Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour recently said that she saw no evidence of an athletic "culture" problem, contradicting the university-commissioned Freeh Report. Barbour went even further: "I believe based on what I've seen that that's a mischaracterization that there was a problem with Penn State's culture. I don't buy that."

Inexplicably, the Penn State trustees have allowed, even promoted, that "mischaracterization," costing the university millions, soiling reputations of men of the highest integrity and driving alumni by the tens of thousands to Penn State's defense.

That is why Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship supports Graham Spanier's defamation suit against Louis Freeh, his law firm and Penn State University. The numerous lawsuits surrounding this $8.5 million report - Spanier's being only the most recent - are beginning to expose it for the fraud that it is.

Former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh called the report "flawed and incomplete." Penn State President Eric Barron said it created an "absurd" and "unwarranted" picture and was "not useful to make decisions." In our own review, PS4RS observed that the report perversely "prevented a full and complete review of what actually went wrong, and why trained professionals failed to recognize, intervene and prosecute Sandusky years earlier."

And, now Barbour calls the Freeh Report a "mischaracterization."

As we await next steps in Spanier's legal filing, we continue to question why Penn State trustees remain far more defensive of the Freeh Report and its source materials than they are of the institution they have been charged to protect.

Maribeth Roman Schmidt

Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship