Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship Want Details of Freeh Hiring

Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, a small grassroots alumni group on the warpath for reform on the Board of Trustees, is asking the university to release the names of all the firms it contacted before hiring Louis Freeh’s group to conduct an independent investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The group also wants public a letter of intent under which the investigation was initiated, as well as the memorandum of understanding between the school and Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP.

“Certainly, for an investigation of this size, there would be a detailed scope of work which would clearly state the objectives, what means and methodology would be used, and to what extent the final product would be used to characterize the events encompassing the Sandusky tragedy,” said group spokeswoman Maribeth Schmidt.

“We would expect such topics – among many others — as lack of subpoena power and the potential inability to interview key figures to be addressed upfront with caveats regarding their bearing on the report’s conclusions.”

Since the release of the Freeh Report, the group is outraged Freeh may be missing facts, omitting critical information and making assumptions which are not supported by facts.

“The accusations implied throughout the report, with no basis of fact, are sinking our school and further damaging the Penn State brand with each reference to it,” Schmidt said.  “It is unconscionable that the trustees would not only rely upon this report, but would knowingly thrust it upon the NCAA, the Big Ten and the general public as the definitive account.  We all know that can — and will — only occur in a court of law.’

The organization reported it saw a 45 percent increase in membership since the release of the Freeh Report, bringing its total membership to more than 8,500, or, about 1.7 percent of all Penn State alumni.