Alumni trustees at Penn State seek access to documents on Sandusky probe
Nine alumni-elected members of Pennsylvania State University's board of trustees are seeking access to all documents and notes used to compile the investigatory report that found the school's leaders culpable in covering up child sex abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
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Nine alumni-elected members of Pennsylvania State University's board of trustees are seeking access to all documents and notes used to compile the investigatory report that found the school's leaders culpable in covering up child sex abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
About 3.5 million documents plus notes and e-mails are believed to be available from the report prepared by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, said Anthony P. Lubrano, one of the trustees seeking the documents.
"We have a very clear fiduciary obligation to verify the veracity of the information used by Louis Freeh to condemn the culture of Penn State," Lubrano said in a statement Saturday.
The nine trustees sent a letter to the board's chairman, Keith Masser, last week, giving him until Monday to respond.
"Chair Masser has received the letter and has it under review," university spokesman David La Torre said.
The request from alumni trustees is the latest volley in a battle between board leadership and alumni trustees over how the university handled the Sandusky scandal. Alumni trustees recently lost votes to reopen the Freeh report and to have the university join a lawsuit against the NCAA for handing down football sanctions as punishment for the university's culpability in the scandal.
The Freeh report, released in July 2012, has remained a major point of contention on the 32-member board, with alumni-elected trustees saying the report blamed university leaders without evidence.
It said former Penn State president Graham Spanier, former administrators Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, and the late football coach Joe Paterno conspired to cover up allegations about Sandusky's abuse.
The NCAA subsequently used the report to fine the university $60 million, vacate football victories, ban bowl game participation, and deny scholarships.
Spanier, Curley, and Schultz await trial on perjury, conspiracy, and other charges stemming from the 2011 indictment of Sandusky, now in prison for a minimum of 30 years for sexually assaulting young boys.
"Louis Freeh and his report greatly damaged the reputation of Penn State," said trustee Albert L. Lord, former head of the student lender Sallie Mae, who joined the board in July.
The trustees' request follows a decision by university president Eric Barron earlier this month to review the Freeh report.
Lubrano, a Chester County businessman elected to the board in 2012, said that board members appreciate Barron's efforts, but that the efforts are insufficient. Barron is a non-voting board member.
"As voting members of the board of trustees, we have an even greater responsibility to undertake this review," said William F. Oldsey, an educational publishing consultant elected to the board in 2013.
Alumni trustees also want to examine e-mails between Freeh investigators and the board of trustees task force that oversaw the investigation.
If Masser declines to release the files, Lubrano said, alumni trustees will ask the courts to grant access. The trustees say they have a right to the documents under the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law, which governs Penn State.
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