Before sunrise on Tuesday, October 1, Western’s senior cabinet, made up of its top administration officials, convened an emergency meeting. A “member of the community,” whom some of them had recently become aware, had just fallen 25 feet down a shaft from the roof of the Leslie J. Savage library and was in serious condition in the Gunnison Valley Health Hospital Emergency Room.
Hours later, students and faculty were alerted about the incident by Dean of Students Gary Pierson. “I wanted to inform you all…. that a community member was able to access the roof of the library building… to obtain heat,” the email stated. It warned students against doing anything that could cause “severe injuries.”
The email did not name the person, but according to a police report obtained by Top, the individual who fell from the roof was Cory Camp, 25.
Several people on campus told Top that they knew Camp. He previously worked at the Rare Air Cafe, or RAC, in the University Center. He spent hours at the library, recently causing alarm because he was lighting incense and vaping, according to library staff members who reported it to administration officials.
Dashown Wilson, director of campus security services, had been told about Camp the previous day. Then, around 4:45 am Tuesday, he was awakened by a call from overnight security that someone had fallen down a shaft. Wilson immediately called Pierson who in turn awakened Western President Brad Baca. Within an hour the school’s top officials were meeting on a video call, where they decided to take the rare step of making Camp this year’s first “PNG,” or persona non grata, barring him from entering campus. According to Pierson, typically two or three PNG’s are issued per school year.
Top reached Camp by phone. Camp, who was in the valley and agreeable to an interview, said he took issue with the school’s portrayal of what happened, saying the incident was “falsely reported.” Camp said he did not remove the grate from the library roof, as Pierson stated in the email. Camp also said he was not seeking warmth but a quiet place to read. He easily accessed the low roof from the southeast side of the library, where it sits approximately six feet off the ground.
“I went up there because I wanted to read my sustainable energy book on top of the boiler room,” Camp said. “[The location] had an environmental similarity.” Camp said he often studied at the library and was planning to be there all day. “I had a 14 hour day planned at the library. That’s why I was there at five in the morning.”
Camp said he was finding a spot to read when he fell nearly 25 feet through the shaft. He said he tried to cushion the fall by landing on his blanket but that the impact crushed his T8 vertebrae and fractured his pelvis. He managed to reach his cell phone and call 911.
Body cam footage reviewed by Top staff showed as many as ten emergency responders—police, EMTs, fire department—working to retrieve him. One responder rappelled to the bottom of the shaft to get Camp.
Camp said he now has two rods and ten screws in his back but was slowly recovering. He told Top that he had been studying to become a student at Western, as well as training for the Olympics in skiing, something Top could not independently confirm.
Pierson said he had spoken to Camp a couple of weeks after the incident. “I checked in with him. He is seeking reinstatement to campus. But no decision has been made.”
Top Staff contributed to this story.