As they prepare to respond to an open records request on raced-based admission policies at Iowa State, officials said the university is already taking steps to make sure its policies fall in line with the law.

The National Association of Scholars, a Princeton, N.J.-based national group opposing affirmative action, requested last week all documentation relevant to weight given to race or ethnicity in admissions decisions from universities across the nation, including Iowa State.

Bradford Wilson, executive director of the National Association of Scholars, said the request was prompted by a desire to see if universities were complying with last spring’s University of Michigan affirmative-action court case decision, in which the Supreme Court outlined how universities could and could not use race in admissions within the limits of the Constitution.

“We decided after the Supreme Court issued its decision in the Michigan cases last spring … that we would collect this data and see whether universities were complying,” Wilson said.

“Even if they are in compliance, we think that the taxpaying public has a right to know whether the universities are favoring some individuals and disfavoring others, because of their ancestry or the color of their skin.”

If a university is deemed to be operating outside the law, his group would consider legal actions, Wilson said.

He said schools in 20 states were initially asked to respond to the request, although his group plans eventually to request information from universities in all states.

Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa were among the first universities to receive requests.

University Counsel and the Iowa Board of Regents office are coordinating to respond to the National Association of Scholars’ request.

Paul Tanaka, university counsel for Iowa State, said a task force has been reviewing the university’s programs since last fall to make sure they fall in line with the ruling in the University of Michigan case.

Tanaka said undergraduate admissions have no race-based admission policies, although he was less certain of policies within the Graduate College.

John Mayfield, associate dean of the Graduate College, said he did not believe any race-based admission policies were used at the graduate level.

“I am aware of no programs that have … the kind of things that have run afoul of the courts,” he said.

“I’ve never heard of any such thing.”

Tanaka said Iowa State has received open records requests in the past, but the National Association of Scholars’ request was broader than usual.

“Usually we get requests for very specific things,” Tanaka said. “[This is] so broad, it’s very burdensome and difficult to respond to.”

Tanaka said the report will be presented to the Board of Regents office within the next few weeks.