After months of debate over the ISU Foundation’s actions in the Marie Powers estate, the records are now open.

ISU Foundation Board of Directors Chairman Arend Sandbulte said the decision to open the Powers’ records was discussed earlier this summer.

“We felt there was enough questionable information or question about what happened to open the case,” he said.

Upon opening the records on Thursday, Ben Allen, interim vice president for external affairs, apologized for the way Murray Blackwelder handled the situation.

“The records contain comments critical of a former executive officer of the Iowa State University Foundation in the handling of the estate,” Allen said. “While it is difficult in retrospect to judge actions or comments, we apologize to any person that may have been offended or felt that the estate was done in an inappropriate manner.”

Blackwelder is now vice president of advancement at Purdue University. He could not be reached for comment.

One letter among the hundreds of documents released was written by David Crumley, the Fort Dodge attorney who represented Powers’ estate.

In a document dated April 19, 2001, Crumley wrote, “Blackwelder initially came on much too strong, and in deed, seemed unappreciative of the gift in the first instance (other than to offer us some football tickets).”

Allen said the documents were released because of newspaper articles and discussions about the foundation’s involvement.

Powers passed away in 1995, leaving her farm to the ISU Agricultural Foundation even though her lawyer said she never contacted anyone at Iowa State about her wishes.

The will read “I give all of my farmland and real estate outright to Iowa State University Agricultural Foundation, an Iowa not-for-profit corporation, to be operated as the Kiley Powers Farm. I give the residue of my property, consisting of my personal property including farm machinery, crops and cash funds as follows: 100 percent to Iowa State University Agricultural Foundation for the purpose of improving and maintaining the farmland and buildings thereon.”

Through numerous letters, Crumley and Blackwelder continued to discuss the Powers’ donation.

On July 30, 1996, Crumley wrote Blackwelder, “We are all a little uncomfortable with the portion of your proposal which contemplates an immediate sale of the farm.”

Eventually the Foundation and Crumley came to an agreement in which the Foundation maintained the farm for three years before selling it.

In 1996 the ISU Agricultural Foundation petitioned the district court of Webster County to apply the legal doctrine of cy pres, allowing the Foundation to sell the farm. The petition failed to list the buildings that existed on the Powers’ farm. After the cy pres petition was approved, the ISU Agricultural Foundation donated the cash assets of the sale to the ISU Foundation.

More recently Allen said some administrators in the College of Agriculture misinterpreted the court documents associated with the Powers’ case.

Over the past year, College of Agriculture administrators directed $435,128 to be used for the Kildee Hall addition. Initially agricultural administrators directed an additional $203,943 to two other projects, but after review and consultation, they decided their initial interpretation of the court ruling was too broad, Allen explained.

So now the $203,943 has been withdrawn from these projects and redirected to the Kildee Hall addition.

Allen said in this case there was some confusion between the ISU Agricultural Foundation and the ISU Foundation.

“Despite some confusion about the roles of the two independent organizations, the Powers’ estate was designated for the Iowa State Agricultural Foundation and its assets were correctly deposited with the Iowa State University Agricultural Foundation in 1996,” Allen said. “Having said that, however, the university must work to clarify further the differing roles of these two organizations.”

This confusion is made clear when reading the released documents.

In one letter sent Feb. 6, 1996, Blackwelder urges Powers’ attorney to change the wording in the estate from ISU Agricultural Foundation to ISU Foundation.

In a follow-up letter, Crumley asks Blackwelder to “furnish information as to what happened to the Iowa State University Agricultural Foundation and the reasons why the Iowa State University Foundation should take instead.”

In light of the Powers’ case, Sandbulte is appointing a task force made up of Foundation governors, university representatives and donors. The task force will examine all policies and procedures related to determining and honoring donor intent for any gifts the foundation accepts.

“I don’t expect to find any problems,” he said. “We do what the donors want us to do.”