Attorneys: Hall has no right to student data
Personal information off-base in admissions investigation, they say.
A University of Texas System regent is claiming legal rights he does not have in his quest for confifidential student information concerning admissions at the Austin campus, lawyers for the system’s chancellor argue in court papers filed Monday.
At issue is whether Regent Wallace L. Hall Jr., a businessman from Dallas, is entitled to see all of the records, including those identifying students, from an investigation into favoritism in admissions.
In a lawsuit fifiled last month in state District Court in Travis County against Chancellor Bill McRaven, Hall contends he has that right. Not so, argues Patton G. Lochridge, a lawyer in private practice in Austin who has been hired by the UT System to defend the chancellor. “Only the Board of Regents is entitled to bring suit seek-
ing the relief that Regent Hall seeks. The Board of Regents acts like a corporate board of directors, and the law likewise prohibits individual board members from bringing suit on behalf of a corporation,” Lochridge wrote in court papers that seek dismissal of Hall’s case.
UT opened its doors in 1883, and this is the first time a regent has sued the board or the chancellor. The litigation is the latest turn in wide-ranging disputes in recent years involving the governing board, system executives and the flagship campus. Points of contention have included the balance between teaching and research, the organization of the fundraising office and forgivable loans to law professors from a supporting foundation.
No regent has been more persistent in digging into the university’s affairs than Hall. Thanks in part to his inquiries, the system commissioned an investigation by Kroll Associates Inc., which concluded that Bill Powers, during his time as president of the campus, sometimes put his hand on the scale to ensure that applicants touted by legislators, regents, donors and others were accepted despite opposition from the admissions office.
Hall wants to see emails, interview notes and other records from that investigation. A nonbinding legal opinion last month by state Attorney General Ken Paxton said the system should turn over the records to Hall.
Although the UT board voted in April to grant Hall access to the records, McRaven said he could not turn over confidential student information, and the board sided with him this month.
“Chancellor McRaven has offered several times to provide all of the Kroll documents to Regent Hall, with the exception of personally identifiable student information which, if provided, would be in violation of federal and state privacy laws,” the court papers filed on behalf of McRaven contend. “In short, Regent Hall sues Chancellor McRaven for refusing to violate federal and state privacy laws.”
Daniel Sharphorn, the UT System’s general counsel, said in a sworn statement that Hall has not shown a “legitimate educational interest” for student names to be disclosed to him, thereby falling short of the standard under the federal student privacy act.
The UT System is paying McRaven’s lawyer $525 an hour, the standard state-approved rate, said Karen Adler, a spokeswoman for the system.
Although Paxton’s opinion said the system should pay Hall’s private attorney, system lawyers told the attorney general last month that “we do not have authority to pay for outside counsel under these circumstances.”