Security Demanded Following Rapes

COLLEGE PARK, Md.--The University of Maryland women's center is demanding improved security education and better lighting following reports of seven rapes or attempted rapes this semester.

Noting that most of the rapes involved freshmen, the women's center proposal urges that "freshperson orientation must have mandatory security education."

The proposal also calls on the university to reinstitute police foot patrols, replace burned-out lights more quickly and allocate night-time parking privileges so students may park closer to night classes.

The women's center planned a "consciousness-raising" demonstration on campus to call attention to the four rapes and three attempted rapes since school began--a record number in any one semester.

The latest incident occured October 29 when a woman was pushed against a wall by an unidentified male as she was returning to her dormitory at about 9:45 p.m. She escaped unharmed after kicking the man in the groin.

Three days earlier, two women were abducted in a car and raped in the early morning hours before being released. Earlier in the year two women reported they were raped in an off-campus fraternity house, but they declined to press charges.

Last year, the university ranked fourth in violent crimes among nearly 300 public colleges and universities in the nation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported.