IOWA — A group of citizens are threatening to sue the Iowa Board of Regents if records of the nonprofit foundations for Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa are not opened to the public.
\n\n The group’s spokesman, Arlen Nicholls, submitted a letter to the board outlining Iowa’s Open Records Law and asking the board to make the records public. The group expects its request to be denied, and a lawsuit to follow.
\n\n The board claims foundations operate as nonprofit groups, and if records are made public, donations will diminish.
\n\n The action was spurred by a 1995 incident in which the board allegedly mismanaged a $1.2-million estate left to state universities.