The University of Texas Board of Regents announced earlier in November its plans to layoff 3,800 employees at the Galveston UT Medical Branch ? largely due to lingering financial troubles after Hurricane Ike. The Board is now facing criticism for holding a meeting about the layoff decisions in private, which may have been a violation of the Texas Open Meeting Act. Both the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and the Texas Faculty Association are investigating the situation and considering the legality of the meeting. The Board claims that the secret meeting was permitted under exceptions to the open meeting law.
See "UT Regents defend secret meeting on UTMB layoffs", Houston Chronicle, November 25, 2008