Former University of Texas Regent Wallace L. Hall Jr. is living proof of the maxim that no good deed goes unpunished.

Less than a decade ago, Hall set out to uncover corruption in UT's admissions process, found it and investigated. For his trouble, powerful Texans tried to silence Hall, subjected him to an impeachment trial and he was censured by a legislative committee.

Hall has been vindicated amid a fresh UT admissions scandal that erupted after his tenure but seems very much like the one he investigated years ago. The university's student government has called for an apology to Hall, and last summer he won the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)'s Trustee of the Year award.

Wallace L. Hall Jr. | utsystem.edu/

Hall says he was not surprised when the latest UT admission scandal broke in March 2019.

"I'm just surprised that it doesn't happen more often, frankly," Hall said in a Texas Standard story published shortly after the latest scandal broke. "It's been an endemic problem at universities and colleges around the country for decades, but mainly at those who are most competitive."

In February 2011, Hall was appointed by then Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be on UT's nine-member board of regents. Perry replaced him six years later.

In the intervening years, Hall dug into the goings-on at the University of Texas at Austin, his alma mater. It didn't take long for Hall to notice corruption in the university's admissions department. Hall found that top UT administrators had been enacting policies that favored politically well-connected applicants.

No one lined up to give Hall a medal.

Instead, state lawmakers and others accused Hall – and other regents – of being on a "witch hunt" and said they were determined to force UT President Bill Powers' removal.

"Where's the motive?" Hall asked the Texas Tribune in September 2014, at the height of the outcry against him.

In the same interview, Hall maintained it was his duty to look into questionable activities at the university and that the school's admissions had been too politically influenced and that their capital campaign books appeared cooked. Rather than backing down, Hall pushed for further investigation with an eye toward the payment structure of the university's law school.

While the Dallas Observer noted that "Wallace Hall was right about UT all along," Hall didn't have very many supporters as he continued his fight into UT's admissions corruption.

In August 2014, Texas Monthly used a question as a headline to ask whether Wallace was "the most dangerous man in Texas."

"Wallace Hall has been a one-man wrecking crew in his attempt to bring down the president of the University of Texas at Austin," the Texas Monthly editorial continued. "Is he an out-of-control regent who deserves to be impeached? Is he a selfless hero who is interested only in the truth? As an unprecedented battle of ego, money and power engulfs the Capitol, the one thing that is certain is that Hall won't back down."

And he didn’t.

Matters came to a head in the summer of 2014, when Hall was admonished and censured by a state legislative committee. The Travis County District Attorney's Office launched an investigation and, ultimately, took its case before the county's grand jury.

The grand jury declined to indict Hall but, in a brow-raising action, issued a report that condemned Hall's efforts to fight corruption at UT and called for his removal. The following summer, Hall was asked to leave a closed-door university regents meeting so that the other regents could discuss his lawsuit against UT System Chancellor William McRaven.

The basis for Hall's lawsuit was his request for application documents as part of his investigation, a request consistently stonewalled by university officials.

Hall complied with the request to leave the building, though he did tell reporters outside that he didn't think it was appropriate.

He was replaced as regent in 2017.

After Hall's departure as regent, life continued at UT as did, allegedly, admissions corruption. In March 2019, 50 people were arrested by federal investigators in a new admissions scandal involving several universities across the nation, including UT-Austin.

At the time, Hall didn't say, "I told you so." Instead, Hall told the Texas Monitor, "If there is ever a time to come clean, this is it.”

He also urged UT-Austin employees to come forward with what they know.

“People in admissions are disgusted with what is going on but are not in positions to say anything because they are afraid for their jobs, and rightfully so,” he said.

The following April, UT's student government passed legislation in support of an apology for Hall. Soon after, ACTA called upon university officials to follow the lead of its student government.

"Trustees should always govern with student interests in mind and should not be discouraged from assuming an active role in the university," the ACTA said in an announcement issued in April 2019. "Now the University of Texas should do the honorable thing and add its own apology to Mr. Hall. ACTA hopes that more higher education leaders will be inspired by his story."

The university has yet to apologize to Hall.