The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) said yesterday that it plans to file an anti-lesbian discrimination suit against Penn State on behalf of former women's basketball player Jen Harris within the next month.

"We will be moving forward, and we plan to file suit shortly," Karen Doering, NCLR attorney, said. "We've still got to draft the complaint."

The lesbian-rights advocacy group had set yesterday as the deadline for Penn State to retract a statement made by women's basketball coach Rene Portland about Harris, saying that it defamed Harris' character.

Penn State did not retract the statement, but Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said the NCLR has not yet given the university enough information to begin an investigation into the matter.

"Until we get some information from them, I'm not sure how a reasonable person could suggest that we have enough information to investigate," Mahon said. "All we have are press releases and headlines."

A conference call between attorneys from both parties took place Tuesday, and afterward, Mahon said the NCLR had agreed to share the information that it had regarding the complaint.

Yesterday, Mahon said there had been no additional talks between the parties, and that he was unsure why the NCLR was not sending the information they said they have.

"I would challenge [Doering]. Right now we have headlines; we can't investigate headlines very well," Mahon said. "She has told you all in the press that they have a wealth of information. We have said we'd like to see that information, but they have not provided us with that information. We can't start an investigation based on their press releases."

Doering said that the NCLR did have some information that it had not passed on to Penn State, but added that, in her eyes, the university had enough evidence to start an investigation on its own accord.

"We've given them quite a few details about Miss Harris' specific allegations," Doering said. "It's somewhat surprising that they feel they need every detail before they can begin an investigation. We plan on going forward filing suit, and we will subpoena their documents, we'll subpoena their witnesses and former employees and we will do the investigation that they don't seem to be willing to do on their own."

Doering said the sticking point in the process thus far has been the statement that Portland issued through Penn State sports information Friday in which she said Harris had been removed from the team due to her "disrespectful, profane and belligerent behavior toward coaches and teammates."

The NCLR has called the statements "patently false" and demanded that they be retracted.

"The coach has every constitutional right to respond," Mahon said Sunday. "We sincerely want to look into the allegations that have been made. We'll do it thoroughly, and we'll do it fairly, but we need more than a couple hours to do that."

Mahon has said that university would need, "a couple of days," to perform an investigation, but the timeliness of the investigation has been a concern for the NCLR since it announced its intention to investigate the matter on Oct. 11.

Mahon said again that the university is doing all it can with the information it possesses.

"I think what they have done a wonderful job generating a lot of headlines, and they have not provided us with any information," Mahon said. "Penn State is ready to sit down and look at what information they have gathered. We are ready to investigate."