Franklin & Marshall College said today it has withdrawn trespassing and disorderly conduct citations against Ron Harper Jr., a reporter and co-publisher of the weekly Lancaster Post newspaper.
Letter to Ron Harper Jr. (PDF)
In a letter to Harper forwarded to local media outlets, however, F&M spokeswoman Nancy Collins warned that the reporter was still not welcome on college property and that its defiant-trespass notice against him remains in effect.
Harper, reached for a response, was angered by the letter.
"So they are withdrawing their obviously false allegations and charges," he said, "but they continue their libelous, slanderous behavior by distributing the most despicable comments regarding me, which are clearly malicious and actionable."
College security officers cited Harper with the summary offenses on June 3 after he placed a newspaper box at Marietta Avenue and School Lane, near F&M President John Fry's college-owned residence, in Lancaster Township.
At the time, the college said its officers were enforcing the no- trespass order that banned Harper from college property based on his attempt to speak to Fry at his home.
"The reason why Ron Harper Jr. showed up at John Fry's house is because John Fry blew off my phone calls and e-mails to his very public office," Harper said.
Collins' letter does not say why, if the college still believes Harper was in fact trespassing on June 3, F&M is dropping the charges. In an interview, though, Collins said that, "The reason we're dropping the charges is that our solicitor found some technical issues with the citations.
"They could have been amended but we decided not to do so because we see no benefit in prosecuting Mr. Harper. The college is ready to move on," she said.
Asked what those technical issues are, Collins said: "I think that what matters is that we've just decided we are ready to move on."
Letter to Ron Harper Jr. (PDF)Staff writer Tom Murse can be reached at tmurse@LNPnews.com or 481-6021.
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