Tivoli
Coors
Hoopla/5
Classic/15
© Pressopolitan
Aug~t
Volume 8 Issue I
Employee - Attacked
I I
A Year . of Transition
by Lori Martin-Schneider
by Bob Darr
Associate Editor
News Editor
A Metro State College employee was assaulted in her office at the Student Center by a man who rut her several times .on the head with what she says may have been a barbell on Friday morning, July 5. Jane Raye Wrenshall, 47, had just hung up the telephone at about 11:30 a.m. when she was struck on the back of the head twice. Wrenshall fell to the floor, attempted to get up, and was struck twice while she lay on the floor. She was taken to Denver General Hospital and treated for four lacerations to the head. Wrenshall, who was the director of student support short-term loans at the time of the assault, went back to work the following Monday, but qu~t August 12. She said her quitting was a combination of things. "It was a combination of (everything) ," Wrenshall explained, "I thought the job was 20 hours a week, but it was much more." The assault, combined with Wrenshall's job as student government treasurer, full-time student, and single-handedly raising five children, was too much. "My grades suffered last semester because I was doing too mµch," she said. "I was robbing Petei: to pay Paul." The suspect wanted in Wrenshall's assault may be the same man wanted for the ~ult of two co-eds last spring. Wrenshall did not see above her assailant's waist, so her description .is· sketchy. What she did see fits the description of the suspect in the other campus assaults. According to a Denver Police report, he is described as a black man, 20-25 years of age,. 5 feet 10 inches tall, and of medium build. The victims of two separate assaults last spring described their assailants as a black male, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds. Lolli Ferguson, an administrative officer in Public Safety on the Auraria Campus, said she couldn't say if the suspect is the same person. "Really all you have is an average height, average black man," Ferguson said. "There is no similarity in the method, (but) we're not discounting the J>O$ibility." Ferguson said the two assaults last
21, 1985
Photography by Alec O. Pean:e
Auraria Child Care Center attracts kids to campus, see story on page 4. spring appear to be connected because they were similar methods of attack, and of similar description. She explained that the Wrenshall case is no longer active, meaning there are no further leads. "We're talking about three incidents, and that's a concern, but considering the number of women on campus daily .. . " Ferguson says Auraria Public Safety has addressed the problem. "We have beefed-up patrols in that area ... but like a doctor can't prevent illness, we cannot prevent crime." Wrenshall was found by Mary Ryan, an employee in legal services, who didn't see the suspect, but found Wrenshall on the floor of her office a few minutes later. "He went out the door by student activities, or hid in a conference room until he could get away," Wrenshall said. "He must have heard Mary comming down the hallway."
Wrenshall explained her biggest problem with the assault: "The biggest problem I had was really that if they did catch rum, he wouldn't be punished for very long and would be angrier," she said. "I don't have very much faith in the system." Ferguson says we need to be conscious of our surroundings. "We don't need to walk around alone at night," she said. "We{Public Safety)are on call ... and have an Auraria Evening Express shuttle bus that runs from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. It will take you anywhere on campus between buildings." · Wrenshall is putting -the incident berund her and looking forward to graduating from Metro in the spring. "I am trying not to .d o any ·~hat ifs'," Wrenshall explained. "I am still scared. I go out the door in broad daylight and look both ways."
Metro will begin the 1985 Fall semester operating under a new set of ground rules. The reorganization initiated by former president Brage Golding, coupled with the Legislative changes made in the state higher education system has turned 1985 into a year of transition. In an effort to reduce the budget deficit created by lower than expected enrollment in the summer and fall of last year, current President Paul Magelli has completed the changes by reducing the number of schools, departments, and administr~tive positions in tl1t> l.-vL-.6 G. The administration has felt the brunt of the changes made by the reorganization. By combining some programs and positions while eliminating others, the administration hopes to save nearly $750,000, and still offer all existing academic progr:ams. The seven schools at Metro have been combined into three, each with a nearly equal portion of the student body. The schools and their deans are: • School of Business-Dr. Richard Pastemalc. • School of Educational, Professional, and Technological Studies-Dr. Charles Branch. • School of Letters, Arts and Sciences-Dr. Larry Johnson. The departments under the three schools were reduced from 40 to 34. The merger eliminated four dean positons and six department chairs. All faculty whose positions were eliminated were absorbed by the college in other or similar areas, except for Dr. Gail Phares, who has retired. The savings realized by the plan allow the college to restore depleted reserves, create a fund for Institutional Advancement, and set up Institutes for Intercultural Studies and Services, Womens Studies and Services, and Entrepreneurship. As a result of changes made by the State Legislature-HB 1187 and the Long Bill-Metro will operate under an enrollment cap for the first time in its 20 year history. The state's budget for higher education during the current fiscal year sets admission requirements and resident enrollment levels for all state colleges, universities and community colleges. cont. on page s