Penn State trustees get access to Freeh documents

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Nine Penn State trustees elected by alumni are getting access to documents used to create a 2012 report about how top university administrators handled sex abuse complaints against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Penn State board chairman Keith Masser said in a letter to trustees Monday that he has directed a Philadelphia lawyer to make available a database and interview materials used to produce the report by former FBI director Louis Freeh.

Masser said trustees who want to review the large set of documents will have to sign an agreement designed to protect confidentiality agreements made when people provided ''sensitive and private information.''

''I note that the alumni-elected trustees have requested access to millions of pages and so, obviously, there are both legal and practical issues to be considered,'' Masser wrote. ''I will leave those details to be worked out with legal counsel.''

Alumni-elected trustee Anthony Lubrano called Masser's letter ''a good start,'' saying he and the others will probably have some ideas about the logistics.

''I'm sure we'll have some thoughts as to how we'd like to modify that process,'' Lubrano said. ''To the extent that they make available the records we've asked for, I think in the end that's very positive. It'll allow us to do what we're supposed to do as fiduciaries.''

The nine alumni-elected trustees have been critical of the report, which concluded there were serious shortcomings in how officials at the highest positions in university leadership responded to complaints about Sandusky.

The nine wrote Masser last Wednesday to argue the materials were property of the board and to say they needed access to ''fully and independently evaluate the findings and conclusions'' in the Freeh report.

Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse in 2012 and is serving a lengthy sentence in state prison.