Some research from our ABAPer found that the problem is in table AUTH_FLDINFO_TMP and field VALEXI. He couldn't find a transaction to change this value, so he wrote a program to change the value as a temporary measure. Now waiting for SAP to login to review and comment on their findings.
Note: this is affecting all fields that require free text entries and appears related to the CRM7 upgrade and not support packs.