Department of Public Safety reports concerning residence hall robberies are commonly found in student inboxes, but reports about raids at knifepoint are, not surprisingly, less frequent.
That is, except for the winter of 1974, when there were two such robberies in one night.
Between the hours of midnight and 1 a.m. students from both South Quad Residence Hall and West Quad Residence Hall were threatened at knifepoint by a group of robbers, according to a January 26, 1974 article in The Michigan Daily.
Howard Jacobson told the Daily at the time that three males sauntered into his room in West Quad through the half-open door around 12:15 a.m. and pulled out a knife, threatening Jacobson and his two friends.
The tallest of the three assailants, wielding a 12-inch butcher knife, targeted one of Jacobson’s friends and said, “You have three minutes to find some dope or I’ll slit your throat,” according to the article in the Daily.
Three minutes didn’t give the friend much time and when the victims could not produce any “dope,” the tallest robber repeated the threat and searched the room himself.
Upon finding Jacobson’s wallet containing $50, the shortest of the robbers nervously urged his cohorts to quit the scene, according to the article. After instructing the three victims to count to 50, they fled the scene, taking the $50 with them.
A mere 30 minutes later, Mark Katzenberger, Tim Ryback and Debra Joy heard a knock on their door in South Quad. Upon opening the door, they saw two of the three robbers who had visited Jacobson’s room.
The assailants brought the 12-inch knife with them once again and the tallest drew the knife to Katzenberger’s throat and promised to slit it if marijuana was not produced, according to the Daily article.
These three victims were also forced to the ground while the robbers searched the room for the illusive “dope.” The robbers came up short, but did snag $15 from Katzenberger’s wallet and $5 from Joy’s.
This time the victims were instructed to count to 300 while the assailants made their getaway. The victims, Ryback told the Daily, rebelliously only counted to 100.