× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Stay logged in to skip the surveys Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

A bill under consideration by the Texas Senate Committee on Higher Education would force Baylor University and one other private university to hold board meetings open to the public.

The bill, authored by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would require private colleges and universities receiving $5 million or more in state tuition equalization grants to hold themselves to the same open meeting standards as public institutions’ governing boards.

Baylor received $10.4 million in the state grants for the 2016 fiscal year, according to data provided by the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, a nonprofit association for Texas private higher education institutions.

The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio is the only other private school in Texas that got more than $5 million in tuition equalization grants, at $7.3 million.

“It occurred to me that all institutions receiving public money have some public responsibility for transparency,” Seliger said. “At the same time, I think the fact that private institutions and the prerogatives they have as private institutions, not state institutions, deserve some protections, and that’s why the bill is very, very narrow in terms of the institutions it may include.”