The University of California Regents have asked a state court to reconsider a ruling made two weeks ago forcing the university to release the financial performance results of its investments in venture capital.

The university's motion, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, said two developments subsequent to the July 24 ruling justified a reconsideration. First, Menlo Park venture firm Sequoia Capital asked the University of Michigan to withdraw as an investor, saying it feared the Michigan university's disclosure of performance and other data Sequoia considers confidential.

In February, the Michigan university disclosed Sequoia's basic financial performance data, called ``internal rates of return,'' to comply with that state's freedom of information laws. Sequoia later accepted Michigan back as an investor, but it changed its mind again late last month.

Many venture firms have been performing poorly since the economic downturn began in 2000, and they have resisted the public disclosure of their performance results by UC, Michigan and other public institutions.

The UC Regents said Sequoia's decision underscores UC's argument that disclosure could hurt its access to some of the premier venture capital firms.

In the second development, the UC Regents said another partnership, Three Arch Partners, has notified UC that it would not be invited to invest in the partnership. The notification came after the court's ruling that UC would have to disclose performance results.

The court ruling last month came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Coalition of University Employees, the Mercury News and Charles Schwartz, a professor emeritus at UC-Berkeley. The lawsuit argued that retirees and California taxpayers have a right to know how their university pension-fund investments are doing.

``Apparently the Board of Regents still hasn't learned anything,'' said CUE President Claudia Horning in response to the motion. ``We want to make sure the decisions that impact everyone who is contributing to the retirement fund -- including President Richard Atkinson -- are discussed and made in public.''