Inside Weekend
Sports Weekend
■ NU volleyball begins quest for title, Page 7
Weekend Preview
■ Clarke County comes to Duffy’s, Page 9
PAGE 2: Senate approves GATT
December 2*4, 1994
Report: $33 million new college tab
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
A potential engineeering college
in Omaha now has a price tag to go
with it.
And it’s costly.
The engineering task force report,
released Thursday, estimated the ex
pense of creating a separate college
in Omaha at $33 million over three
to five years.
The report includes cost estimates
for short-term and long-term im
provements to engineering programs
throughout the state, and a possible
separate Omaha engineering college.
But for now, regents and Univer
sity of Nebraska officials are waiting
to hear NU President Dennis Smith’s
recommendation. Smith will bring
his recommendation to the Decem
ber meeting of the NU Board of Re
gents.
“I’m anxious to hear what Presi
dent Smith has to say,” Regent Don
Blank said. “That will be the enabling
action that we (regents) will vote on.”
Joe Rowson, NU spokesman, said
Smith had not finalized his recom
mendation as of Thursday, but that a
statement would be released prior to
the Dec. 9 meeting.
The report states that “the future
economic health of the state depends
on its ability to attract, develop and
retain businesses dependent on engi
neering and technology in their op
erations.”
In meeting the state’s needs, pro
grams should be coordinated among
university campuses and state and
community colleges to avoid dupli
cation and waste of scarce resources,
the task force wrote.
“Reliance on tax dollars has
proven to be insufficient,” the report
states, recommending that more em
phasis be placed on developing part
nerships with industry.
The state-aided budget of the Col
lege of Engineering and Technology
was $11.6 million in 1993. The
Omaha campus received $2.4 million
of that money. In 1983, the Omaha
campus received $1.3 million of a
total $5.8 million budget.
Improvements in the near future
could follow the 10 short-term goals
identified in the report:
• expand master's degree pro
grams, primarily in Omaha, esti
mated at $375,000.
• expand continuing education
options for practicing engineers
throughout Nebraska, estimated at an
additional $50,000.
• establish scholarship programs
and marketing efforts to attract and
retain minority and returning stu
dents, estimated at $165,000.
• enhance and expand under
graduate programs, estimated at
$400,000.
• establish two-year, pre-engi
neering transfer programs at some
two-year and four-year colleges, es
timated at $46,000.
See ENGINEERING on 6
MidMlIe Paulman/DN
University of Nebraska-Uncoln English profossor Alpana Knlppllng, a native of Inda, said she Mod to Indudo
multicultural Issues In all hor classes, not Just hor literature oT India course. “There Is more risk Involved In
going against the grain,” she said.
Professor internationalizes English
By Jodi Strauch
Senior Reporter
Alpana Knippling wants to teach UNL
students that there is more to the English
department than English and American lit
erature.
The professor of post-colonial literature
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in
vented a literature of India class last spring
and now teaches it every spring. The class
fulfills the liberal education requirement for
a non-Western or minority culture course.
“That’s what I was hired to do — inter
nationalize the English curriculum,’
Knippling said.
FACULTY
And it is also my research
interest.
-- “But I did it mainly
nrnnlft because I wanted to do
it » she said «where
better to do it than in
Nebraska?’
Knippling grew up in
India, where she also
earned a bachelor’s de
giec auu niaaici s uc
gree of arts. She came to the United States
in 1982 and earned her doctorate at the Uni
versity of Pittsburgh in 1990.
She taught in Delaware for three years
as an assistant professor of multicultural
literature and then came to UNL last year
to teach post-colonial literature.
“Both multicultural and post-colonial
point to the same types of texts to use in
class,” she said. “But ‘po-co’ allows more
use of literature of India.
“The objective is to examine studies of
cultures in the aftermath of colonialism.”
Knippling compared the type of school -
See KNIPPLING on 3
Indictments
handed down
in Renteria case
From Staff Report*
UNL police officer Charlotte Veskrna re
turned to work Thursday, the same day it be
came known a grand jury will hand down four
indictments in the mysterious death of a Lin
coln Hispanic man.
Veskrna has been on administrative leave
since the Sept. 30 struggle with Francisco
Renteria. Renteria died the day after the con
frontation.
Officials said Renteria suffered a seizure
when he was placed in a police cruiser after
being subdued by Veskrna and five Lincoln
Police officers. Autopsy results have not been
released.
. Omaha television station WOWT reported
Thursday night that a high-ranking Lincoln
police official will be indicted for giving mis
information to investigators. Two police offic
ers and a fire captain also will be indicted,
See INDICTMENTS on 3
Community
colleges affect
NU system
By Brian Sharp __
Senior Reporter
The influence of community colleges is
growing on the Nebraska education scene, but
not everyone welcomes the change.
. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student
/ affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
said UNL now had student-transfer agreements
with every Nebraska community college.
The agreements make it easier for students
to transfer credits from community colleges to
UNL—something that should have been done
decades ago, he said.
But Andrew Loudon, president of the As
sociation of Students of the University of Ne
See COMMUNITY on 3
Star City parade-goers can become clowns for a day
By PtDn Jan—n
Senior Reporter
This weekend’s Star City Parade will fea
ture people wearing red noses and crowns,
waving flags and tooting whistles.
And that’s just the audience.
The 10th annual Star City Parade will be
the second in the nation with an interactive
program that lets onlookers participate in the
parade, said Barb Bangert, the parade’s execu
tive producer.
Bangert said SjWQ interactive parade kite
h
would be distributed free to parade spectators
who were near the bleachers where the parade
would be broadcast.
The parade is set to begin Saturday at 11
a.m. at 10th and O streets. It will end at 12:30
p.m. at 13th and M streets. KOLN News will
broadcast the parade live.
The parade, featuring 72 displays, will fol
low the theme “I love a parade,” Bangert said.
The kits each will contain six items, includ
ing red noses, whistles, flags, crowns and
snowflakes, Bangert said. The kits also will
include directiens on when aodshow toHse tta \
/contents, she said.
Parade spectators can use the bags’ contents
when the appropriate display passes, Bangert
said. For example, she said, those who attend
can wave flags when the color guard passes.
Parade spectators can don the red noses
when clowns pass, she said, and they can toot
the whistles when the Burlington Northern
display and Molley the Trolley go by.
“I think it will be really neat,” Bangert said.
“The TV audience probably will get the big
gest thrill.”
ill t; Bangsal?saidshe thought tho interact* vo kits* §
v.
would add to the visual scope of the parade.
Children, especially, will enjoy the kits, she
said, because they get so excited about the pa
rade anyway.
Home Real Estate donated the bags, and the
Association for Retarded Citizens stuffed them,
Bangert said. Other local sponsors donated the
contents.
The only other parade in the nation that uses
an interactive program is the Indianapolis 500
Parade in Indianapolis, Bangert said.