College Shorts

Author: Leslie Lim

IBM opens contest for software design

IBM Corporation is challenging college students to create computer programs that will be easy for those with physical disabilities to use. The company launched a competition this week that encourages competitors to design word processing and spreadsheet presentations based on new software for the disabled.

The software, called Open Document Formatting (ODF), is intended to accommodate those with disabilities like sight or mobility impairment.

During Phase I of the competition, the first 200 entrants to pass a quiz on the subject matter will receive a free T-shirt. Phase II requires applicants to create a tool that identifies where special features for the handicapped could be placed on an ODF document, or explain what technology they would employ to address the challenge. With approval from a judicial panel, ten student developers whose projects demonstrate the most "creativity and innovation" will be awarded an iPod Nano. Two final champions will receive a free laptop.

Interested students can find more information on IBM's Web site.

-The Campus Press


BU student killed in car accident

Boston University (BU) first-year Beatriz Ponce was struck and killed by a car last Wednesday while crossing a busy avenue near campus. The accident occurred on Memorial Drive, a main drag between the neighborhoods of BU and Harvard University that has often been criticized as a threat to pedestrian safety.

The victim, a 17-year-old Venezuelan student, was returning from an intramural soccer game to the Hyatt, a hotel that houses many BU first-years. According to the Massachusetts State Police, the driver of the Ford Focus that hit Ponce will not be charged in the accident because Ponce did not have the right-of-way to cross.

The accident did not take local activists like Lawrence Adkins by surprise. Adkins, president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, predicted that such accidents would only increase due to a lack of crosswalks on the bustling parkway. "The foresight should have been there," Adkins told The Harvard Crimson.

Ponce's was the second pedestrian death on Memorial Drive in the last six years.

-The Harvard Crimson


Dartmouth boosts Katrina relief effort

Seven student-led trips will head from Dartmouth College to the Gulf Coast region this December to continue relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The effort, funded by the community service-oriented William Jewett Tucker Foundation, represents an improvement from the two groups sent to New Orleans and Mississippi last year.

Two student coordinators of the trips, Sherry Zhao '07 and Diana Jih '09, said that pressure to organize immediate relief efforts last year hampered their effectiveness but promised that this year's efforts would improve in addressing the evolving needs of a region that has received only limited federal aid.

While the immediate damage from Katrina has been largely repaired, many residents still find themselves housed in temporary facilities. In addition, relief workers report that displaced residents suffer from emotional problems like depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome at much higher rates than the nation as a whole.

-The Dartmouth