Ex-Penn St. president’s lawyers to rebut report
Attorneys for Penn State’s ousted president are planning a news conference to rebut what they view as inaccuracies in a report that concluded he concealed child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach more than a decade ago.
One of Graham Spanier’s lawyers, Peter Vaira, told The Associated Press there are “many, many errors” in the report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and the legal team will meet with reporters in Philadelphia early next week to point them out.
Freeh was hired by Penn State’s board of trustees to investigate the Jerry Sandusky scandal. His July 12 report asserted that Spanier, football coach Joe Paterno and two other university officials buried a 2001 allegation against Sandusky to protect Penn State from bad publicity.
The NCAA used the report as the basis for leveling severe penalties against Penn State, including a $60 million fine, a multi-year bowl ban and a reduction in athletic scholarships.
Spanier was ousted as school president soon after Sandusky’s arrest. He has not been charged with a crime and remains a tenured faculty member at Penn State. He is on sabbatical until December.
He has repeatedly said that Freeh mischaracterized his knowledge and handling of abuse allegations against Sandusky, who awaits sentencing following his conviction on 45 counts for sexually abusing 10 boys.
