Spanier Filing Lawsuit Against Penn State, Reports Say

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier has filed a lawsuit against the university, according to reports by the Centre Daily Times and WJAC-TV.

The civil suit was filed Friday in Centre County Court, the reports say, to force Penn State to hand over emails regarding the Freeh Investigation, the school’s internal diagnosis of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Spanier, who served as president for 16 years before being fired Nov. 9 for what the Board of Trustees called a failure of leadership, is reportedly asking for emails from 1998-2004 to help assist with the investigation, but Penn State is not providing them.

University spokesman Dave La Torre said in a statement the university cannot comment on specifics relating to pending litigation.

“However, the University has cooperated fully with the Office of Attorney General and the Freeh Group and expects all of its faculty, staff and administrators, including Dr. Spanier, to cooperate to the fullest extent,’ La Torre said. ‘The University believes it has done nothing that would prevent Dr. Spanier from meeting with the Freeh Group, which has already met with hundreds of university employees.”

Freeh, a former FBI director, was retained late last year to unearth the missteps of the university in wake of the Sandusky scandal. His report is due out in the fall, trustees have said.

Related coverage:

• StateCollege.com’s Penn State/Sandusky charges page