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34 J.L. & Educ. 389 (2005)
A Real Home Field Advantage: Access to Public University Foundation Records

handle is hein.journals/jle34 and id is 399 raw text is: A Real Home Field Advantage: Access to Public University Foundation Records SCOTT REINARDY* and CHARLES N. DAVIS** ABSTRACT Private, non-profit university foundations have grown into multi-million-dollar entities with very little public scrutiny. The foundations' private status in many states allows them to con- duct university business without accountability to the tax-pay- ing public that supports the institutions. In recent years, how- ever, several state courts have opened the records of university foundations. This paper analyzes the public records status of university foundations, concluding that courts in most states would find such foundations public agencies for purposes of freedom of information laws. I. INTRODUCTION Jim Walden served as head football coach at Iowa State University from 1987 to 1994. During his eight-year reign as head coach, his teams won 33.5 percent of its games, and Walden earned $111,197 a year. Walden resigned under pressure from disgruntled alumni, donors and ISU administrators in 1994, but he continues to receive annual payments of $529,400 per year from a deferred compensation contract payable over 20 years. The non-profit, private Iowa State University Foundation is responsible for paying Walden.' The public and press learned of Walden's deferred compensation arrangement after the fact, and only because a 1999-2000 independent *Scott Reinardy is a journalism doctoral student at the University of Missouri and a news editor at the Columbia Missourian newspaper. He has a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. **Charles N. Davis serves as Executive Director of the Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and is an associate professor and chair of the News-Editorial Department. 1. Liz Allen, ISU Foundation audit includes Walden 'spay, Ames Tribune At (Mar. 6, 2001).

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