To the editor:

The controversy over ISU Memorial Union food court vendor contracts has been going on for some time. But ISU Vice President Murray Blackwelder added a twist April 13, 1999, when he wrote in a Des Moines Register editorial, “the contracts are available for public inspection.”

I took him up on his invitation by requesting a copy of the McDonalds contract from both Iowa State University and the Iowa State Memorial Union on Dec. 30 and Jan. 4, respectively.

Memorial Union Director Mary Jo Mertens promptly refused, writing, “I will not be providing you with a copy of the contract,” even though Vice President Warren Madden later wrote, “I personally see no reason why these contracts should not be public.”

After repeated requests, Ryan Sievers, MU Board President, agreed to photocopy and mail me a copy of the contract but not without some harsh words for Mr. Blackwelder and myself:

“Mr. Blackwelder was very wrong in his editorial in the Des Moines Register regarding the contracts of the MU being ‘available for public inspection,'” wrote Sievers.

“I feel you are trying to make an issue out of a non-issue,” he continued adding “… [a]pproach people with whom you wish to do business with less of an adversarial demeanor.” Whoa!

Sievers is killing the messenger; his wrist-slapping tone reveals more than an unfounded ad hominem attack. It unmasks the disingenuous attempt by university administrators to convey openness to Iowans about the MU.

But at the same time his response delivers a no-holds-barred message to citizens who actually request MU documents: We don’t have to show you if we don’t want to.

Ironically, the MU has no problem accepting generous subsidies from students and their parents. In so many ways, we Iowans have built equity into the Iowa State Memorial Union. It belongs to us. And it belongs to you, the students.

Next year, Mertens and Sievers will want even more cash even though they should and must look inward to for-profit vendors for more rent to cover infrastructure costs. Sievers recognizes the irony here, and it shows in his response.

Madden, Sievers, Mertens, and Blackwelder know that a Story County judge held that the Iowa State Daily, an ISU-affiliated, not-for-profit entity, is a government body subject to public scrutiny under Iowa open records laws.

A reasonable analogy could easily be drawn again in court to show that the MU is indeed a government body subject to the open records laws.

The Legislature and the Iowa Supreme Court have repeatedly asserted that the purpose of the open records law in Iowa is to ensure good government through watchdog efforts of private citizens, even if it is embarrassing to public officials. The MU outmaneuvers that purpose by claiming a right of privacy as a so-called not-for-profit corporation.

This time, Sievers sheepishly agreed to provide the contract — in 21 days and he’s charging me for it. But it was not without consternation. He added the explicit caveat that the MU need not follow open records laws and may make exceptions whenever it feels it necessary. It makes me wonder.

While the Iowa State Memorial Union has again gone begging for public dollars, its roadblocks to public scrutiny beg the question what are they trying to hide?

David Cmelik

Alumnus

Iowa City