Received 11/10/2014 Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Filed 11/10/2014 Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania 1 MD 2013 EXHIBIT A

Transcription

1 Received 11/10/2014 Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Filed 11/10/2014 Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania 1 MD 2013 EXHIBIT A

2 IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA JAKE CORMAN, in his official capacity as Senator frorn the 34th Senatorial District of Pennsylvania and Chair of the Senate Committee : on Appropriations; and ROBERT M. McCORD, in his official capacity as Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, v. Plaintiffs, : NO. 1 MD 2013 THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC : ASSOCIATION, Defendant, THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, : Additional Defendant. DECLARATION OF DONALD M. REMY IN SUPPORT OF THE NCAA'S OPPOSITION TO SENATOR CORMAN'S MOTION TO DETERMINE I, Donald M. Remy, do hereby declare: 1. I am over the age of eighteen years, and I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth in this declaration. 2. I presently am employed as the Executive Vice President of Law, Policy & Governance and Chief Legal Officer of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA"). I rnanage the NCAA's legal, government relations, governance, and infractions committee staff and related issues. I also manage the Sports Science Institute staff and related issues. 3. I assumed my current title and position on January 28, Previously, my title was "Executive Vice President and General Counsel," and prior to that "Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel." In my 1

3 prior positions, I directly managed all the NCAA's legal activities. My principal responsibility was to serve as the lead in-house legal counsel for the NCAA. 4. In November 2011, I along with senior staff and rnembers of the NCAA presidential leadership were shocked to learn of allegations delineated in the Grand Jury indictment that former Pennsylvania State University ("Penn State") assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, had molested multiple children. NCAA staff engaged in internal discussions to determine an appropriate response. I convened and participated in these discussions for the purpose of providing legal advice and direction to the Association. I incorporated input frorn other participants in these discussions to form the basis for my legal advice. Both at the time and at present, I considered those communications to be primarily for the purpose of obtaining information to provide legal advice to the NCAA and/or infused with legal concerns. These discussions resulted in a determination that the NCAA should inquire further of Penn State. 5. The NCAA sent Penn State a letter seeking additional information about the allegations on November 17, I was the principal drafter of this letter. I prepared the letter in rny capacity as General Counsel to the NCAA. In preparing the letter, I sought input from other senior NCAA staff, and certain of them reviewed and commented on the letter at rny direction. Both at the time and at present, I considered rny interactions with these employees and officers to be for the purpose of obtaining information I needed to provide legal advice to the NCAA. 6. Around the time the NCAA sent the November 17, 2011 letter, Penn State decided to hire former federal judge and director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louis Freeh, as Special Counsel to conduct an investigation into: "The alleged failure of Pennsylvania State University personnel to respond to, and report to the appropriate authorities, the sexual abuse of children by former University football coach [Jerry Sandusky]; "The circumstances under which such abuse could occur in University facilities or under the auspices of University programs for youth." Report of the Special Investigative Counsel Regarding the Actions of the Pennsylvania State University Related to the Child Sexual Abuse 2

4 Committed by Gerald A. Sandusky 8, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP (July 12, 2012), available at REPORT FINAL pdf (last visited Nov. 10, 2014) 7 I received periodic status updates from Judge Freeh's staff on the progress of the investigation. The Freeh Group investigation was completely and entirely independent from the NCAA and these updates intentionally and purposefully did not include any information regarding the substance of their investigation. 8. On July 12, 2012, Mr. Freeh issued a Report of the Special Investigative Counsel Regarding the Actions of the Pennsylvania State University related to the Child Sexual Abuse Committed by Gerald A. Sandusky ("the Freeh Reporr). 9. The Freeh Report found: "Total and consistent disregard by the most senior leaders at Penn State for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims." Id. at 14. "Four of the most powerful people at The Pennsylvania State University President Graham B. Spanier, Senior Vice President- Finance and Business Gary C. Schultz, Athletic Director Timothy M. Curley and Head Football Coach Joseph V. Paterno failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade. These men concealed Sandusky's activities from the Board of Trustees, the University community and authorities." Id. "These individuals... empowered Sandusky to attract potential victims to the campus and football events by allowing him to have continued, unrestricted and unsupervised access to the University's facilities and affiliation with the University's prominent football program. Indeed, that continued access provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims." Id. at 15. "The avoidance of the consequences of bad publicity is the most significant, but not the only, cause for this failure to protect child victims and report to authorities. The investigation also revealed:... [a] culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus community." Id. at

5 10. These findings and others in the independent investigative report of Judge Freeh detailed a serious and unprecedented situation involving a collegiate athletics program. As the NCAA's General Counsel, I was tasked with overseeing efforts to determine and develop a legally appropriate NCAA response to the information contained in the Freeh Report. 11. I convened and participated in a number of internal meetings and discussions both written and oral among senior staff in the days immediately following the release of the Freeh Report. The primary, if not exclusive, purpose of these meetings was to determine and develop the NCAA's legal position and strategy with respect to Penn State, and also to develop and provide legal advice to the NCAA Executive Committee and Divisions I Board of Directors. I conternporaneously discussed the content of those meetings with outside counsel to further develop that advice. Both at the tirne and at present, I considered those meetings and discussions to be primarily, if not exclusively, for the purpose of obtaining information I needed to provide legal advice to the NCAA and/or infused with legal concerns. 12. At my request and direction, the NCAA's senior staff engaged in various discussions with the intent of assessing the allegations and ultimately inforrning my counsel. Thus, after obtaining the input of NCAA senior employees and officers in the course of the above-referenced internal discussions, I prepared, in consultation with outside counsel, a draft of the document now referred to as the Consent Decree. I also received input from rnany of those individuals on the draft of the Consent Decree. 13. On the basis of the information obtained through the process described above, on several occasions I advised the NCAA Executive Committee and Division I Board of Directors on various legal options available to it. Both at the time and at present, I considered those meetings and discussions to be primarily for the purpose of providing legal advice to the NCAA and/or infused with legal concerns. I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on November 10,