Student Press Law Center
03/15/06
SUNSHINE WEEK: University foundations' secrecy at odds with public's right to
know
Tips for obtaining information from reluctant public entities
• If you’re a journalist, write a story about how you were denied access to a
record.
• If you’re not a journalist, contact local media and ask them to cover the
situation.
• Seek legal advice.
• If your state government has a freedom of information ombudsman, file a
complaint with the ombudsman’s office, or with another state official who deals
with compliance with open records laws.
• Call the county attorney. In some states, the county attorney can pursue open
records violations.
• Call the attorneys of the public entity that has denied you records and urge
them to reason with their clients and have them provide the records.
• File a lawsuit alleging a violation of open records.
Source: Kathleen Richardson, director of Iowa Freedom of Information Council
Many colleges and universities have foundations that handle donations,
fundraising or research. And when money, meetings, big purchases and
construction projects are occurring on or near college campuses, student
journalists are eager to track foundations’ goings-on.
But for the last few years, the journalist’s quest for open records and the
university’s quest for donations have proved at odds. University foundations are
increasingly reluctant to hand over documents and records related to their
financial dealings, and in some cases, have sought proactive measures to
protect their donors from open records requests.
The fund-raising foundation for the University of Iowa in Iowa City proposed
legislation last month that would amend Iowa’s public records law to make some
donor information confidential.
Bills introduced in early February in both the Iowa state Senate and House of
Representatives would categorize records related to the personal and financial
information of donors as confidential, including records “disclosing the identity of
a donor or a prospective donor.”
Susan Shullaw, spokeswoman for the University of Iowa Foundation in Iowa City,
confirmed that legal counsel and lobbyists for the foundation drew up the
proposed legislation earlier this year.
According to Shullaw, the legislation is in large part a response to the Iowa
Supreme Court decision made a year ago, which ruled that a similar foundation
at Iowa State University was a public agency subject to the open records law.
“It seemed like, why not make every effort to see if we could get some
protections for our donors,” Shullaw said.
But proponents of open records are concerned the new legislation will chip away
at the state Supreme Court ruling.
Mark Gannon, one of the Iowa residents whose lawsuit against the Iowa State
University Foundation led to the state Supreme Court ruling, said he
understood the foundation’s efforts to keep private financial and personal
information that “shouldn’t be kept public anyways.”
But whether the foundation’s legislative push was made out of genuine concern
for donors or as a “greater smokescreen” to impede open records requests is yet
to be seen, Gannon said.
People ought to be able to make donations anonymously, he said, “but once
they give it, we need to be able to see what it was given for and be able to track
it.”
A similar desire to track foundation records led North Dakota residents to
successfully open the records of a research foundation associated with North
Dakota State University in Fargo.
This week's stories
• SUNSHINE WEEK: A look at how high school journalists can use open
records News Flash, 3/14/2006
• SUNSHINE WEEK: High school journalists dig through public records to
get the real dirt News Flash, 3/13/2006
Last year's stories
• Freedom of information laws an 'untapped tool' for student journalists
News Flash, 3/18/2005
• OSU student leads fight to open football player's lawsuit News Flash,
3/17/2005
• Open-records request letter generator a 'treasure trove,' student
journalist says News Flash, 3/16/2005
• Student reporter witnesses mixed results in Ky. open-records audit News
Flash, 3/15/2005
• SPLC: Journalists' requests for campus crime records often denied by
schools News Flash, 3/14/2005
A January opinion handed down by the state attorney general said the research
foundation violated the state’s open records laws when it initially denied an open
records request for information about the university’s handling of a wheat seed
variety. The foundation later delayed producing the requested records.
The opinion determined that the North Dakota State University Research
Foundation was a public entity that must adhere to open records laws. The
foundation is as an “agent” of the university, the opinion said, “performing a
governmental function on behalf of the university,” and is therefore subject to
open records laws.
Dale Zetocha, executive director of the research foundation, said that in the wake
of the opinion, he had concerns about the foundation’s ability to do business with
some companies and agencies in the future. These companies may be wary of
associating themselves with a public entity that must release its records upon
request, Zetocha explained.
“It can be more difficult,” he said. “We’ll have to do more diligence and be real
careful to make sure we don’t compromise these agencies about what is
confidential.”
So while several courts have identified university foundations as public entities
subject to open records laws, student journalists have hesitations about the
foundations’ willingness to comply.
The fund-raising foundation at Iowa State University was ordered last year to
respond to open records request after the state Supreme Court ruled the
foundation was performing a government function through a contract with Iowa
State University and therefore had to comply with the state's open-records law.
But Tom Barton, editor in chief of the Iowa State Daily, the student
newspaper at Iowa State University in Ames, said his newsroom is still
“hesitant and skeptical” about the intentions of the foundation and its willingness
to provide requested records.
“There is the feeling that the foundation is trying to do the best it can, considering
the ruling, to keep as much information as secret as possible,” Barton said.
When public entities or institutions “drag their feet” in responding to information
requests, there is no easy recourse, said Kathleen Richardson, director of the
Iowa Freedom of Information Council.
“Legally, they should have to be compliant immediately,” she said. “Of course,
their willingness to comply won’t be tested until somebody actually asks for
records.”
It may be the opportunity and responsibility of student journalists to use open
records laws to track the efforts of their own university foundations.
—by Allison Retka, SPLC staff writer