Penn State Trustees File Request to Review Freeh Report Docs, Argue They Should Own Them Anyway
ByA group of Trustees at Penn State University (PSU) have requested to review the documents used in the Louis Freeh Report.
The Associated Press reported obtaining a letter from nine PSU Trustees to the Board's chairman Keith Masser. In the letter, the alumni-appointed group argued that the documents should belong to the Board anyway.
A university spokesman told the AP that, per Masser, the group's request is currently being weighed.
"Louis Freeh and his report greatly damaged the reputation of Penn State," trustee Albert Lord said in a statement. "As fiduciaries of Penn State, we have both a legal as well as a moral obligation to ask questions about such an inherently incomplete work product."
PSU President Eric Barron said in a public release last month that he intended to review the Freeh Report, which was the basis for the NCAA's sanctions against the school for the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. Currently, three former administrators are on trial for allegedly covering up Sandusky's crimes to avoid a black eye for the football program.
Recent news reports have found that Louis Freeh, a former FBI Director, did not conduct his review entirely independent, as PSU hired him to do. He apparently corresponded with NCAA officials on multiple occasions, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" previously reported.
Several documents, including internal emails from the NCAA, have also been released as a result of being included in a lawsuit over the legality of the $60 million fine levied against PSU. Aside from the vacated wins, the fine is the only NCAA sanction still in effect.
In those emails, NCAA officials both considered the death penalty for PSU's football program and doubted themselves when they eventually settled on the punishment. The team's bowl ban and loss of scholarships have been lifted and the school has found permanent replacements for those who resigned or were fired in the aftermath.