University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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hours before her death, no absolute cause of death was established nor were any indictments made against those individuals who had left Seta alone to die. The inquiry into the death of Seta Rampersad was closed to the press and public. As we examine the testimony of the witnesses and learn how Seta spent the last hours of her life, it becomes uncomfortably clear that a grave injustice was done to Seta by terminating the inquiry into her death. At 1:30 p.m. an ambulance, re- sponding to an anonymous phone call, arrived at the Motel 6 where attendants found the naked body of Seta Rampersad. The medical ex- aminer, the first person to see the body, listed possible homicide as the cause of death at anywhere from 10 to 12 hours prior to 1:30 p.m. The determination of the time of death is extremely significant in this case, for the three people who were with Seta during the hours be- fore her death claimed that she was alive when they last saw her at 12:30 p.m. This time discrepancy was not cleared up by the inquest. In addition, the police department tained most of the information we have of what happened to Seta in the motel room. It is very important to note that each of these major wit- nesses gave very different versions of what happened that night. Yet during the inquest the judge never questioned the witnesses on why their stories did not coincide. What follows is a brief summary of the events which led to Seta ' s death, as accurately as could be determined from the fragmented and often con- flicting testimony of the three wit- nesses. On the night of her death, Seta was working as a waitress at the Captain ' s Table in Northampton. Se- ta ' s financial aid had been cut in half, making it necessary for her to work in order to finance her educa- tion. Since she did not have a car, she had to rely on other people for rides at home at 1 or 2 a.m. Jimmy, Carol and Brian were at Captain ' s Table around closing time September 13. Evidently, Jimmy of- fered Seta ride home. The four then drove to the Castaway ' s for a few drinks after hours. It is not clear whether the four were alone in the bar. We have reason to believe that investigation was not followed up by either the judge or the D.A. Accord- ing to official reports, these people were not even contacted to discover if they had information pertinent to the case. From the bar, the four preceded to a room at the Motel 6 to continue their party. Again it is not clear whether they were the only ones to enter the motel room. No compative tests were made of the fingerprints found in the room with the prints of the three people who claimed to have been alone with Seta. The case was closed without positively deter- mining who was in the room that night. Shortly after arriving at the Motel, the three testified that they may have smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine. No one seemed to recall whether or not Seta had participat- ed in using these drugs; the judge apparently did not feel it was an im- portant issue to pursue. The autopsy did say that many drugs are undec- table in a normal autopsy, and the more extensive tests could detect if these drugs if were warranted. No such tests were performed. Some time after their arrival at Deatli in Deerf ield and the District Attorney contended from the very beginning that they believed the death to have been a natural, peaceful one, with no signs of violence on Seta ' s body. Howev- er, both the medical examiner and the members of Seta ' s family who viewed the body the next day noted that there were scratches and bruises around Seta ' s mouth. Yet despite the opinion of Dr. Olsen, who termed the death a possible homi- cide and despite the obvious bruises on Seta ' s face, the D.A. continued to claim that the death was peaceful. Within the first 24 hours after Se- ta ' s body was found, the police lo- cated the man who had placed the anonymous phone call for the ambu- lance, along with two other individ- uals who had been with Seta on the morning of her death. The three people to last see Seta alive were Brian Pitzer, a former psychiatric nursing assistant, Carol Newton, a hospital cook, and De ' metrious Kon- stanlopulos, better known as Jim- my the Greek , the owner of the Castaway ' s Lounge in Whately. It was through the testimony of these three witnesses that we (The Committee Against Repression) ob- there were other people involved in this after hours party who were not mentioned during the inquest. We have received many phone calls and letters from concerned citizens who say they know of several business- men and politicians who were there. Consistently, the same five names were mentioned. Yet this avenue of the motel, Carol testified that Jim- my began slapping Seta across the face, frustrated because he couldn ' t wake her. Her limbs were trembling and she was unconscious. This is the first of three seizures the witnesses claimed she suffered. Seta had no medical history of any type of sei- zures. After the second or third sei- 15, 1979 rally 19

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Knapp Sworn In David C. Knapp was inaugurated as UMass ' 19th president in late Oc- tober. Knapp, 50, former provost of Cor- nell University in New York, was in- stalled at a ceremony inside Faneuil Hall in the revitalized Quincy Market. Knapp replaced Robert C. Wood, who gave up the UMass presidency earlier this year and subsequently became Boston School Superinten- dent. Knapp officially began his du- ties September 1st. We in universities need to renew our sense of social purpose, Knapp told the gathering. We have turned inward. We have become concerned with our disciplines per se than with their meaning for learning. Putting science, technology and society back together again lies at the heart of solving the problems we face, he added. And doing so re- quires that study related to this end must be at the core, not the fringe, of this university. United Press International David C. Knapp A Year of Campus Violence Violent is perhaps the most ade- quate way to describe the UMass campus from September 1978 to May 1979. The year began with the unsolved death of a 20-year-old UMass student, Seta Rampersad, in- cluded various incidents of sexual assault and vandalism and ended with set fires in the New Africa House during May. The violence was not only direct- ed at others and University proper- ty, but self-inflicted. Four UMass stu- dents killed themselves, three while living on-campus. In September whispers of an 18- year-old woman hanging herself in her Central Area dormitory room shocked the campus. Vice Chancel- lor for Student Affairs Dennis L. Madson told a Collegian reporter, these things come in rashes. And when another 18-year-old woman plunged to her death from the 21st floor of a Southwest tower after be- ing on campus for only five days, the entire campus stopped and ab- sorbed the news as it spread from Southwest to Northeast in a matter of hours. Students who were often under the pressures of academics, life and career goals and romantic relationships, were stunned by the decision of a peer to do what every person considers at least once dur- ing a lifetime. Other incidents of personal vio- lence marked the year, such as a rash of reported and attempted rapes during the early spring. Most of the attacks occurred at night in dimly lit areas such as park- ing lots and walkways on campus. Many women were more afraid than usual to walk alone at night, and es- cort services sprang up around cam- pus as well as sales of rape alert whistles by the rape counselor ad- vocates. Various marches and rallies protesting violence against women were held during the year. Lighting surveys were done and task forces on violence formed, yet there were very few modifications made, most- ly due to lack of funds. And no won- der, because over a quarter of a mil- lion dollars was spent on repairing University property that had been destroyed by vandalism. Walls, Doors, Windows, And Lights: Anger at the administration, the frustration of leading the life of a stu- dent, as well as alcohol abuse com- bined to move UMass students to destroy windows, lights, doors, ele- vators, furniture, fire alarms and walls. A study by the UMass Alcohol Education Project showed that 30 percent of reported incidents of van- dalism involved alcohol use. One UMass worker ' s job actually entailed repairing doors only in Southwest. Nothing escaped. Star Trek, biblical quotations, perversions and hate notes covered the library walls of a University that had a reputation for being aware, as the silent major- ity expressed itself. Residence Heads Threatened: Violence was also directed at Heads of Residence on campus, who were often the most personal representatives of the University ad- ministration that students came in contact with. The door of one head of residence was set ablaze as he slept, while a brick was thrown through the window of another. In late spring, several fires were set in the New Africa House, which housed the Afro-American Studies Department as well as other Third World related offices. At the close of the semester, the death of Seta Rampersad was still unresolved, and the violent tensions that marked the spring and fall semesters were aban- doned for summer skies. Seta Rampersad Seta Rampersad was a 20-year- old black woman student at UMass, scheduled to graduate in December of 1978 with a degree in Political Science. On the morning of Septem- ber 13, 1978 Seta was left alone to die at the Motel 6 in South Deerfield. An inquest was convened on No- vember 13 to determine the cause of Seta ' s death, and although Seta had not been alone in the immediate 18

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zure, Jimmy gave Seta a cold show- er while she was unconscious. The possibility of death by drowning was not ruled out by the medical examin- er, but this line of questioning was not pursued during the inquest. As Jimmy carried Seta from the shower to the bed, he dropped her on her head and back. After being placed in the bed. Seta suffered an- other seizure which was so severe that Jimmy and Carol placed a spoon in her mouth to prevent her from swallowing her tongue. At approximately 6 a.m., Jimmy and Carol went out to breakfast, leaving Brian with Seta. Brian testi- fied that during this time he checked her pulse several times and that she was still alive yet unconscious, and had now been in that condition for about five hours. When first ques- tioned, Brian said he was alone with Seta until 12:30, when her condition suddenly took a turn for the worse, at which point he finally called an ambulance. However, further ques- tioning revealed that he was in fact not alone — he called a friend who was a nurse to come and look at Seta. The nurse arrived at 12 noon and testified that Seta was still alive at this time, but that he suggested to Brian that he should call an ambu- lance. His allegation that Seta was still alive at noon is a direct contra- diction of the statement of Dr. 01- sen, who placed the time of death 10 to 12 hours earlier. Yet again, the judge did not deem it necessary to investigate this time discrepancy. Brian deserted Seta at 12:30 and she was found an hour later, dead and alone. The Committee against Repression, a multi-racial group consisting of both working people and students, and the Third World Women ' s Task Force worked exten- sively since the inquest to force Franklin-Hampshire County D.A. Thomas Simons to re-open the Rampersad case. It is our feeling that many prominent people would be implicated if the whole story were revealed and that this is why the case was closed, despite the many unanswered questions. A letter was sent in May to D.A. Simons which contained the names of five individ- uals who have consistently been mentioned as having attended the party on the night of Seta ' s death. Simons refused to act on this infor- mation, saying he would work only with facts and not with mere ru- mor and speculation. Yet it is his duty to investigate and gather con- crete evidence — we do not have detectives to do this. This is why Mr. Simons was elected to his office. We made no accusations against those five people; we merely brought to his attention a line of inquiry which, in the opinion of many concerned members of his constituency, was insufficiently covered by the in- quest. It should also be remembered that Seta was a black woman, the daugh- ter of working class people who did not have the money to hire attor- nies, nor the political influence to in- sure that the D.A. would look after their interests. Seta ' s case is not an isolated inci- dent of violence against Third World people in Amherst and in Boston. One only has to look at the unex- plained death (termed suicide by au- thorities) of Jose Pontes at UMass or the 10 murders of black women in Boston to realize that this is true. The legalities which obscured the death of Seta Rampersad worked most viciously against Third World and working people. However, the fact that an individual is not a Third World person does not make one exempt from such devouring injus- Take Back the Night tices of the judicial legal machine. What has happened to Seta Ramper- sad is a possibility that confronts us all. On May 15, 1979, a rally was held in front of the Court House in North- ampton to present to the D.A. peti- tions containing the names of about 2,000 people who feel that the Ram- persad case should be re-opened. The rally was attended by over 150 people. At this writing. May 1979, the D.A. has refused to re-open the case, despite the large amount of public support being generated by the Committee Agains Repression and the Third World Women ' s Task Force. We will continue our struggle, a struggle for people ' s justice. A commemoration of Seta ' s death in September and a meeting with state Attorney General Frank Bellotti was planned for the future. Lynn Bonesteel Chanting slogans such as Yes, that ' s right; we ' re taking back the night, UMass and area women marched once in the fall of 1978 and again in spring 1979 to protest vio- lence against women. The marches were similar to hun- dreds of Take Back the Night marches organized internationally in major cities and on college cam- puses. The marches were designed to symbolize a woman ' s right to walk alone at night without fear. Both the November 18 march through down- town Northampton and the May 3 march through Amherst center and the UMass campus wound through dimly lit streets and areas where rapes were reported. Organizers of these and similar marches asked men not to march but to show their support by lining the streetsides in a candlelight vigil. Over 2,500 women and about 500 men demonstrated in the North- ampton streets while over 1,000 women marched and about 100 men stood in the rain from the Am- herst Common to the UMass Stu- dent Union building. Eggs were thrown at the demon- straters in Northampton, and water balloons were thrown during the spring march from the vicinity of a UMass fraternity. Reactions to both marches were mixed. Both men and women said they questioned the effect of the march in preventing violence against women, but others said publicizing a once forbidden subject makes peo- ple aware that violence against women is not uncommon. More awareness, rape counselors said, will increase safety precautions and reportage of rape, sexual harrass- ment and wife-beating. In 1978 the FBI estimated that only one in 10 rapes is reported. One of the changes called for by march organizers was improved lighting on campus, yet physical plant officials said there was not enough money for additional light- ing. And in 1979, several rapes were reported in dimly lit parking lots and walkways on campus, where march- ers shouted A woman was raped here, and I won ' t be next.