Although the ISU Foundation faces a pending lawsuit, an official with the organization says it has gone beyond the required action to disclose donor records.

A lawsuit filed Aug. 16 claims Foundation officials refused to provide records – including contributions of more than $25,000 from corporations – minutes of all meetings, a detailed account of income and spending since 1995 and the handling of trusts. Named as a co-defendant is the Iowa Board of Regents, which the plaintiffs contend has a legal responsibility for the Foundation.

The Foundation has opened its record to “the full extent that the law requires” and beyond, said Barbara Boose, director of public relations for the Foundation, regarding the lawsuit.

The suit was filed by former ISU employee Mark Gannon and retired Des Moines businessman Arlen Nichols.

“We’ve disclosed a number of documents about our operations and put things on our Web site and answered questions for individuals as they come in, and now we’re developing a policy that will foster understanding on what we do disclose and what we don’t and why,” Boose said.

Gannon said he is confident the records will be opened.

“We think there’s enough law in place already that should open up the records . we’re going to test it,” he said. “We want to settle the discussion once and for all.”

Concern over open records grew when claims were made that the Foundation refused to provide a list of contributors. The Foundation’s handling of the Marie Powers estate has also added to the controversy. Gannon made the case public in which Powers’ farmland was sold against her wishes.

However, Foundation officials have their reasons for wanting to keep some records undisclosed. The Foundation wishes to encourage future donations by allowing donors to have anonymity.

“This lawsuit was filed in the middle of our good-faith efforts to come up with a public information policy that makes sense and is fair to our varied constituents. We feel strongly that developing this policy in consultation with all of our constituents is the right thing to do. It is a far more productive use of resources than years worth of litigation,” Sarah Buck, vice president of the Foundation, said in a press release.

The Foundation does have records available to the public reports.

Bill Kunerth, retired ISU journalism professor and member of a group of retired and current university employees advocating open records, said filing a lawsuit was the only remaining option.

“The lawsuit is sort of a last resort in that there have been many attempts to convince the Foundation it should open its records,” said the Citizens for Open Government member.

Kunerth believes taking the issue to court will prevent more controversies in the future.

“I think that the scandals in the Powers estate and the misallocation of money by the agricultural college and [the Agricultural Foundation] and similar incidents in many other foundations explain how important it is that these records be open,” he said.

“You have a few people in positions of a jurisdiction who abuse their financial responsibilities and the only way this can be is rectified is through open records to show how they get their money and how they spent their money.”

Neil Harl, distinguished professor of agricultural economics, said open records will serve as a deterrent for wrongdoing.

“If those who are involved with the records know the records could become public, that is a powerful force for them to handle transactions properly,” he said. “It’s where the individuals involved do not believe the public will ever find out about something that mischief arises.”

– Amber Billings and The Associated Press contributed to this story.