MiddBriefs HIV Testing and Computer Champions

Author: Dany Noguera-Garces

Symposium to honor Gandhi's non-violence

A symposium to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi's non-violent movement to end British sovereignty of India is currently underway. Pooja Shahani '09, Micah Macfarlane '09 and Vani Sathisan '07, with support from the International Students Organization and Seeds for Peace, have created an 11-day-long event that is scheduled to run through April 30 and consists of documentary screenings, a discussion led by a student panel and workshops as well as a traditional Indian-style dinner.

Sathisan said that the goal of the symposium is not only to celebrate Gandhi and his legacy, but to also create a discussion among College students about "what exactly we can do."

Events such as the screening of the documentary Crossing the Lines: Kashmir, India and Pakistan will serve to create awareness about the issues that still exist in the Kashmiri region and present-day relations between India and Pakistan. Hassan Abbas' keynote address on April 30 will also help to create a dialogue about how Gandhi's philosophies on civil disobedience can be applied to today's world.


FAM, SGAC fund free HIV testing at Parton

Last Thursday, Parton Health Center administered HIV tests to 15 students, and will do so again for another 15 this coming Thursday. Due to high demand for the tests, all slots for both days were filled within an hour of the distribution of an e-mail inviting students to participate. The $20 charge for each test is being covered by Feminist Action at Middlebury and the Student Global Aids Campaign (SGAC).

SGAC President Brittany McAdams '09 said she believes that establishing permanent testing at the Health Center would make the test readily accessible to any student who wants or needs it.

The SGAC is currently working with Terry Jenny, associate director of the Health Center, to bring needle-free OraQuick testing to the Health Center. McAdams said that regular HIV testing is an important part of preventing the spread of the disease.


Programming team wins first place at competition

A team of three Middlebury students finished in first place out of 37 teams in a computer programming competition at Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday.

The competition, part of an annual conference of the Northeast Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges, was a three-hour long marathon in which teams were given seven computer programming problems to solve.

Middlebury's team consisted of Anna Blasiak '07, Kevin Chirls '07 and Jeff Wehrwein '08, who were the only ones to solve all seven problems, said team sponsor and Associate Professor of Computer Science Daniel Scharstein.

"The Middlebury team worked like a well-oiled machine, with Kevin in the driver's seat, taking care of all the typing and the low-level implementations, while Jeff and Anna provided the high-level ideas and algorithms," Scharstein said. "The team had already solved 5 problems only 90 minutes into the contest, and they dominated the top of the scoreboard throughout."

The team was coached by Associate Professor of Computer Science Tim Huang and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Frank Swenton. Each of the three members received a $100 reward.