Inside Weekend
Sports
■ Husker-BufTalo volleyball showdown - Part IV, Page 7
VOL. 94 NO. 75
Arts & Entertainment
■ Gospel choir sings with spirit of Christmas, Page 9
PAGE 2: U.S. soldiers Injured In Panama riot
December 9-11, 1994
Smith speaks
Travis Hsylng/DN
Nil President Dennis Smith presents his recommendations against the addition of an engineering college at
UNO during a press conference Thursday.
President New engineering college not needed
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska at Omaha
does not need an engineering college, NU
President Dennis Smith said Thursday.
However, Smith said about $5 million
was needed immediately to improve engi
neering education, and $1.5 million of that
cost would recur annually.
Smith said at a press conference that
Nebraska’s engineering needs “were not
being met.”
But, he said, the number of students en
rolled full time in the University of Ne
braska at Omaha engineering program did
not warrant a separate college.
Smith said the current number of 84 stu
dents enrolled in UNO’s engineering pro
gram would have to increase by 300 for a
new college to be feasible.
Yet Smith’s report did not leave a sepa
rate college permanently on hold.
“Clear evidence of increased student de
mand at some future point could lead to
re-evaluation,” he wrote.
The recommendations did not come
easy, Smith said.
“I agonized over this for a long time,
and I'm still agonizing over it,” he said.
“There is no way, in my view, to make ev
erybody happy.”
Smith said, pending regent approval, he
would be meeting with administrators to
determine where money for his recommen
dations would come from.
He said he would look first to state, fed
eral and private money. The $1.5 million
a year in additional spending would have
to be added to the NU budget, he said.
Tuition increases will be considered if
the money for the spending is*not found in
state, federal or private money, Smith said.
Regent Rosemary Skrupa, of Omaha,
said Smith’s decision was a “big-time dis
appointment.”
Skrupa said the decision would have a
chilling effect on the Omaha engineering
community. Money pledged by Omaha
businesses for a new college will disappear,
she said.
Also, Skrupa said, Nebraska has lost the
high-tech industries that a new college
would have attracted to Omaha.
“It’s going to keep us in a North Da
kota Syndrome, she said. “We’re back to
the cows and corn economy.”
Regent Robert Allen, of Hastings, called
for calm in the debate.
“If there was ever a time we needed to
pull together, it is now,” he said. “If we
can get our act together and focus on what’s
needed, Omaha’s chances of improvement
are so much better.”
Allen said a separate college, even with
the president and the regents’ blessing,
would have had a hard lime getting past
the Coordinating Commission for Post
Secondary Education and the Legislature.
If NU is to receive budget increases,
Allen said, it needs to move away from a
“turf war” mentality and make a unified
request.
Allen predicted Smith’s recommenda
tions would win enough support from the
board to pass.
Stan Liberty, recently removed as the
dean of the College of Engineering, said
he was pleased with Smith’s recommen
dation.
“These are precisely what needs to be
done to enhance statewide engineering,”
he said.
See ENGINEERING on 6
Autopsy
on Renteria
calls death
accidental
By Brian Sharp_
Senior Reporter
Although autopsy results released Thursday
classified Francisco Renteria’s death as an ac
cident, the special prosecutor in the case said
it did not clear the police officers involved.
The announcement came at a press confer
ence called by Special Prosecutor Robert
Bartle. About two months have passed since
the autopsy was conducted by the Lancaster
County assistant coroner.
Renteria, 28, died Oct. 1 following a
struggle with police. Lincoln Police Chief Tom
Casady. two officers and a fire captain have
been indicted in connection with the incident.
All stood mute in answering to charges dur
ing their arraignments Monday.
Bartle said the term “accident” was neutral
and would have no effect on how he prosecuted
the case, or how a jury would read the report.
As a prosecutor, Bartle said, he was only con
cerned with the type and cause of Renteria’s
injuries.
Members of Lincoln’s Hispanic community
disagreed.
‘“Not guilty,’ that’s what it sounds like,”
Elliot Rivas, the administrative assistant di
rector of the Hispanic Community Center, said
after the press conference.
“It sounds like there’s no fault,” he said.
Bartle said Matthias Okoye, who performed
the autopsy, had the choice of labeling the
manner of death as suicide, homicide, accident
or undetermined.
The report found the cause of Renteria’s
death was suffocation resulting from breath
ing his own vomit and from compression of
the neck. Renteria suffered severe lack of oxy
gen to the brain, causing an irregular heart
beat.
Bartle said one of the police officers’ tragic
misconceptions was that Renteria’s vomiting
was alcohol-induced.
The autopsy found no trace of alcohol or
drugs in Renteria’s system, with the exception
of Lidocaine, a medication used while para
medics tried to revive him, he said.
Bartle said the prosecution would attempt
to determine the time Renteria lost conscious
ness. The assistant coroner couldn’t determine
whether that occurred before Renteria was
placed face-down in the back of a police cruiser.
The jury will decide whether the police ac
tions that resulted in Renteria's neck injuries
were appropriate at the time, Bartle said.
Renteria was mistakenly identified by a uni
versity officer as a man violating a protection
order.
Bartle said the prosecution also would ques
tion whether police used a neck restraint prop
erly, kept the hold for too long and whether
other police contact to Renteria’s neck area
could have caused the injuries.
See RELEASE on 6
Loudon says he’s made much progress on promises
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
Almost a year after the student
government election, Andrew
Loudon still has a copy of his party’s
platform taped to the top of his desk.
The one-page document, its cor
ners tattered by wear and tear, has
been there since the first day he took
office.
Opponents battered and ripped the
list during the March elections. They
said it was “too lofty” and “unattain
able.”
But the list of 20 promises endured
the elections, and all but five are in
ihe works or have been met, Loudon
said.
Accomplishing his goals has been
tough, Loudon said. With the debate
about a separate engineering college
in Omaha and the
upcoming budget
debate, he said
time had not been
a luxury for his
administration.
Loudon, who is
the University of
NebraskarLin
coln student regent, said his admin
istration had had to prioritize its
goals.
In line with five of the platform
promises, most of Loudon’s time this
semester has been spent preparing for
the upcoming session in the Nebraska
Legislature, Loudon said. %
The Government Liaison'Com
mittee, the lobbying wing of the As
sociation of Students of the Univer
sity of Nebraska, has been aggressive
this year, he said. Loudon, who was
GLC chairman last year, said he and
the group had been making their way
around the Capitol, meeting.with
state senators.
One of the first things Loudon did
when he took office was meet with
the members of the Legislature’s ap
propriations committee, he said. The
committee sets the university’s bud
get allotment.
Loudon said revenue figures from
the Legislature were better than ex
pected — a projected budget short
fall has been.upgraded from the ini
tial estimate of $150 million to the
current estimate of $30 million to $40
million. He said the university still
would have to lobby to prevent cuts.
Loudon said his planning had gar
nered students the lead spot in the
university’s budget testimony in the
spring. He said he convinced the
chancellor that because students had
a large stake in the budget, they
should speak first.
Also, Loudon said, he has received
a verbal commitment from Univer
sity of Nebraska President Dennis
Smith that students will take no more
than a 10 percent increase in tuition
if the university takes a budget cut.
Without that pledge, Loudon said,
students could have faced a double
digit rise in tuition. He said Smith’s
commitment came in exchange for a
full commitment from students to
lobby the Legislature.
“Students do a hell of a lot to lobby
See VISION on 6