A former Wisconsin National Guard soldier who faced a hearing at his college after confronting a fellow student allegedly posing as a Marine officer won't receive any punishment and is welcome back on campus after a limited ban.
Former Spc. Ryan Lonergan, who deployed to Iraq during his time in uniform and is pursuing a master's degree in social work at George Williams College in Wisconsin, was initially barred from the school's campus except to attend class while school officials investigated the details of the Oct. 6 confrontation. He met with officials Monday and the matter was cleared up, school spokesman Steve McFarland said in a Wednesday interview.
A day after Lonergan confronted the other student in an on-campus dining hall, he received a notice from the school asking him to meet with officials regarding the incident and citing a passage in the school's behavioral code regarding disorderly conduct. Lonergan told Army Times that the confrontation was not physical, that he did not berate or scream at the purported Marine, and that he apologized to other students in the hall after the incident, which involved some profanity.
McFarland — a vice president with Aurora University, which includes the GWC campus — said the hearing and the attached campus restrictions came about after multiple students reported the confrontation to school officials. He would not reveal whether the school was investigating the alleged faker, citing privacy concerns, but did say that all involved in the incident were being treated equally under school disciplinary guidelines.
Lonergan, who said he chose GWC at least in part to assist the school in expanding and supporting its small base of student-veterans, said in an email Wednesday that he believes his ordeal "has encouraged the university to invest into their student veteran population and figure out how to best serve them and future veterans that will attend."
He called the small lakeside campus "a great environment to succeed" and said that it could offer an education alternative for veterans who "may find large campuses overwhelming."
The school has taken criticism on its Facebook page following the incident, with most of the recent reviews of the institution posted by individuals claiming GWC favored the alleged Marine faker over a combat-deployed former soldier in its investigation.
"I really think the issue had nothing to do with veteran status," McFarland said. "This was really just about fulfilling our process that's spelled out in our student code of conduct."
Lonergan served in the Wisconsin National Guard from 2006 to 2012 and deployed to Iraq from April 2009 until January 2010, according to personnel information provided by the Guard.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
