Volume 21 Issue 30 May 28, 1999 |
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Contents:
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NEWS |
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Auraria Board Increases parking
lot fees The Auraria Board increased parking fees to $3.25 from $2.50 in some lots to pay for debts and parking lot improvements. "It's a necessary evil," said John Baker, a Student Advisory Committee for the Auraria Board representative, "The fact is Auraria Board acknowledged that they failed to increase parking back seven/eight years ago. Last year and this year they are reacting to the realities of the economic situation." The board gave parking lots closest to the campus the highest increase. Fees for parking lots on the eastside of 7th Street were raised to $3.25 per day from $2.50. The lots on the west side of 7th Street now charge between $2.25 to $2.75 per day, up from the $2 to $2.25 previous rates. Fees for the lots on 5th Street increased from $1.25 per day are now $1.50 per day. About 500 to 800 spaces at the Pepsi Center will be available at prices similar to campus parking, said Dean Wolf, executive vice president for administration at Auraria. Wolf said most of the revenue from the rate increase will go toward buying and paving the parking lot west of the parking garage on Walnut Street and 7th Street. The lot is owned by Public Service Company of Colorado. Curt Wiedeman, Director of Business
Services at Auraria, said the increases are necessary to pay back loans
to buy the lots. "We have to pay a $1.25 for every dollar we borrowed
to buy the space for the parking lots," Wiedeman said, "We had
not raised the rate since 1991 before last year." The Metro Student Government Assembly presented a petition with 1,833 signatures of faculty and students in opposition of the parking fee increase at the May 10 meeting. Darnell said the board did not notify the campus members sufficiently, said Jennifer Darnell, Student Body President. "I think that they have good reasons for [the increases], unfortunately I don't think they communicated it very well," Darnell said. "If the students knew the reasoning, they would be more supportive of it. They handled it very poorly." Darnell said she learned about the increase four days before the meeting. Other faculty members who attended the meeting had similar objections. "The fee increase was announced one week and voted on the next," said John Krenetsky, Metro Biology professor. "More notice should be given." Wolf said the board held
informative meetings for many months before the decision was made, but they
were poorly attended. Wolf said flyers about the meetings were not passed
out, but the board will distribute notices |
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Capitol Reporter a no go for spring semester A $1 million budget deficit eliminated funding for Metro-run newspaper the Capitol Reporter and cut several other college programs. The Capitol Reporter, a weekly newspaper that covered the Colorado Legislature, had been part of Metro's Journalism department for 10 years. "We had an enrollment dip last year, so we lost tuition dollars, said Debbie Thomas, vice president of College Communications. "We lost some state funding because our budget is based on the number of students we have." Ten to 40 students worked as reporters, editors and designers and received three to 12 credits toward a journalism degree. The paper operated during spring semester when the legislature was in session. Editor Doug Bell said 15 students worked on the staff this year. Thomas said Metro President Sheila Kaplan and her cabinet felt the Capitol Reporter benefited too few students for its $130,000 yearly price tag. When Kaplan and her cabinet were creating ways to trim the budget The Capitol Reporter "tripped their radar," Thomas said. "It was the only program that was eliminated," she said, explaining its removal looked harsher because other programs had reduced funding instead of being eliminated. Among the programs were the counseling center, which was moved into Health Services, because it had a surplus. Thomas said her department had $12,000 cut from its publication budget. Eight administration positions were eliminated; seven of which were vacant. Thomas said the eighth administrator was moved to another department. The Capitol Reporter's staff was shocked to hear about the paper was eliminated. "I had just come back from a recruiting trip on the Western Slope and a lot of students were interested in coming to Metro to work at The Capitol Reporter next spring," Bell said. Bell said he had made plans for next year, including starting up a wire service for weekly papers. Reporter Lois Wymore, a junior, who worked at The Capitol Reporter this year, said an ad hoc committee of students and professors has been formed to save the newspaper. "We want to solicit the help of the administration and work together with them," Wymore said. Wymore said the committee would like Metro to finance the paper for the next four years but with less funding. "They could cut the funding by 50 percent for two years and then by 25 percent for two years, and by then we should have secured the money to keep it running without Metro's help," she said. Wymore said the committee has had several ideas about how to get outside funding. "We can turn this around and make it more beneficial than ever," she said. Thomas said if the committee can come up with alternate sources of funding and become self-supporting, "that would be great." The Capitol Reporter was one of two student newspapers in the country to cover their legislatures. The Legislative Gazette at State University College at New Palz, N.Y., is the other. |
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Metro student killed in home, possibly for his stereo equipment
A 23-year-old Metro business major was shot to death at his Commerce City home May 17. Jason Alyn Trefny's father found him shortly after 1 p.m. lying unconscious on the basement floor of their home at 21085 E. 118 Ave. Robert Trefny had just returned home and called paramedics who were unable to resuscitate the victim. Trefny had placed a classified ad in the Denver Rocky Mountain News to sell a synthesizer, keyboard and sound mixing equipment. The equipment was missing from the house. Trefny's sister told police someone was coming over to look at the equipment that day. Adam's County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Mike Kerchevel said the shooting might be linked to the missing equipment. "We don't know if (the equipment) was sold prior to his death or if his death is related to the missing equipment," he said. Trefny worked part time on the weekends as a DJ at Cosmo Lounge and Club, 1523 Market St. "He loved his music," Robert Trefny, Jason's father, said. Trefny was only a few credits away from getting his business degree. Police have no suspects. Anyone with information about the case can call Det. Larry Peterson at (303) 655-3618. |
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Metro back, no more 'The Met' Metro administrators have dropped a two-year campaign to change Metro's image saying it never caught on. In 1997 the administrators decided Metro needed an identity makeover and creating a new nickname for the college; 'The Met' "Two years ago we were trying to have an identity and image change, and it never really caught on," said Debbie Thomas, assistant vice president of college communication. Thomas said people unfamiliar with Metro assumed it was a community college and that students received a second-rate education. "Being called 'The Met' gave us an unclear image of who we were in the community. There was a mix of people who didn't like it, and the media never liked it," Thomas said. Students had an uproar when the name was changed and never accepted the name completely. "I've been attending Metro for three semesters now and when I came in 'The Met' was already there. I've known it as Metro State, so the change won't really effect me," said Metro student Heath Johnson. "In the 13 years that I have been here, Metro State has been the name that I preferred," said Kari Tutwiler, associate director of student activities. "Metro gives a second chance to people who might have messed up the first time or the non-traditional students, and I have always been proud of that," said Tutwiler. Metro departments will continue to use 'The Met' stationery and business cards with 'The Met' nickname until they run out. The Auraria Book Center will lose up to $10,000 in unsold 'Met' merchandise, said Ed Schlichenmayer, director of center. "Students have preferred Metro merchandise over 'The Met' (merchandise) since the nickname changed," said Schlichenmayer. 'The Met' merchandise in the center will be markdown until everything is sold. |
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Gun show sparks debate over gun control PROVO, Utah — Blane Stokes was just one of the hundreds of people
who went to the state fairgrounds this weekend for the "Crossroads
of the West Gun Show." But unlike most of the other event attendees,
Stokes didn't buy a gun. He never planned to. Stokes said he found an illegal device to convert a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic, as well as switchblades and guns he said he couldn't find in stores. Bob Templeton, the gun show producer, said no illegal items were for sale at the gun show, and the only thing shoppers could find there that they couldn't find in stores were collector guns or other historically significant weapons. Availability of illegal weapons is only one of the controversies surrounding gun show sales. Recently state lawmakers have called for stricter gun control, mandating background checks at gun shows. But many think that's the wrong way to go. "I'm concerned about the level of gun violence, but my sense is that more gun laws aren't going to make much of a difference. We already have over 35,000 laws regulating guns and gun sales at the federal and state level, and it hasn't stopped gun violence," Templeton said. "What we need to do is enforce the laws we've got," said Dave Hunt of the National Rifle Association. House Minority Leader Dave Jones said current laws are not sufficient. Jones wants to tighten up what he sees as three gun show loop-holes. Current law denies felons access to firearms. Jones also wants those convicted of misdemeanors to be denied firearms access. Jones also wants the Bureau of Criminal Information notified when someone pleads insanity or mental illness so they can't pass a background check. Another problem Jones sees is that background checks are not required on all gun show sales. If a gun is sold by a licensed dealer, a buyer must fill out a Firearms Transaction Record which forces a seller to check with the BCI for any past criminal history. But if the gun is sold by a private owner or collector, no FTR is required — that means no background checks for private gun-show sales. In California, background checks are required on all gun show sales, and Templeton said he thinks Utah will adopt the same regulation by the end of the year. The Utah legislature is conducting a 90 day study period to decide whether tighter gun control laws will be mandated. Until then, gun show patrons like Stokes will wonder if gun shows are as safe as organizers purport. "One thing I did notice is that on the back of my pocket knife the dealer was blacked out. I'm just curious why they crossed out the manufacturer name and address," Stokes said. |
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Metro graduation the largest class ever A record number of students received college degrees from Metro on May 16. Some 1,151 students graduated, compared with 999 students in spring 1998. The youngest graduate was 16 years old and the oldest was 65 years old. Nearly 20 percent of the graduates were ethnic minorities, of these were Hispanic. Most of the degrees were awarded in criminal justice and criminology, followed by behavioral sciences, psychology, biology, and management. A number of students who plan to graduate in the summer of 1999 participated in the spring commencement ceremony although school officials had no estimate of the number. Names and honors of the summer graduates will be published in the fall 1999 commencement program. The Office of College Communications estimated the number of prospective summer graduates as 570 students. Several students said although they will graduate this summer they would not return for the fall commencement. "I could have walked in the spring but it would be anti-climactic to go back to school. I could just come back in the fall to finish up but I'm going this summer so I can get out into the work force and start paying back my loans," said Rocky DeNileon, a Spanish major. Deborah Tananbaum, a biology major, said she was disappointed because although she could have walked in the spring ceremony, her 3.7 grade point average would not be recognized until the fall commencement. "I worked really hard but after I've been gone for six months, I doubt I'll want to come back for a ceremony." |
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College's participate in robotic decathlon Winning all but two of the ten events, ETS held on to their title for a
second year in a row. Universidad Bonaterra from Mexico won the Trip Wire
and Hill Climb events with their robot "Cosmo." Winning these
two events placed them in second with Washington State University's robot
"Caliban" coming |
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Mini flood wets Tivoli rugs An afternoon rain and hail storm May 20, flooded three doorways in the Tivoli and took half an hour to clean up. "Whenever it starts to rain, we go to the areas that have been problems in the past," said Dan Buckley, Tivoli building manager. Mops, squeegees and wet vacuums were used to clean up the flooded areas around the doorways of the Tivoli, Buckley said. "We had barriers to keep people in a safe path," Buckley said. "In 1997 we installed back-flow valves, which helped us immensely," said Barb Weiske, director of campus auxiliaries. A storm in Aug. 1997 left the Tivoli with thousands of dollars in damage, and prompted repairs to the drainage system. "There is a major drain system being made with the Pepsi Center and the new Performing Arts Center," Weiske said. The Tivoli did not incur any damage which could be recorded this time said weiske, only wet carpets. |
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COMMENTARY |
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Online classes shouldn't replace the real thing The educational system these days has the convenience and flexibility of online education through the Internet. I accept online learning as an alternative but not a primary source of education. I believe people who use the online services instead of classroom style education are making an unreversible sacrifice in education for flexibility and convenience in their lifestyle. Omitting classroom style education will be a huge mistake for the educational system and society as a whole. From my research, and in my opinion, online does not develop or cultivate anything physical, aesthetic or moral that will benefit either the student, instructors or society. Content learned is not education. Education is applying content with interpersonal communication that is learned in classrooms by students and instructors. Look back to our history as a society and you will not find one incident where something learned without interpersonal relations developed into a moral learning experience. The most rewarding benefit of education is sharing what we learn with others in the classroom - James C. Carl |
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Foreign students can't afford another increase in tuition When I started my first time in a college in the United States I found out that studying here was very interesting, however, tuition for international students is very high. It is four times more than American students' tuition fees. In-state students pay $1,173 and out-of-state students pay $4,143 for 18 credit hours per semester. I heard that tuition would be increased again by 2-5 percent. This is a very high rate. I am very worried. Do the schools and the government think about students, especially international students, who wont' be able to pay tuition when it's increasing. I am an international student from Cambodia. I could not afford to come to school here if I didn't have sponsors. My parents work for the government in Cambodia. Their salaries are $20 a month. Although they knew that I wanted to come to study in the United States, they could not help me pay tuition at all. Fortunately, I found my current sponsors who were very kind to pay for my studies here. They paid more than $4,000 for my tuition per semester plus more than $800 for living expenses per month. My sponsors are working very hard to earn money. I can see and understand that their expenses for me have limits. They won't be able to pay for tuition if it increases too high. International students cannot work off-campus according to INS law. On campus jobs pay very low. I, as well as most international students, get paid $5.75 an hour. I know it's very hard for schools, especially public schools like Metro, not to increase tuition. However, I think it's not a good way to collect those funds by increasing tuition. Schools can get funds from the government and also from increasing a little bit of in-state tuition, especially American students, but not from increasing international students' tuition fees. At least the school should keep international students' tuition flat if it could not lower them. I strongly believe that schools should not increase tuition fees regardless of any reasons. I also urge all the students to get up against tuition increasing. - Vida Vanchan |
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What's my schools' name again? I was just getting used to The Met. Two years ago, in an effort to change the college's image, the administration decided to change the nickname to The Met. Now, according to the administration, the idea never really caught on, so the nickname is now what the rest of the world has been using...Metro. It's a shame to see the administration give up on a hopeless advertising campaign. After all, the advertising firm the Integer Group, the same group who is responsible for the Boston Market advertising campaign, must have been on to something when they suggested the name change for Metro. I think the administration didn't carry the idea far enough. The Met was supposed to conjure up images of a swanky, hip urban college, which would attract new applicants. Not a bad idea. Who cares if the college ran the risk of students sending off application packets to the New York opera, or the college receiving stacks of fan mail for Snoopy. Being hip has its price. During the last 30 seconds I have thought of a few ideas, which might help the college improve its image. Like the Integer group, I'm offering my ideas pro bono. In the spirit of shorter names, Metro President Sheila Kaplan needs to change her name to Met Pres SheKap on all official college communications. Let's face it. The name Sheila Kaplan conjures up images of stuffy university deans at Harvard. Met Pres SheKap, however, conjures up images of trendy rap stars. What high school student would not go to a college where the president was a bomb rap star? Perhaps a couple sets at the Thursday gig series in the Tivoli would even boost Kaplan's, oops... SheKap's, ratings in the faculty senate. A second improvement would be to drop the "Summer is Cool" advertising campaign designed to boost enrollment. Summer offers a pretty difficult choice; shooting the rapids, climbing a fourteener, backyard cookouts or getting that English 102 class out of the way. An advertising campaign needs to be geared for Metro's large non-traditional student population. The campaign would be, "You Would Just Have To Pick Up Extra Shifts At Your Dead-End Job, So You Might As Well Take A Couple Classes." To gear the campaign to 18-year-old students, all the administration would need to do is add the word "Dude" to the end. |
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FEATURES |
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"Am I crazy or am I a genius? I don't think I'm either."
A line, a curve, a space. The simplicity of of the late John Lennon's artwork looks like single-framed comic strips. In his work Lennon draws himself as a caricature with wild hair, a large nose and granny glasses. Those who don't know Lennon's past might think his drawings are simply a rock star's attempt at art. But his first love was art, and he trained at the Liverpool Art Institute from 1957-60 before the Beatles became the focus of his life. His artwork, like his music, is based in simplicity, yet they contain deeper more structured elements. Over 100 of his lithographs will be displayed at the Oxford Hotel, 1600 17th St., Denver. "Lennon's artwork connects with people on a personal level, a lot like his music did," Paul Jillson, curator of the exhibit, said. "It's simple, but emotional." Most of the drawings include the people in his life, especially his family. He originally created drawings of animals and celestial objects as a visual aid to help teach his son, Sean, to read. Lennon signed his drawings in Japanese. Artists in Asia sign their works with an individual stamp known as a chop. Lennon designed his own chop and stamped all his drawings with it, using red ink. His chop translated means, Like a Cloud, Beautiful Sound. In 1969 he created a portfolio of his drawings called "Bag One."
It depicted his wedding to Yoko Ono and their honeymoon. He gave her the
book as a wedding present. In 1970 Lennon released "Bag One" as
a lithograph Ono began displaying the works again after Lennon's murder in New York in 1980. At one of the first showings, a gallery owner colored some of Lennon's works, telling Ono no one would buy them if they were in black and white. Ono was shocked that the gallery owner changed the pieces without consulter her. She later decided that if the drawings needed color, she should be the one to do it. The exhibit at the Oxford will have some Lennon originals, but primarily includes of hand-reproduced prints. "When you walk through the display you get to know John Lennon. You see his humor - his sadness. It's like an autobiography of Lennon done with drawings," Jillson said. More on John:
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SPORTS |
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McDermott fires two 'good employees' Metro Athletic Director Joan McDermott fired two department employees earlier this month. McDermott fired Larry McGill, marketing and promotions coordinator for athletics and a Metro employee for over 30 years, and Rick Jensen, the athletic department business manager. "It was my decision, as hard as it was," McDermott said. "They're both very good employees, but it's important for us to take the department in a different direction and this is an opportunity to do that." McDermott called the firings a "restructuring" of the department. The marketing and promotions coordinator will become more focused on fund-raising. The coordinator will work closely with alumni, McDermott said. McDermott will take on some of the business manager's workload, including monitoring the budget. She expects official job titles and descriptions to be announced by the end of this week. McGill said his firing came without warning. In a meeting on May 4, the morning after Metro's athletic banquet, McDermott told him that his position had been "eliminated," McGill said. "I guess they thought I wouldn't work the banquet if they fired me first," McGill said. McDermott said she knew the timing was bad. "There was no significance to the banquet," McDermott said. "I felt horrible doing it then." Jensen, on the other hand, said he felt his days in the department were numbered when McDermott became the athletic director in December, after her second stint as head coach of the women's volleyball team. "Based on her tone and attitude, I could tell there was going to be a problem," he said. "It had nothing to do with my job performance. There are some personality conflicts between her and others in the office." But Jensen said McDermott allowed him to stay and work in the office for a while." She was good about that," he said. "She said I could come and go as I pleased in the office and that she knew that I would have interviews that I would need to do." However, on May 12 McDermott changed her mind and asked him to leave, Jensen said. McDermott would not comment on why she asked Jensen to leave the office. Metro's former women's basketball coach, Darryl Smith, who left the Roadrunners after eight winning seasons to take a job at Wichita State University in June 1998, said he is worried about the environment of the department. "I am concerned about how people are being treated," Smith said. "They can fire whoever they want. I'm happy that I had the opportunity to leave. I would have been very unhappy if I would have stayed there." Shelley Chavez, administrative assistant of intercollegiate athletics said tension is mounting in the office. "It's so thick you can't even walk in (the office) without feeling it," Chavez said. But McDermott said she does not plan to make any further personnel changes."This is summer when a lot of changes are made," McDermott said. "And we are a Division II school and people are always looking to move up to Division I, but I don't see anyone else leaving soon." |
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Why am I writing this column? Honestly, I'm just a sophomore that somehow worked her way into the sports editor position for this newspaper. In reality, I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. Frankly, I'm scared. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with this job. For the next year I have to figure out what and who in the world of Metro sports is going to be covered. I'll be asking myself how much print the second-best Division II basketball team deserves? How much will you be willing to read? And how will I ensure that other teams don't feel slighted by the coverage they receive? On March 12 The Metropolitan ran a letter to the editor by men's swimming team member Jess Schwartzkopf that criticized our coverage of his team. "I picked up the paper today to see the most pathetic coverage of our team I have ever seen," wrote Schwartzkopf. But maybe it's not just our coverage of the teams that is lacking at this school. Trust me, in the year that I have been here, I have heard this said a thousand times before. Still I think it's worth repeating. Student support at Metro games and events is non-existent. Last fall I attended a volleyball game and the only vocal support for the Roadrunners came from the men's basketball team. The fans who lined the soccer fields at games were always friends and families of the players. However, when I traveled to Louisville, Ky., to cover the men's basketball team in the NCAA Division II national championship, it was a different story. Over 4,000 Kentucky Wesleyan College fans traveled about 30 minutes, according to locals, to watch their team take home the national championship. There aren't even 4,000 students attending Kentucky Wesleyan College. In a nutshell, I know I won't be able to please everybody. That's why I wrote this column, to convince myself that I don't have to lose any sleep over it. Yet, somehow I know I still will. Jennifer Youngman is the sports editor for The Metropolitan. Her e-mail address is youngman@mscd.edu. |
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Inquiry examines assault claims against Minnesota athletes (U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS — University of Minnesota President Mark Yudof
broadened the men's athletics investigation May 21 after newspaper reports
alleged University officials repeatedly influenced criminal Athletics officials intervened in at least six claims of sexual harassment and assault involving men's basketball and football players between 1993 to1997, the Star Tribune reported May 21. The accusations have prompted students to organize a protest Monday in front of Morrill Hall at noon. Reports allege that McKinley Boston, vice president for Student Development and Athletics, pressured a female student and tutor to change her story after a football player allegedly masturbated in front of her. Yudof said Boston has denied discouraging women from coming forward with claims against athletes. "(Boston) says that the stories that involve him are not true," Yudof said. Boston could not be reached for comment. The president said he expects a report detailing the findings of the new investigation by July 1. Don Lewis, a Minneapolis attorney who is also looking into the allegations of academic fraud, and Julie Sweitzer, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action, will head the investigation. Yudof said he wants investigators to answer the following question: "Is there a pattern or system in men's athletics that systematically tries to discourage, dissuade, coerce or cajole women from filing grievances?" If that answer is yes, the president said the implications for the University are very serious. "I'm not going to tolerate this," Yudof said. "We need to make sure the culture of athletics is the same as the rest of the University." The allegation that campus police have cooperated with athletic officials in a number of criminal investigations struck a nerve in the University Police Department on Friday. Several officers and police administrators voiced concern that the newspaper reports of unethical police conduct are overstated. Others commented that the investigators who reportedly collaborated with the athletics department are no longer working with the campus police. University Police investigators have been accused of negotiating agreements with men's athletics officials in order to divert athletes from prosecution. Men's basketball coach Clem Haskins and former men's football coach Jim Wacker have also reportedly made claims that the campus police department has routinely discriminated against black athletes. Former University Police Chief Joy Rikala, who led the department during the years of alleged impropriety, could not be reached for comment. "I'm concerned how the University Police Department has been portrayed,"
Lt. Mike Listul said, who has worked with the campus police for 29 years.
"We certainly do not consult with anyone on how we should proceed with
Lt. Steve Johnson, acting police chief, said athletes are not treated differently in police investigations, adding that it is difficult to determine which officers were involved in the alleged misconduct. "I would hope people would judge us on what we are doing now," he said. Most current police officers have been supportive of sexual assault victims, said University students Nikki Wright and Rebecca Dreke, who are also victim advocates for the Program Against Sexual Violence. Retired University Police Sgt. Joe May, who headed investigations from 1995 to last January, said he has never known an officer to downplay a sexual assault if the suspect was an athlete. Athletics officials often complained that the department was too aggressive in pursuing charges against athletes, May said. "We got complaints from them that we were coming down heavier on them than we should have because they were athletes and because they were a minority group," he said. He noted that officers routinely called athletics officials if an athlete was under criminal investigation. "If it didn't jeopardize the investigation, I would call and tell them, 'Hey, you have a guy under investigation right now,'" he said. "And many times, that would result in this guy just all of a sudden being dismissed (from the team)." |
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