Appeals Court sets date for showdown over Texas Tech secrecy
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The stage is set for a showdown over secrecy at Texas Tech University.
The Seventh District Court of Appeals in Amarillo has now set a date of November 7, 2018 for oral arguments in the nine-month long fight over records detailing the investigation and ouster of former Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach.
Dolcefino Consulting won a court victory in Lubbock in June, when State District Judge Bill Sowder refused to dismiss the lawsuit. The Judge suggested Texas Tech was playing “word games” based on Tech’s reasoning behind withholding records on the Leach firing.
“This began with a simple attempt to expose the obvious fact that Texas Tech cheated Mike Leach out of his job and $2.5 million, but now it is much more than that,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting, “This is quickly becoming a landmark case about secrecy at a state university. It is become clear that the Texas Tech’s Board of Regents think they are above public scrutiny. They just can’t be allowed to get away with that.”
Texas Tech is not just hiding records of the school conspiracy to cheat Mike Leach. The university has used the fight over the Leach records to hide records of sexual assaults and sexual harassment on campus and details of the money lost in the Bernie Madoff scandal, among other things.
“The fight over the truth about the firing of Coach Leach has exposed the real problem at Texas Tech. They think they are above the rights of donors, parents, and taxpayers to look at their records,” says Dolcefino, “The recent sudden retirement of the Tech Chancellor proves they haven’t learned a thing about transparency.”
In August, Tech Chancellor Robert Duncan abruptly announced his retirement, and since then Tech lawyer Ronny Wall has fought to keep most e-mails sent or received between Duncan and Regent in the days before a secret.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been asked by Tech to keep the Duncan e-mails a secret at the same time the Attorney General is helping Texas Tech keep other public records a secret.
“This is exactly why we have gone to court,” says Dolcefino, “If the Office of the Attorney General really cared about the public right to know they would be on our side, not working to keep public records a secret. I continue to be intrigued at what Tech is hiding about Leach, Bernie Madoff, and the safety of students on campus. There is a lot at stake in this fight.”
Dolcefino Consulting is represented by Dallas attorneys Michael Hurst and Julie Pettit.
“The Amarillo Court of Appeals will hear argument about important issues regarding the public’s statutory right to act as a safeguard against public corruption,” says attorney Michael Hurst. “We believe that affirming the Lubbock court’s order requiring Tech to disclose these documents serves as a check and balance for the benefit of the students, parents, Coach Leach and public at large.”
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