Austin American-Statesman, Nov. 26, 2008 The University of Texas System said that it did not violate the state Open Meetings Act when it discussed plans to lay off 3,800 UTMB employees behind closed doors. The Texas Daily Newspaper Association charged last week that the regents did not follow the law by meeting privately on the matter Nov. 12 at UT-El Paso. The Texas Faculty Association joined the criticism, suggesting that it might go to court. The associations contend that state law allows a governing board to meet privately on personnel matters involving individuals, not a class of employees. Lawyers for the UT system said that a "governing body may also consult with and receive advice from its attorneys under the legal issues exception. Captions under both exceptions ... were publicly posted for the Nov. 12 meeting," thus allowing discussion of such matters as the legal impact of authorizing layoffs, the UT System lawyers said. The Galveston County Daily News' version of the article is at http://galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=c71d55b82aa1d2f3