Chittick '70 fights AIDS in central Africa

Students face off in political debate

Sophie Novack / The Dartmouth Staff Dartmouth's chapters of the College Democrats and College Republicans faced off in a debate on the hot issues of the 2008 presidential election in front of a boisterous and packed audience in Rockefeller 3 Tuesday night, in anticipation of Election Day next week. The debate, moderated by government professor Sonu Bedi, featured three College Democrats and three College Republicans who represented presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, respectively. Jennifer Bandy '09, president of the Dartmouth College Republicans, and David Imamura '10, president of the Dartmouth College Democrats, went head to head in spirited exchanges on foreign policy and potential Supreme Court nominations. Bandy argued that McCain's foreign policy experience, military service and ideological positions qualify him to be the country's next commander-in-chief. Imamura responded, saying that, while he respected McCain's military service, Obama has shown superior judgment on issues like nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Right now, America's really at a crossroads in the election," Imamura said.

Wright leads faculty meeting for last time

EMILY van GEMEREN / The Dartmouth College President James Wright discussed Dartmouth's financial situation in his final State of the College address to faculty members on Monday.

New Hamp to reopen Spring term

Jared Bookman / The Dartmouth Staff The ongoing renovation of New Hampshire Hall has led to several power outages in adjacent Topliff Hall, where smoke detectors in residents' rooms have been set off at least twice this fall due to construction-related complications.

Diwali celebration lights up Green

Sarah Irving / The Dartmouth Staff Fireworks spewed green sparks, illuminating the colorful clothing of the crowd gathered on the Green for Diwali, the Indian "Festival of Lights." The saris and skirts of southern India, the turbans of Punjabi Sikhs and the North Face jackets of Dartmouth students were all brilliantly lit side by side at the Dartmouth celebration of the Hindu New Year. The ceremony began at Rollins Chapel, where Hindus from Dartmouth and the local area worshipped before the idol of Lakshmi Puja, the goddess of wealth, good fortune and prosperity for the New Year. "These idols are a way for the human mind to comprehend an omniscient God," Tanuja Kulkarni '10, president of Shanti, the Hindu student organization, said. Though many of the worshippers at the event were Hindu, there were several Sikhs present as well.

Google engineer explains pragmatic problem solving

Ricky Melgares Through a series of "war stories" from his years working in the computer science industry, Google engineering director Marc Donner illustrated pragmatic problem solving, the topic of his lecture at the Rockefeller Center Thursday. To describe how pragmatic problem solving works, Donner recounted three "shaggy dog stories," which he defined as stories that take a long time to get to the point. In his first story, Donner demonstrated the importance of fully understanding a problem before attempting to fix it. "Security is often a matter of identifying the actual problem and solving it, rather than using huge amounts of technology," he said. Donner recounted the recurring appearance of graffiti on New York subway trains in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lieberman campaigns for McCain

Zach Ingbretsen / The Dartmouth Staff If Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain is elected to the White House in November, the United States would have a bipartisan administration, something unseen since Abraham Lincoln, Sen.