Looking back at an unfortunate Meramec incident
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
As The Montage approaches its 60th anniversary later in 2024, it’s notable that archived digital copies that can be viewed by readers on The Montage’s “Issuu” page only date back to 2010. The rest are not lost to time, however. Print copies, both loose and binded, still exist. They date all the way back to the very first issue in 1964 and can be accessed in the Library.
As we approach the next volume of issues, The Montage would like to take you back in time to some of those issues throughout the coming school year. This month, we’re taking a look back at one of the most unfortunate, dark chapters in the campus’s history that took place 11 years ago.
Statistics prove that STLCC, and Meramec especially, are mostly safe campuses with low crime stats. STLCC Police Captain Benjamin Talley stressed this during an October 2023 interview for a Clery Report story.
That being said, Meramec has been in a so-called eye of the storm on occasion. One such event in April 2013 was not among this institution’s proudest moments. It left the campus shaken, criticized and in the latter instance, without a beloved Campus President.
April 2013: A savage assault rocks Meramec and leads to a change in leadership
On Thursday, April 18, 2013, one of the more harrowing incidents in the history of the Meramec campus took place in the second floor women’s restroom of the now demolished Communication South building when then-student Blythe Grupe was violently assaulted by then-student Jevon Mallory before then-English Professor Aurora Hill walked in and summoned the police, who were already nearby resolving a different issue and apprehended Mallory in short order.
Grupe told the Montage’s Editor-In-Chief Kavahn Mansouri that “About five minutes into the class I left to use the restroom. Right when I was about to wash my hands, and I hadn’t noticed anyone around or anything, someone had walked in and kind of slipped past me. I realized someone was standing behind me, but at that point he had me in a headlock and was choking me with his arm. […] He was saying things like ‘please be quiet’ and shushing me. Not in an aggressive way or an angry way but in a weird gentle tone, like there was some other motive.”
The attack appeared to lack motive, although Grupe said that she felt as if Mallory’s intent was to kill her. In the STLCC case report, then-Campus Police Chief Paul Banta wrote that Mallory said he wanted to “vent his rage” and planned on “withdrawing her from life.”
In the days and weeks immediately following the attack, campus leadership and the college as a whole received harsh criticism for what the public considered to be a lack of communication regarding the matter. The first formal comment from the college came 5 days after the attack, after more victims of Mallory came forward and Mallory returned to campus to be expelled for his actions.
Regarding the college’s initial responses to the assault, Grupe said “I definitely wish they would have [said something]. I understand they can’t give out confidential information like names and specifics. But I really think that it was important that they would have let the students know that this happened.”
Grupes said her classmates were unaware of the attack, and were annoyed that they weren’t informed in a timely manner. Even staff and faculty were somewhat blindsided, including Mallory’s Professor Linda Copeland, who’s class he was supposed to be in at the time of the assault. She told Mansouri that her daughter, who lives in Kansas City, heard about the story and notified her of the attack before the college did.
Among other fallout, the incident led to the abrupt resignation of then-Campus President George Wasson, who had been in the role for two years but had a three decade long career at Meramec before it. Wasson was replaced by then-Wildwood Campus President Pam McIntyre, who served in the role until 2015.
Wasson’s departure left the campus reeling even more, with Vice President of Academic Affairs Andrew Langrehr, then-Vice President of Student Affairs Linden Crawford and then-Coordinator of Enrollment Management Kim Fitzgerald all expressing shock over Wasson’s resignation.
Fitzgerald, however, told Mansouri, “I think it’s pretty obvious there’s a direct link to the recent incidents. Having been here for over 25 years you see a lot of things happen and you see a lot of people come and go. You see a lot of people go out in flames. George has been there for a long time and unfortunately longevity doesn’t really get you a whole lot when it comes to matters like this.”
Wasson’s departure also left the Student Body shocked, with then-Student Governance President Philip Oehlerking saying that the college should have released a statement stating specifically why Wasson resigned. Jacob Hight, a then-Student life employee, told Mansouri, ““Horrible things are always going to happen and we should do our best to make sure they don’t happen. There’s never going to be a situation that’s so perfect an individual isn’t going to circumvent the safeguard of a certain place. I think attention needs to be paid to what really needs to be done instead of looking for scapegoats.”
The Montage covered the incident and its aftermath extensively, including in the notable May 2, 2013 issue titled “The Domino Effect.”
The situation was also covered in detail the following year in the April 17, 2014 issue, titled “A Closer Look” which featured updated reporting and an official timeline of events compiled by then-Editor-In-Chief Spencer Gleason.
April 2024:
Now, it’s 11 years later. The campus has changed considerably, and an incident of that magnitude has not occurred since. Many people present on campus during that time are no longer at Meramec. And even the scene of the crime, Communications South, is gone, recently demolished during the Fall 2023 semester.
Jevon Mallory was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for the assault in late 2014, but can no longer be found on the MODOC Offender Search website or through the Inmate Locator. Blythe Grupe and George Wasson were both unable to be reached for comment. When asked last week if he’d like to reflect on the matter, Andrew Langrehr also politely declined to comment.
