Clemente returns to campus

Wharton sophomore Christopher Clemente returned to campus yesterday, almost eight months to the day after his arrest in a Harlem apartment on drug and weapons charges. Clemente could not be reached for comment yesterday, but his mother, Barbara Jenkins, said in a telephone interview from her Bronx home that he is excited to be returning to the University and is looking forward to resuming his studies. Clemente's lawyers and the University administration agreed in March on Clemente's return. The pact allowed Clemente to take a voluntary leave of absence last semester, but also gives the University the right to press internal charges against him at any time. One of Clemente's attorneys, famed civil liberties lawyer William Kunstler, said yesterday that Clemente's legal wranglings are on hold until a ruling is handed down on whether evidence against the Wharton student was illegally seized. New York Supreme Court Judge Richard Lowe is expected to decide on the legality of the police search on September 24. Judicial Inquiry Officer Constance Goodman did not return a phone call last night, but she said this summer that no decisions have been made on whether to persue internal charges against Clemente. Kunstler said yesterday that he has not heard from the University since Clemente announced his intention to return in July. Jenkins said that Barbara Cassel, the executive assistant to the vice provost for university life, called Clemente this week and suggested he see an advisor once he gets to the University to help him make the transition. Clemente's lawyers said this summer that they were concerned about what kind of reception Clemente would get from the University community, but asserted his legal right to return. Jenkins said that her son does not have a room at the University yet, but said that his friends will help him find a place to live when he arrives. Jenkins said that Clemente was the victim of a hit-and-run automobile accident two weeks ago, but added that he sustained only minor injuries to his leg. She said her son was getting out of a taxi in the Bronx when he was struck. "He didn't know what hit him," she said.

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