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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 30
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Few minorities chosen for royalty
By Fatty W>w>l
Staff Reporter
Eighteen finalists for homecoming royalty
were announced Tuesday and at least a few
students are unhappy about the make-up of the
group.
Andy Vuko, chairwoman of the homecom
ing royalty committee, said only one member
of the group was a minority. That same finalist,
Joyce Yen, an Asian-American, is the only
non-greek.
Kwani Stewart and Ayanna Boykins, who
both applied to be on the court, complained to
several organizations last week that the selec
tion process was biased against minorities and
non-greek students. They asked for a delay in
the selection process but were denied.
Of the 33 semifinalists, all but one of the 15
men were greek and none were minorities.
Four of the 17 women were non-greek and two
were minorities.
In a letter to the committee, Stewart ami
Boykins stated the homecoming selection com
mittee was not diverse enough to understand
applications submitted from minorities.
But Vuko said the selection process was fair
to everyone. The committee met last week to
consider applicants based on university activi
ties, community involvement, written essays,
awards, scholarship, honors and GPA.
Race, she said, was not a factor.
“There is nothing (on the application) that
says please mark your religion, your race,”
Vuko said.
The composition of the homecoming roy
alty committee, she said, helped it weed through
greek applicants. The committee is composed
of four students, one staff member and one
faculty member. One student member was non
greek and one of the members of the committee
was a minority.
Vuko said the greekson the committee could
see through applicants whose activities were
based on required involvement in their houses.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for students
affairs, served on the selection committee and
said he thought the process had been fair. Griesen
said the two students probably were disap
pointed they hadn’t made the cut.
“I have been contacted by the individuals,”
he said. ”1 understand their concerns, but I think
it’s a matter of disappointment.”
But Stewart, a senior biological sciences
major, said her concerns went further than that
Stewart decided to complain based on com
ments made to her by the only minority mem
ber of the selection committee, she said. The
committee membertold Stewart the committee
was unable to identify with her involvement
and her essays, she said.
He said the applicants of color were not
looked at closely and did not get a fair shake,
Stewart said.
See HOMECOMING on 3
UNL committee
to investigate
role in death
By Mattlfw Waite
Senior Reporter
Chancellor Graham Spanier announced
Monday that a committee would investigate the
UNL Police Department’s role in the Saturday
death of a Lincoln man.
The committee of faculty members will re
view University of Nebraska-Lincoln policies
and procedures that are relevant to the case,
said Jack Goebel, UNL vice chancellor of busi
ness and finance.
Francisco Renteria, 30, died Saturday after
noon at Lincoln General Hospital. Renteria,
who was mistakenly identified as a man violat
ing a protection order, wasinvolved inastruggle
with five Lincoln Police officers and one UNL
police officer Friday night.
Results of an autopsy performed Monday
morning were not released by the Lancaster
County Attorney’s office.
Jeff Hanson, a spokesman for the Nebraska
State Patrol, said Monday the patrol’s investi
gation into Renteria's death was continuing but
did not know when it would be completed.
Renteria, who did not speak English, was
walking near 24th and Holdrege streets when
University Police officer Charlotte Veskma
contacted him, authorities said.
Veskma, a 2 I/2-year veteran of the depart
ment, approached Renteria and then called for
assistance. Authorities said Renteria resisted
arrest. Witnesses said officers kicked Renteria
in the groin and repeatedly hit him with their
fists.
Authorities said Renteria had a seizure after
the struggle and medical personnel were called
to the scene.
A Lancaster County grand jury will convene
within two months to examine evidence from
the state patrol investigation, the county
attorney’s office said.
Lincoln Police Monday released the names
of five officers involved in the incident. The
officers involved were Luke Wilke, a 2 172
year member of the force and the first LPD
officer to arrive; Stephen Schellpeper, a seven
year veteran; Greg Si ms, a 19 1 /2-year veteran;
Brian Jackson, a seven-year veteran; and
Michael Schaaf, a six-year veteran.
Lincoln Police ChiefTom Casady said some
of those officers were placed on administrative
leave for an undetermined amount of time.
Casady said police arrested the man whom
they were originally seeking for allegedly vio
lating a protection order.
Goebel said the university police would have
broad jurisdiction in investigating the incident.
“It’s a tragedy, and we want to make sure we
are responsive,” Goebel said.
See INVESTIGATION on 3
Big Eight students may need own computers
By Paula L«vlg«w
Senior Reporter
UNL is one of many universities grappling
with the decision of whether to require their
students to purchase computers.
The College of Architecture at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln will require architec
ture students in years three through six and
interior design students in years three and four
to buy a computer package totaling about
$3,000.
State universities in Iowa, Kansas and Colo
rado are divided about the need for architecture
students to have full access to computers and
about who should cover the cost.
Ray McCall, associate professor of environ
mental design at the College of Architecture
and Planning at the University of Colorado
Boulder, said the requirement was unneces
sary. Computer-aided design is not useful to
studio work, said McCall, who also is a com
puter programmer.
"It's a case of the emperor’s new clothes,’’
he said. “There’s one thing computer-aided
design doesn’t do — aid design.”
CU doesn’t require students to buy comput
ers, but at Kansas State University, that may
become the case. Kansas State may begin re
quiring students to buy computers within two
years, said Ray Weisenburger, associate dean
of the university’s College of Architecture.
The procedure would allow the college’s
700 undergraduate architecture students to buy
or rent computers during their first two years.
They will then be able to buy an updated com
puter for their remaining years.
“If sreally becoming critical,” Weisenburger
said. “It’s something that a great number of
firms find necessary.”
The interior architecture department at Kan
sas State already requires its students to buy
computers. Stephen M. Murphy, department
head, said students suggested the requirement.
“The students recognized that the market
place is changing in the future, and it’s going to
be important for students to have computer
aided design education,” he said.
Iowa State University at Ames also is con
sidering the issue, said Robert Segrest, chair
man of the department of architecture in the
ISU College of Design.
“We’re just beginning to operate on the
basis of a computer laboratory,’’ he said.
The department has four computer labs, but
Segrest said they were “marginally adequate’’
for the intensity of its computer-education
classes.
“It’s both an essential part of technology of
representation in architecture, and it’s an in
creasing part of the design process itself,’’ he
said.
Students can create three-dimensional en
hancement and“walks through space,” Murphy
said, and they can put their work on videotapes
and send it to potential employers.
“There’s a lot you can do with a computer,”
he said. “You can use it as a tool. It’s something
students have to be aware of.”
But administrators at all universities agreed
that cost was a major factor to be decided before
making the requirement.
McCall said it was a “politically hot topic” in
Colorado, which is trying to lower taxes and
tuition.
Weisenburger said the computers would help
Kansas students in the job market, but the cost
could deter some students from studying archi
tecture.
“Architecture is a profession ... that has not
attracted enonnous amounts of low income and
minority persons. We’re concerned about put
ting up a requirement that would prevent them
from joining us,” he said.
Weisenburger said that complication had
slowed the college from immediately embrac
ing the requirement. The college was trying to
work out a financial aid package.
“We’ve had a very, very tight budget for the
past 10 years,” he said. "We have a computer
lab, but we can’t keep up with the technology.”
Manyofthe universities were working out a
plan to get businesses and the state to carry
See ARCHITECTURE on 3
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