MIDDBRIEFS

Author: KATHRYN FLAGG, CAROLINE S. STAUFFER & JASON F. SIEGEL

Student vehicle crashes after off-campus party

Shortly after 3 a.m. early Sunday morning, Dec. 4, a vehicle carrying several Middlebury students drove off a dirt road after leaving an off-campus party. The tires lost traction on the gravel surface and the vehicle fish-tailed off course.

One student sustained minor injuries from the accident, and no charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon. The Middlebury branch of the State Police department has yet to document the incident. Vermont State Trooper Timm Hanley responded to the scene of the accident, but was not available to comment at press time.

Organizers of the party hired MORF's Transit - a cab company based in Burlington - to provide transportation for students, but the shuttle service stopped running at 3 a.m., leaving many students without a return ride to campus. The College administration had no comment on the accident, and Vermont State Liquor Inspector Mike Davidson was unaware of the incident.



Telephone failure causes lack of service

Student telephone lines and voicemail boxes were deleted last Sunday night after an incomplete file caused a glitch in the campus's telephone network. The system database, which is programmed to refresh every night, is designed to look for and update differences between previous days' files and new data. The corrupt, incomplete file, sent on Sunday evening, caused this system to crash, leading to a temporary disruption in telephone service.

"We've had some problems in the past," said Peggy Fischel, director of Telephone Services, "but this was a different problem from what we'd experienced."

The database sent an automated message to programmers and telephone services administrators Sunday evening. Programmers wrote new security scripts into the program so that the glitch would not cause a system failure again. Still, according to Fischel, the glitch "certainly led to programs with telephone service for the better part of [Monday]." Service was restored mid-afternoon, but the deleted voicemail boxes were irretrievable and students were advised to reset their boxes and create new messages and security codes.

While telephone service on campus - including individual mailboxes and personal extensions - will continue as usual for the rest of the year, the number of students now using cell phones as a primary telephone has prompted telephone services to consider alternatives.

"A lot of students appear exclusively to be using cell phones," said Fischel. "We're definitely looking into other options. For now, for this year, it stays as is."



Faculty to make final Am Lit decision Mon.

On Monday, Dec. 12, the Faculty Council will hold its last meeting of the calendar year in McCardell Bicentennial Hall.

At the top of the agenda will be the hotly debated proposal to synthesize a department of English and American Literatures out of what are currently separate department and create a new, freestanding interdisciplinary program in American Studies. The Faculty Council will vote on the EAC proposal to combine the two departments, and will accept any amendments to the proposal. Previously, the faculty rejected a substitute motion from Professors John McWilliams and Stephen Donadio to maintain separate literature departments while creating the American Studies department.

Professors will also discuss the review process, proposing changes to the Handbook for full professor reviews and incorporating teaching evaluations.

There will also be reports from the Honor Code Review Committee, as well as a variety of reports from various deans and committee heads.

Following the meeting there will be a reception in honor of Sunhee Choi, recently named Vermont Professor of the year.