Corbett to sue NCAA over Penn State sanctions
Gov. Corbett said today he will file suit against the NCAA over the sanctions it placed on Penn State as a result of its handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Corbett said in a brief press release he will provide details of the federal lawsuit Wednesday in State College.
Corbett to sue NCAA over Penn State sanctions
Gov. Corbett said today he will file suit against the NCAA over what he called "illegal sanctions" it imposed on Penn State as a result of its handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Corbett said in a brief press release he will provide details of the federal lawsuit Wednesday in State College.
The NCAA fined Penn State $60 million, banned its football team from four years of bowl games and vacated years of team wins over its handling of the Sandusky case.
The sanctions came following a report released last summer by former FBI director Louis Freeh which concluded that university administrators had engaged in a cover-up to protect Sandusky.
Penn State board of trustees, of which Corbett is a member, gave its approval of the report shortly after its release.
Former Penn State President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz have been charged in the Sandusky case, accused of child endangerment and other crimes.
State Sen. Jake Corman announced legislation last week that would restrict Penn State's fine money to be used to combat sex abuse in Pennsylvania.
The NCAA has said only as much as 25 percent of Penn State’s $60 million fine will be used for sexual abuse prevention in Pennsylvania.
Penn State recently made the first payment of $12 million. Corman said he also is planning to seek an injunction to halt that payment until the dispute with the NCAA is resolved.
Sandusky is serving a 30 to 60-year prison term after being convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys, several of them were abused on the Penn State campus.
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- joe pa knew of this as did graham spanier
to name two— the lopez! - I don't know how you can sue? The board of trustees or president (I think actually the President) signed off on the sanctions. I don't know how you can agree to sanctions and then sue over them later. But with our courts anything is possible. I always thought Penn State stood for something but at the end of the day you had a University cover up the rape of kids and now they don't want to pay the penalty they agreed to.— irish22
- You can't read well, can you? First, it's Corbett that's suing. He's just a Board member because he's governor. 2nd, he is not suing to not pay, it's to keep the penalty money within Pennsylvania, not spread it around the country. There was no agreement about where the money would be spent, but it was understood it would go to PA programs. Then the NCAA said, no, we want to send it all over the country. And it wasn't an entire university covering up the abuse, it was 5-10 individuals in positions of power. Feel free to apologize to the other 100,000 people involved with Penn State who had no idea this was going on.
— verve - I'm a fervent Democrat and I don't like Corbett at all for his politics but I hate the NCAA and I hope the court finds that the NCAA has no right to take money from Penn State. Some of that money is tuition that I pay for my daughter to attend Penn State and some of the money is my tax dollars. NCAA... take you pompous, inflated, self-aggrandizing view of yourself and stick it!
— r white - Boo hoo...maybe you shouldn't send your daughter to a school that covers up sex abuse. — Doho2008
- A shameless grandstand maneuver to deflect attention from Corbett's own involvement with the PSU scandal. My congratulations to all Pennsylvanians who voted for this corrupt POS.— Dave Clemens
- So sad Corbett. What a waste. NCAA will fight this in court. Is sad how some people STILL do not know the facts of this case. People defending PSU full of ignorance.— Cant Climb
- irish 22-Penn State was forced to accept the penalty or deal with the end of football. Acceptance was the better alternative at the time. Too much needed to be sorted out, and still needs to be sorted out before anyone can really make a judgement on anyone but Sandusky. As a Penn State grad I may have read about this as much as anyone and I still don't know what to believe.— hawk18
- I know Penn State was forced to accept the sanctions or take the death penalty. I just don't see how they can sue the NCAA but I'm not saying they wouldn't win. Didn't PSU hire Louis Freeh? How can you argue you were treated unfairly when a firm that you hired, found you acted in a negligent manner? I guess the courts will figure that out. — irish22
- This is what you call a GUILTY CONSCIOUS! This parasite should be in jail!!!— twpman
- I agree with him (even though this is probably just a PR move). I don't think the NCAA has the right to punish a university for non-sports related criminal offenses (Not being a homer because I'm a WVU fan and have always hated PSU). Even if they do have the right I think the sanctions were way over the top (taking away the wins? how pathetic).— Phils_World_Champs
- 6. Officers liable to impeachment.
The Governor and all other civil officers shall be liable to
impeachment for any misbehavior in office, but judgment in such
cases shall not extend further than to removal from office and
disqualification to hold any office of trust or profit under
this Commonwealth. The person accused, whether convicted or
acquitted, shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial,
judgment and punishment according to law.
(May 17, 1966, 1965 P.L.1928, J.R.10)— rugbychix - How can anyone allow this money to be spent outside of the state? Penn State is a state related university and receives funding from our tax dollars. Why should the NCAA have a say in how our tax dollars are spent?— FletcherT
- Don't know if I trust Corbett or his true intentions...but I hope this all ends with a reduction in the sanctions (scholarships and bowl ban) AND all the fine money spent in our home state of PA.— cday22
- Worst Governor in the United States. Him and Santorum were involved with furthering Second Mile as a faux charity to enable Sandusky to continue to molest children.— DoctorLoads
