Editor’s Note: Nash Horne is a communication studies senior from Austin who is currently serving as a non-voting member of the UT System Board of Regents, a position to which he was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry. On Tuesday, the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations met to hear testimony in the case of Regent Wallace Hall, who is currently under investigation by the state legislature for possible impeachment in the latest turn in the ongoing drama between UT-Austin, the UT System, the state legislature and the Board of Regents. Horne sat down with the Texan on Wednesday to talk about the situation and his time on the board. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and space considerations.

Daily Texan: How would you explain to students what’s going on in the Board of Regents right now, both in regard to the House Transparency Committee’s investigation of Regent Wallace Hall and the claims that there are threats to President Powers' job from the board? 

Nash Horne: I would say that there’s three entities involved here: the board, the individual board members and [the] UT System, and each one is playing a role. Obviously, individually, Regent Wallace Hall and his inquiries into UT-Austin have been called into question, which the committee is investigating. And then there’s [the] System, which has been involved in this as well, as they are the ones that retain all the records. So all three of these people, not to mention UT-Austin, which is a piece of this as well, those four players together are all involved. The board is the board, and each individual regent is a regent. Everyone is appointed and brought forth with their personal rules of governing.

NH: No, I have not. I’ve only been to board meetings. But I think the board is looking for a balance: How can we get the highest-quality education to students at the lowest price, and where can we cut things so we can keep the quality but take out some of the frivolous costs that there are? I think that’s what [the other regents] are aiming for [in terms of philosophy].

NH: You know, I’d rather not speak to that. There’s certain costs that I know that we talk about frequently as a board and I know the UT system looks into. I know that [Chief Financial Officer] Kevin Hegarty recently came out with a long report from an outside source that talked about [that]. My personal opinion is, if something doesn’t have a benefit for students, then why are we doing it? And I think the board comes at it that way as well.

NH: I think that this process [of the transparency committee impeachment proceedings] is a great thing. Because this is how our government was set up, so that we have checks and balances. With that said, I think that this whole process has taken away from the core mission of achieving excellence for students, both on UT-Austin’s side, in terms of document requests to Regent Hall, and the legislative side in terms of document requests to UT system. A lot of people don’t realize that a lot of the staff at [the] System work tirelessly for our smaller campuses, for instance, a great example is lawyers. UT-Austin has a team of lawyers. But places like UT-Permian Basin [doesn't] have a team of lawyers, so they rely on UT System lawyers. Well, those System lawyers have been drawn away to work on things, document requests and things of that nature, and have put students of those universities away for a second as they work on these document requests. So I think on both sides there’s been some time that was lost that should have been put to students.

DT: Going back to the previous question, are UT-Austin leaders justified in feeling attacked by the Board of Regents?

NH: You know, I honestly can say that is a question that President Powers' office and the staff of the president’s office can answer for you. I don’t think I have an answer for you. All I know is what the press has put out, and I wouldn’t want to formulate an opinion on that unless I was there personally.

DT: When this argument first started, it seemed like it was more of a conversation about Jeff Sandefer’s "Seven Breakthrough Solutions" for higher education. It now seems that it’s become more of a fight for personal reasons than a fight for higher education’s values. Where do you see it falling? 

NH: You know, I think the best, the most factual evidence we have of where it is, is the fact that we’re investigating Regent Hall for potential impeachment. In terms of Jeff Sandefer, I can honestly attest that I have never heard that brought up in a board meeting by any board member since my term. His name has never been brought up, the seven-I-can’t-even-tell-you-what-they’re-called have never been brought up. I’ve read it in the paper; that’s the only place I’ve ever seen his name. For my point of view, it is personal in that it’s an investigation into whether articles of impeachment are warranted for Regent Hall, but it’s also not personal in that the committee is going to tell us what state regents' roles ought to be.

NH: I have had an excellent education here, and President Powers was the president of the University of Texas at Austin during my time here, and so by that logic, I do [stand with Powers]. He’s the president of the university … I attend.

DT: Should more state funding be appropriated to the UT System?

NH:  The ideal outcome is, first of all, that it would come to an end in a timely matter. I think the faster we can get past this and back to focusing on students, the better.