WSU, OSU granted restraining order against PAC-12

COLFAX - Washington State University (WSU) President Kirk Schulz, also current chairman of the PAC-12 board, and WSU athletic director Pat Chun were in Colfax Monday, Sept. 11, to listen to a hearing from Whitman County Judge Gary Libey, as he granted both WSU and Oregon State University (OSU) a temporary restraining order against the PAC-12 conference.

The restraining order granted will prevent the conference from meeting, or attempting to meet, until further notice.

The lawsuit filed by WSU and OSU was to prevent the PAC-12 from holding a meeting Wednesday, Sept. 13.

The meeting scheduled for Wednesday that now will not happen was said to be a meeting for the 10 departing PAC-12 schools to have the conference cover some of their transition expenses after they leave to join their various conferences at the conclusion of this current academic year.

WSU and OSU originally filed a joint complaint the week prior to the hearing Tuesday as both WSU and OSU believed the meeting and voting scheduled to take place was a potential threat to the conference.

The Attorney on the case for WSU and OSU was Eric MacMichael, who presented that the eight departing schools besides USC and UCLA have not yet been banished from making any decisions of the conference, and did not plan on being banished anytime soon.

USC and UCLA announced early in the summer of 2022 that they were headed for the Big 10 conference, and the PAC-12 banished them from participating in any board meetings. A "Preliminary Injunction Hearing" is soon to follow with more evidence and witnesses in play.

The preliminary injunction hearing is expected to determine who makes up the voting members within the PAC-12 conference, sources say.

Judge Libey will set a date for the next hearing to be announced at a later date. The date will be soon, as an expedited discovery was thrown around by Libey on Monday. Normally, paperwork and other matters can take anywhere from 30-60 days, however, Libey asked parties to agree on shortened timeframes.

WSU and OSU are looking to see if there is any saving of the PAC-12 conference, and if there is, they want to see how the conference can move forward.

After the departures of USC and UCLA, the next university to leave the PAC-12 was the University of Colorado. The Buffaloes announced on July 27, 2023 that they were leaving the PAC-12, and heading back to the Big-12 conference.

Shortly after, on Aug. 4, PAC-12 powerhouses Oregon and Washington both announced their departure from the PAC-12. Their landing destination, the Big 10, joining USC and UCLA.

Just hours later, the final card was dealt by most of the remaining schools. Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah announced they would join Colorado in the Big 12.

That left just WSU, OSU, Stanford, and the University of California Berkeley (CAL).

For almost a month, the four schools were the last members of the PAC-12, until on Sept. 1, CAL and Stanford announced their departure to the ACC next season, leaving WSU and OSU high and dry.