The Iowa Supreme Court will decide if the ISU Foundation is required to open its records to the eyes of the public.

Mark Gannon, a former employee of Iowa State’s College of Agriculture, and Arlen Nichols, a retired Des Moines businessman, have been fighting to open the ISU Foundation’s records for more than a year. They have appealed a Story County District Court ruling made in September that kept the ISU Foundation records private.

“We knew all along we were going to go to the Supreme Court no matter what,” Gannon said. “The judge probably did us a favor by not going to trial the first time.”

He said he wants the records to be open to the public so anybody can be watchdogs for the university.

“We respect donor privacy, but we want to restore credibility at the Foundation and we can’t do that until these records are open for public scrutiny,” Gannon said.

In his decision last month, Judge William Ostlund said he understood the need for the ISU Foundation’s records to be open to the public, but said the decision to open the records should rest with an appeals court or the Iowa Legislature. Ann Wilson, director of communications for the ISU Foundation, said the importance of the lawsuit ultimately comes down to privacy of records.

“When donors work with the ISU Foundation, we establish a trusting relationship,” she said. “We respect their right to privacy and we follow an international philanthropy doctrine that is called the ‘Donor Bill of Rights.’ “

The controversy first began in 1995 when the ISU Foundation refused to release information, including minutes of meetings, a list of expenses and a list of corporate donors of more than $25,000.

Gannon and Nichols filed a lawsuit in 2002 in response to the ISU Foundation’s refusal to release the information. The ISU Foundation has argued it is the private, non-profit, fundraising arm of Iowa State and will not compromise the identities of its donors or some of its financial holdings.