A court order dated Friday scheduled argument on the matter for Aug. 17 in the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte.
Spanier wants a judge to order the school to provide him with emails from 1998 to 2004 that relate to the investigation being led by former FBI director Louis Freeh of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.
In April, a university lawyer told Spanier's attorneys that state prosecutors asked the school not to share the emails so that an ongoing investigation wouldn't be compromised.
Spanier served as Penn State president for 16 years and remains a tenured faculty member.
