Penn State’s President Chose Not to Act on Sandusky Allegations in 2001, Report Says

Graham B. Spanier, then president of Pennsylvania State University, and two other university officials traded e-mail messages in 2001 about allegations that Jerry Sandusky had molested a boy in a Penn State shower room, but Mr. Spanier ultimately chose not to report the alleged incident to the authorities, NBC News reported.

In one e-mail exchange, Gary C. Schultz, then Penn State’s senior vice president for finance and business, and Mr. Spanier agreed that it would be “humane” to Mr. Sandusky to avoid alerting social services, according to the NBC report. Mr. Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, is now on trial on 52 counts of child sex abuse. Revelations about his alleged abuses led to the firing last fall of Mr. Spanier and Joe Paterno, the university’s longtime head football coach.

The e-mail messages were uncovered during Penn State’s internal investigation into the scandal (led by Louis J. Freeh, the former FBI director), and were turned over to Pennsylvania’s attorney general. In one message, Mr. Spanier discusses a now-infamous encounter—in which Mr. Sandusky was allegedly seen naked with a boy in a locker-room shower—with Mr. Schultz and Timothy M. Curley, then the university’s athletic director. Mr. Schultz and Mr. Curley both resigned after being charged with failing to report the alleged molestation and perjuring themselves before a grand jury; Mr. Spanier has not been charged.

But that could change. According to the NBC report, Pennsylvania prosecutors may bring more charges in the case. In the meantime, Mr. Spanier has sued Penn State, asking the institution to let him review e-mail messages from the internal investigation.