Are U. of Texas Regents Again Gunning for Bill Powers?

Last year -- with strong support from students, professors and alumni -- William Powers Jr.  held on to his job as president of the University of Texas at Austin, fending off a bid to oust him by some members of the University of Texas Board of Regents who are close to Governor Rick Perry. Texas publications are reporting signs that the regents' anti-Powers campaign may be resuming. The Austin American-Statesman reported on unusually tough questioning of Powers by a regents committee last week. Further, the article noted, the terms of three regents who have been supportive of Powers recently ended, and Perry is expected to name new regents soon. The Texas Monthly reported that "regents unfriendly to Powers have reopened a review of the University of Texas Law School Foundation and its practice of granting large, forgivable loans to administrators and faculty at the law school. My source indicated that the regents appear to be trying to find evidence that could be used to discredit Powers, who is a former dean of the law school but was not connected with the problems of the foundation."