COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 76
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onday
Sports
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Arts & Entertainment
Vacation entertainment
preview, Page 14
For the week
of Dec. 12-16.
FINALS WEEK EDITION
Engineering projects to be implemented
Finding funds
one of the next
tasks for Smith
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
NU President Dennis Smith said
after the Board of Regents meeting
Saturday that he would begin imple
menting his engineering recommen
dations today.
The University of Nebraska re
gents voted 7-1 on Friday to approve
Smith’s recommendation to spend
$4.9 million to improve engineering
education in Nebraska.
Smith’s recommendations were
approved following the board’s 5-3
r
rejection of a second college at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Regents Margaret Robinson of Nor
folk, Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha and
Nancy O’Brien of Waterloo voted in
favor of a separate college.
The $4.9 million would be used
to expand master’s degree programs,
establish new scholarship programs,
improve facilities at UNO and at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln and
establish a statewide Engineering and
Technology Coordinating Board.
After paying the initial cost. Smith
said NU would have to pay $1.5 mil
lion annually for the projects.
The decisions came during a
three-hour session, which included
testimony from 24 people, including
Omaha and Lincoln students, faculty
and business leaders.
Smith said he would meet today
with NU Provost Lee Jones to discuss
what would be done, both academi
cally and fiscally, to implement those
projects.
Smith said one of his first tasks
would be to decide how NU would
fund those projects. Internal alloca
tions could cover the annual costs for
only one year, he said.
After that, those expenses would
become a part of the university bud
get, which requires the Legislature’s
approval, he said.
To cover the initial costs of the
capital construction projects, Smith
said NU would look to the Legisla
ture and donors for money. Those
projects initially would cost $3.4 mil
lion, he said.
Smith said $500,000 of the $3.4
million was for planning a new fa
cility at UNO. He said that money
See SMITH on 6
Engineering Decisions
Regents vote down new college; pass engineering
education improvements.
■ The NU Board of Regents voted 5-3 against creating a
new engineering college at UNO. Regents Margaret
Robinson of Norfolk, Rosemary Skrapa of Omaha and
Nancy O’Brien of Waterloo voted in favor of a separate
college.
■ The regents then voted 7-1 to approve NU President
Dennis Smith's recommendation to spend $4.9 million to
improve engineering education in Nebraska. After paying
the initial cost, Smith said NU would have to pay $1.5
million annualy for the projects.
■ For more regents’ reactions, see page 6.
i DN graphic
Jay Calderon/DN
Q«org« Sullivan, haad NU athletic trainer, Is stepping down after 42 years on the Job.
Notable head trainer to retire
Sullivan recalls
42 years of
Husker athletes
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
After 42 years of working be
hind the scenes to keep
Comhusker athletes together, head
trainer George Sullivan will retire
in the spotlight.
Sullivan first began bandaging
and icing athletes as a student as
sistant on the staff in 1949. As he
prepares to leave the program,
Sullivan said he has received
much notoriety for his work.
“In a way, it has turned out to
be glamorous,” Sullivan said.
“You gain more notoriety than
working in a therapy unit from
nine to five and just seeing
grandpa and grandma.”
One instance of fame came this
season, when Sullivan received a
standing ovation after he was in
troduced before the Huskcrs’ final
home game against Kansas.
“I never realized it was so dam
far across that field,” he said.
Sullivan has received accolades
from around the country and was
awarded the inaugural Tim Kerin
Award for Excellence in Athletic
Training in 1994.
Sullivan became a full-time
trainer in 1953 and has seen many
of his athletes gain notoriety. As
they moved into the spotlight,
Sullivan said he followed right
behind.
“When these young athletes be
come prominent, they lake you
right along with them.”
But any fame Sullivan received
this season was earned.
Sullivan said the football sea
son was hardly typical, with quar
terback Tommie Frazier suffering
blood clots and Brook Berringcr
suffering a partially collapsed
lung.
“It is a strange one because we
haven’t had serious orthopedic
problems,” Sullivan said. “Here
we’re going into vascular and a
lung problem. That’s not just a
very common thing.”
Two players suffered lacerated
livers. Linebacker Phil Ellis was
injured in practice earlier this sea
son, and wingback Abdul
Muhammad’s injury occurred in
the 1994 Orange Bowl.
Sullivan’s career will end in the
spotlight of the Orange Bowl in
Miami, when the Huskers play the
Miami Hurricanes Jan. 1 for a shot
at the national title.
Sullivan said he couldn’t imag
ine what that night would be like.
“It’s hard to visualize it,” he
said. “I told somebody it would be
easier for somebody to tell me I
only had a short time to live.”
Over his tenure, Sullivan has
witnessed many changes.
The biggest was the evolution
of the football team, which was 3
6-1 in Sullivan’s first year. That
was before Bob Devaney came to
Lincoln in 1962. Nebraska hasn’t
seen more than four losses in one
season since.
Another change came in the
athletes, he said.
“One thing that has changed in
modem athletes is that you can see
a little more structure towards ath
See SULLIVAN on 3
Engineering vote
disappoints some
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
Discord has been replaced with
disappointment among some players
in the 18-month engineering debate.
The new feeling surfaced on the
day following the 5-3 vote by the NU
Board of Regents against creation of
separate engineering college at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The board also approved $4.9 mil
lion for improving existing programs.
Regent Chairman Charles Wilson
of Lincoln called on the board and
representatives of both campuses Sat
urday to accept the decision and make
it work.
UNO Chancellor Del Weber said
he was disappointed with NU Presi
dent Dennis Smith’s recommenda
tion and the regents’ decision.
Weber said he realized the issue
was complex, but the vote left all con
trol in Lincoln’s hands. In that sense,
he said, the decision didn’t solve the
basic issue that caused the problem.
Frustrations were heightened
when NU engineering dean Stan Lib
erty announced Tuesday that he had
been asked to resign, Weber said. Lib
erty has said the request was based
strongly on the engineering debate.
“I’ve never felt that Stan Liberty
was the problem,” Weber said.
The college will now face a criti
cal period without the strong leader
ship Liberty had provided, Weber
said.
Some regents also expressed dis
appointment with Smith's recom
mendation and the regents’ decision.
Chuck Hassebrook of Walthill,
who will replace Margaret Robinson
of Norfolk as regent next month, said
Smith’s recommendation went too
far.
Although he agreed that making
available advanced degrees and
strengthening transfer programs was
a priority, Hassebrook said he wasn’t
convinced that expanding the Lincoln
faculty was necessary.
It has never been shown that more
See REACTION on 6
JN U Regents give nod
to incentive program
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The NU Board of Regents unani
mously approved contract changes for
three University of Nebraska-Lincoln
coaches Saturday, but not before
members debated the ethics of the
move.
The changes could give three NU
coaches incentives for winning. Tom
Osborne, head football coach, Danny
Nee, head men’s basketball coach,
and Angela Beck, head women’s bas
ketball coach, could win $50,000 for
a national championship.
“It smacks more of a bribe,” Re
gent Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha
said. “If you are going to give away
$50,000, give it to the referees.”
Regent Chairman Charles Wilson
of Lincoln opened debate on the is
sue by saying he did not like the mes
sage the incentives were sending
about NU. He used the 1993 Orange
Bowl as an example, where Nebraska
lost the game and a national cham
pionship with a last-second missed
field goal.
“Is Tom Osborne a $50,000 better
coach if that ball goes through the
uprights?” Wilson asked. “No.”
Wilson said a coaches perfor
mance should be graded on the level
of the whole program. He said
Osborne was the best coach, running
the best program, and should be re
warded for that, not winning.
Regent Robert Allen of Hastings
disagreed.
“The nature of the beast is win
ning national championships,” he
said. “And I agree (with the
changes).”
Regent Don Blank of McCook said
all the regents were in favor of merit
based pay.
“It is the nature of the business,”
he said. “We’ve got to be competi
tive.”
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier
said the idea for the incentives came
from the athletic department. He said
the changes were a way for the school
See MEETING on 6
