Tom Harkin donating papers to Drake University

Sen. Tom Harkin's papers from decades in the U.S. Congress will end up at Drake University, not Iowa State University.

Harkin and Drake leaders made the announcement official Friday in Des Moines.

Drake will create the Tom Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement, a nonpartisan center designed to serve as a hub for public policy research and programming, university officials said in a statement. The institute "will support research, collaboration and education for Drake faculty members, students and scholars from around the country" and provide access to public-policy related programming to the community, the statement said.

"We are grateful to Senator and Mrs. Harkin for the opportunity to host the papers of one of Iowa's most prominent and influential public officials," Drake President David Maxwell said in a statement. "These resources, combined with the programmatic and research activities of the Harkin Institute, will enable us to enrich the teaching and research experiences of our students and faculty in a profound manner."

Drake's announcement ends the saga regarding Harkin's papers. Harkin, an ISU graduate, originally intended to donate his papers and documents to his alma mater, and the state Board of Regents in April 2011 approved the creation of the Harkin Institute of Public Policy at ISU. That vote raised controversy, and some Republican leaders said it was improper to create an institute named for a sitting politician. Harkin has since announced he will not seek re-election when his term expires at the end of 2014.

Harkin in February said he was pulling the donation of his papers from ISU, amid concerns about academic freedom and restrictions on agriculture research. Regents leaders and ISU officials disputed that, saying there would not have been academic freedom restrictions.

Iowa State raised about $3 million from donors for the Harkin Institute. ISU President Steven Leath in a statement Friday said the university will adhere to donor wishes regarding that money. The institute has been inactive at ISU since February, when Harkin pulled the papers, Leath said.

"President Maxwell and I on a number of occasions have discussed the relocation of the Harkin Institute from Iowa State to Drake," Leath said in the statement. "We've had a good working relationship, and I have assured him that we will work with him and members of his staff to ensure a smooth transfer of responsibility."

Drake officials said research at the Harkin Institute will be guided by policy priorities that defined the his public service career, including: the Americans with Disabilities Act; prevention of chronic disease, healthcare access and reform; access to and improvement of education; federal farm policy, including Farm Bill development and soil and water conservation; childhood nutrition, food access and hunger prevention; labor issues; and human rights and international development.

The papers from his four decades in Congress should reside in his home state, Harkin said in the Drake statement.

"I am thrilled by the plans that Drake has, under the outstanding leadership of President Maxwell, for making use of these materials in the public interest," Harkin said. "Drake is one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the Midwest, with a reputation for innovative thinking. I hope these materials can serve as a resource for scholars and students to bring a deeper knowledge of national issues and federal processes, as well as to further, in a nonpartisan way, the causes and policies to which I have dedicated my career in public service."