Jason Clayworth

jclayworth@dmreg.com

Iowa's state universities have paid at least $1.16 million in secret settlements to employees and students since 2011, records obtained Wednesday by The Des Moines Register show.

The three schools during that period spent an additional $1.17 million in settlements that didn't include confidentiality clauses but are not believed to have been made public at an open meeting of any government body.

And that $2.3 million cost does not include payments for the 164 days of reimbursements to public university employees whose suspensions were either partially or fully reversed.

At least 21 of the settlements contained confidentiality clauses.

Representatives of the Iowa Board of Regents, which governs the three state universities, said Wednesday that changes to increase transparency are already in place.

"One thing that changes a bit now is the governor's executive order" banning secret settlements, said regents spokeswoman Sheila Doyle. "As a response to that, we will be posting these agreements on our website and for all of our institutions."

Many of the documents released Wednesday contained extensive redactions that concealed names of those involved and other information. A regents spokesman said redactions were based on state and federal law.

Among the most notable university settlements released Wednesday:

>> The University of Iowa paid $300,000 in September to an unidentified person or group for an unidentified reason. In the highly redacted settlement, even the name of a lawsuit filed in relation to the case was redacted.

>> The University of Iowa paid $5,000 to settle a claim of sex and disability discrimination. It's unclear because of redactions whether the settlement involved a student or an employee.

>> The University of Northern Iowa paid a $60,000 confidential settlement to Gordon Klein, an associate professor. The document was signed in June 2012 by university President Ben Allen.

The records — 102 settlements in total — were released in response to a March 19 request from The Des Moines Register. The Register sought copies of all settlements of $1 or more since January 2011 that had not gone before the State Appeal Board, a board charged with overseeing much of the litigation against the state.

Iowa Board of Regents attorney Aimee Claeys cited both federal and state laws for keeping redacted information secret, saying the redactions include personnel information and information about current, prospective or former students.

Some university officials objected Wednesday to the Register's description of the agreements as "secret" or "hidden," noting the records were ultimately released.

"The University of Iowa's agreements are not 'secret,' and the university has never made an effort to 'hide' this information from the public," said Joseph Brennan, vice president of strategic communication for the U of I.

"While it's true that some of the agreements have provisions that specify that the parties will not discuss them," he said, there is "clear language that says the university will share these records when required by law."

The Register and other news organizations have used those terms to describe settlements that contain confidentiality clauses or that were not reviewed in a public meeting by a governing body. Those steps prevented taxpayers from learning about the spending or the circumstances that led to the settlements.

Current policy does not require state university settlements to be approved or even reviewed by the regents, said regent Larry McKibben, a Republican and former senator from Marshalltown. While the board wants to refrain from micromanaging, he said, the regents may need to change the policy.

"I would guess based on what the governor has said about transparency, that we will be at least a lot more informed as regents as to what's going on," McKibben said. "All citizens in Iowa and media outlets are going to have more transparency. And, as regents, we're going to have to receive more of this basic information. And maybe we have to look at our policies in that regard."

The Register made the records request after it came to light that the state's executive branch — the agencies under oversight of Gov. Terry Branstad's administration — had paid 25 secret settlements to current and former employees, costing taxpayers more than $500,000, since January 2011.

Branstad later denounced the use of confidentiality clauses in settlements and issued the executive order forbidding their use.

But controversy over the settlements has dogged his administration for more than a month.

In April, Branstad fired Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Mike Carroll after the Register published documents showing his staff paid thousands of dollars in hush money to at least one former state employee in exchange for her agreement not to discuss her settlement.

Carroll just days before had testified before lawmakers that his office had never offered or paid extra for silence. A day before firing Carroll, Branstad had publicly stated his support for Carroll and his belief in Carroll's statements.

Wednesday's records release added to the concerns of some elected officials who have said they are troubled by the secret settlements.

"It's more evidence that we've got a systemic issue," said Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines and Senate chairwoman of the Government Oversight Committee.

This year's legislative session is wrapping up, but Petersen said her committee will continue to gather testimony in coming months. The list of people to be called before the committee could now include regents or university officials, she said. One of her concerns is that regents board members were apparently unaware of many of the settlements.

"If they (the state's universities) are not being forthright with the regents, then that's a problem," Petersen said.