings

A legislative effort was begun in June 2013 to impeach Hall from his position as regent for "misconduct, incompetency in the performance of official duties, or behavior unbefitting” a regent.^[20][21] Some legislators initially explained the impeachment on grounds that Hall did not disclose several lawsuits that he was involved in when he originally completed his Regent background check. Hall updated Governor Rick Perry's office in April 2013 with the full list.^[22] No unelected official in Texas has ever been successfully impeached or removed from office. Governor of Texas Rick Perry's spokesperson said the investigations send a "chilling message" to gubernatorial appointees. The Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations began a yearlong, $500,000+^[23] investigation into Wallace Hall. The most the select committee could do would be to recommend to the full House that articles of impeachment be drafted. If that had happened, then the House would follow procedures regarding calling a special session specifically for the process of impeachment.

The committee hired lawyer Rusty Hardin to serve as legal counsel for the committee. In July 2013, University of Texas Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa and Regent Eugene Powell responded to the ongoing investigation and negative remarks against Hall from some elected officials and University of Texas staff. Cigarroa said Hall was not allowed to access anything that was not reviewed by University lawyers to ensure they met federal privacy standards. During a September 2013 panel conversation with state senator Kirk Watson, Hall defended his investigations and criticized the impeachment proceedings.^[24]

Committee Report

On April 7, 2014, the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle viewed an advance copy of Hardin's 176-page report. The report alleges that Hall broke state and federal law. The report refers to Hall's "burdensome" requests for records as one of the critiques laid out against the regent.

Reactions

The Wall Street Journal opined against Hall's impeachment in a May 11, 2014 op-ed.^[25] Although the committee left open the possibility of revisiting impeachment, an August 11, 2014 vote passed 6–1 to recommend that Hall be censured, bringing a close to the more than year-long process. In response to the censure vote, Governor of Texas Rick Perry issued a statement defending Hall's actions, saying that he believed his appointee acted in the best interest of Texas.^[26]

Investigation conclusion and response

On February 12, 2015 an investigation ordered by The University of Texas System found that Bill Powers, president of The University of Texas at Austin, had repeatedly helped applicants, including those with lesser academic credentials, gain admission if they had been recommended by legislators and influential people.^[27] According to the report, from 2009 to 2014, well connected students flagged by university officials were admitted 74 percent of the time compared to an overall admission rate of 40 percent.^[27] President Powers and his Chief of Staff "each failed to speak with candor and forthrightness expected of people in their positions of trust and leadership," the report stated.^[27]

This report was widely described as vindication of Hall, and a validation of the concerns he raised.^{[28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]} Others have pointed out that such admissions procedures are widespread, even desirable, in American higher education.^{[37] [38] [39]}

Recognition

Hall was named in December 2014 to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s 2014 Influencers List.^[40] The same week as being named to the Chronicle Influencers List, Hall was named one of the nine finalists for "Texan of the Year" by The Dallas Morning News.^[41] Hall was also awarded the Torch of Freedom Award in December 2014 by conservative lobbying group Empower Texans.^[42][43] Texas Monthly suggested that Hall was "Most Dangerous Man in Texas".^[6]

References

External links

• The University of Texas: Regent Wallace Hall

•  "Texas, University of". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. 

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