NCAA's False and Misleading Statement to Judge Leete's court in the Paterno estate lawsuit
Dear Attorney Scott, [NCAA counsel]
cc: Attorneys for Plaintiff, Penn State alumni networking, Penn State Board of Trustees
The NCAA’s statement (item 189 in http://co.centre.pa.us/…/PATERNO%20VS%20NCAA%20NCAAs%20ANSW…) to Judge Leete’s court is false, misleading, and inaccurate.
Contrary to what the NCAA wants the Court of Common Pleas to believe, Penn State’s Board of Trustees NEVER accepted responsibility for the failures cited in the Freeh Report. ONE Trustee, then-Chairwoman Karen Peetz, did so on her own, in violation of the Board’s Standing Orders against any Trustee speaking on behalf of the Board without authorization by the Board (http://www.psu.edu/…/Standing%20Orders%20November%202014.pdf).* (Kenneth Frazier also affirmed the findings, but not explicitly on Penn State’s behalf.) A simple inspection of the publicly available meeting minutes for July 2012 (http://www.psu.edu/trustees/agenda/minutesjuly2012.html) will prove that the Board NEVER voted to authorize any statement of this nature on its behalf, or that of Penn State.
Furthermore, it is a matter of proven record from my E-mail of September 23, 2014 (attached, including a list of to whom it was sent), that the NCAA KNEW that Peetz never had the authority to affirm the Freeh Report, but the NCAA nonetheless chose to tell Judge Leete’s court the indicated story in 2015. I will leave it to the plaintiffs’ attorneys what they want to do with the attached information, of which the important part is as follows.
Peetz and Frazier had NO authority to speak for Penn State
In July 2012, Business and Industry Trustees Kenneth Frazier and Karen Peetz affirmed the Freeh Report's findings of guilt in apparent contravention of the Board's Standing Orders (Expectations of Membership, items 6 and 11).[5] Peetz spoke explicitly on behalf of the Board in her capacity as Chairwoman, but without authorization by the Board as shown by the following objective evidence.
(1) Kenneth Frazier: "Administrative leaders -- including at the time President Graham Spanier, Coach Joe Paterno, Athletic Director Tim Curley, and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz -- failed to protect children when they had the opportunity and failed to provide adequate information to the board, he said."[6]
(2) Karen Peetz: "The Board of Trustees, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for the failures cited in the Freeh Report."[7]
(3) “The board doesn’t do anything official without voting because it’s a corporation,” said Trustee Joel Myers. “We have not accepted the Freeh report.” "…Lubrano ripped the Freeh report. “The full board never accepted the findings of the Freeh report. With respect to the Freeh report, in fact, its findings are so inconsistent with reality that I find them to be intentionally inflammatory.”"[8]
(4) The minutes of the July 2012 Board meeting quote Peetz as follows, emphasis is mine: "As we said yesterday, the Board, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for each of the failures that occurred."[9] Trustee Peetz is therefore on record in the minutes as saying that Trustees affirmed the Freeh Report prior to the Board meeting, which means it is impossible for the Board to have approved this action.
I am copying Penn State’s Board of Trustees, along with alumni networking, on this letter to underscore the enormous harm that Ms. Peetz’s apparent violation of the Board’s Standing Orders caused Penn State. As shown by the NCAA’s s argument to the Court of Common Pleas, the NCAA relied heavily on Ms. Peetz’s unilateral acceptance of the Freeh Report’s findings on Penn State’s behalf to impose sanctions it later had to revoke under pressure from the Corman lawsuit. Ms. Peetz is therefore arguably the Trustee most responsible for the enormous harm to Penn State’s reputation and finances subsequent to the Board’s mishandling of the Sandusky crisis on November 9, 2011.
William A. Levinson, B.S. ‘78
Dear Attorney Scott, [NCAA counsel]
cc: Attorneys for Plaintiff, Penn State alumni networking, Penn State Board of Trustees
The NCAA’s statement (item 189 in http://co.centre.pa.us/…/PATERNO%20VS%20NCAA%20NCAAs%20ANSW…) to Judge Leete’s court is false, misleading, and inaccurate.
Contrary to what the NCAA wants the Court of Common Pleas to believe, Penn State’s Board of Trustees NEVER accepted responsibility for the failures cited in the Freeh Report. ONE Trustee, then-Chairwoman Karen Peetz, did so on her own, in violation of the Board’s Standing Orders against any Trustee speaking on behalf of the Board without authorization by the Board (http://www.psu.edu/…/Standing%20Orders%20November%202014.pdf).* (Kenneth Frazier also affirmed the findings, but not explicitly on Penn State’s behalf.) A simple inspection of the publicly available meeting minutes for July 2012 (http://www.psu.edu/trustees/agenda/minutesjuly2012.html) will prove that the Board NEVER voted to authorize any statement of this nature on its behalf, or that of Penn State.
Furthermore, it is a matter of proven record from my E-mail of September 23, 2014 (attached, including a list of to whom it was sent), that the NCAA KNEW that Peetz never had the authority to affirm the Freeh Report, but the NCAA nonetheless chose to tell Judge Leete’s court the indicated story in 2015. I will leave it to the plaintiffs’ attorneys what they want to do with the attached information, of which the important part is as follows.
Peetz and Frazier had NO authority to speak for Penn State
In July 2012, Business and Industry Trustees Kenneth Frazier and Karen Peetz affirmed the Freeh Report's findings of guilt in apparent contravention of the Board's Standing Orders (Expectations of Membership, items 6 and 11).[5] Peetz spoke explicitly on behalf of the Board in her capacity as Chairwoman, but without authorization by the Board as shown by the following objective evidence.
(1) Kenneth Frazier: "Administrative leaders -- including at the time President Graham Spanier, Coach Joe Paterno, Athletic Director Tim Curley, and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz -- failed to protect children when they had the opportunity and failed to provide adequate information to the board, he said."[6]
(2) Karen Peetz: "The Board of Trustees, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for the failures cited in the Freeh Report."[7]
(3) “The board doesn’t do anything official without voting because it’s a corporation,” said Trustee Joel Myers. “We have not accepted the Freeh report.” "…Lubrano ripped the Freeh report. “The full board never accepted the findings of the Freeh report. With respect to the Freeh report, in fact, its findings are so inconsistent with reality that I find them to be intentionally inflammatory.”"[8]
(4) The minutes of the July 2012 Board meeting quote Peetz as follows, emphasis is mine: "As we said yesterday, the Board, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for each of the failures that occurred."[9] Trustee Peetz is therefore on record in the minutes as saying that Trustees affirmed the Freeh Report prior to the Board meeting, which means it is impossible for the Board to have approved this action.
I am copying Penn State’s Board of Trustees, along with alumni networking, on this letter to underscore the enormous harm that Ms. Peetz’s apparent violation of the Board’s Standing Orders caused Penn State. As shown by the NCAA’s s argument to the Court of Common Pleas, the NCAA relied heavily on Ms. Peetz’s unilateral acceptance of the Freeh Report’s findings on Penn State’s behalf to impose sanctions it later had to revoke under pressure from the Corman lawsuit. Ms. Peetz is therefore arguably the Trustee most responsible for the enormous harm to Penn State’s reputation and finances subsequent to the Board’s mishandling of the Sandusky crisis on November 9, 2011.
William A. Levinson, B.S. ‘78
