News

Court rules Foundation records not confidential

Samuel Berbano
February 7, 2005

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that the ISU Foundation’s records are subject to Iowa’s open-records laws.

How the ruling will affect the Foundation’s practices — and the amount of money it takes in — was not immediately clear.

The Supreme Court on Friday remanded the case to district court, where contention and litigation appear to be brewing.

According to a statement released by the ISU Foundation on Friday, it “will continue to view all donor records as confidential information.”

Jason Menke, assistant director of communications for the ISU Foundation, said fund-raising work will continue, but he did not comment about the case.

“We remain upbeat in the faith that the university’s donors have shown in Iowa State, and we’ll continue to do our best,” he said.

Eddie Noethe, a lawyer in Council Bluffs, said he donates to the ISU Foundation in honor of a friend injured in an accident.

“I’m glad to hear the ruling — the more disclosure, the better,” Noethe said.

Noethe said he does not believe donation levels will change.

“People who donate are going to give whether their names are out there or not,” he said.

“It looks to me like they’re going to try to keep their names anonymous, anyway.”

According to the ISU Foundation Web site, private fund-raising this year has exceeded last year’s figures by nearly 71 percent. There are 35,158 donors who have committed a total of $43.9 million to the Foundation during the first half of this fiscal year. Arlen Nichols, one of the two people who sued the Board of Regents and the ISU Foundation to open the records, said he first became interested in reviewing the Foundation’s records when he read about the sale of a farm donated by the estate of Marie Powers in 1996. Nichols said the farm had been sold against Powers’ wishes.

Nichols said he was “elated” after Friday’s ruling.

“They should be happy at Iowa State, Iowa and UNI, too, now that people know that their money is going exactly where the donor wants,” he said.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said in a statement that he hoped the court’s ruling would not decrease donations to the university.

“It’s important to me that the fund-raising efforts of the Foundation are not in any way harmed by the need to satisfy the provisions of the open records,” he said.

Bill Kunerth, professor emeritus of journalism and communication, was involved in the early work and research with the plaintiffs.

“I think it was a refreshing affirmation of the importance of openness in government, especially public universities,” Kunerth said. “Throughout this whole fight, the Foundation’s only real reason for keeping records secret is that it would invade the privacy of the donors.”

Lawyers were not interested in disclosing information about anonymous donors, Kunerth said.

At issue in the Foundation case was whether the Foundation is affiliated with the Board of Regents, making it a “quasi-governmental body.” A district court ruled that the Foundation was not engaged in government functions, though it is the primary fund-raising body for Iowa State, a public entity.

Friday’s ruling reversed that.

1996 — The ISU Foundation is accused of mismanagement after it sells the estate of Marie Powers. Powers donated the land to the

Agricultural Foundation after her death in 1995.

Aug. 16, 2002 — Mark Gannon, former land manager for the ISU

College of Agriculture, and Arlen Nichols, a retired Des Moines

businessman, file suit in response to claims the Foundation refused to provide them with requested records, such as minutes of meetings and a list of corporate contributions of more than $25,000.