Bloomington, Ind. — Indiana University has spent nearly $300,000 defending itself against two lawsuits filed over its firing of basketball coach Bob Knight.
In both cases, it was alleged the university kept secrets from the public and violated public access laws.
The figures, obtained by The Herald-Times on Friday, bring the total documented cost of the Knight firing to more than $650,000, including $340,000 to buy out the final two years of Knight's contract.
Knight was fired Sept. 10, 2000, after violating a zero-tolerance conduct policy imposed the previous May following an investigation into an incident involving a former player.
The university issued a summary of findings about its investigation in May, but has refused to grant access to the underlying notes from which its conclusions were drawn. In refusing to release the records, the school cited both federal law and state exemptions to the open records law.
The Indianapolis Star has sued the school for access to records of the spring 2000 investigation into Knight's conduct.
Both the state public access counselor and a trial court have ruled that state law allows IU to exempt such records from disclosure. The Star has filed an appeal in the case.
The Indianapolis law firm of Baker and Daniels has billed IU $209,127 for work in the case.
In addition, the university is defending itself against a lawsuit filed by 46 plaintiffs who argue IU broke the state open meetings law when trustees met with the university president before Knight was fired.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.