Ousted Penn State President Sues for Access to Messages on Sex-Abuse Scandal

Graham B. Spanier, the former president of Pennsylvania State University, filed suit on Friday to force the institution to turn over to him e-mail messages related to its internal investigation of the much-publicized child-sex-abuse scandal that rocked the University Park campus last fall, the Centre Daily Times reported. Mr. Spanier was fired in November amid a firestorm of criticism over his response to the scandal, which centered on allegations of rape against Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach under the revered head coach Joe Paterno, who was also fired.

After dismissing Mr. Spanier, the university’s Board of Trustees hired Louis J. Freeh, the former FBI director, to investigate Penn State’s handling of the case. In his lawsuit, Mr. Spanier says he asked the university to turn over e-mail messages—dated from 1998 to 2004—that were relevant to the Freeh investigation, but the institution refused to do so. The messages, he says in the suit, “would refresh his recollection significantly and allow him to assist the university fully in its investigation.”