Is the Post's primitive cartoon racist?page 6

Check out some checkmates at NCC's chess clubpage 9

Men's track earns their 9th straight CCIW victory page 16

Friday, March 6, 2009Volume 130, Issue 18 Naperville, Ill.

North Central College's novice computer programming team brought home first place from the 2009 ACCA Programming Competition hosted Feb. 21 by the college.

The competition was against six other colleges from the Chicagoland area and divided into a novice and advanced division.

To participate in the novice division, participants must have taken less than three computer science classes before the contest (first-year students in the major).

Whereas in the advanced division, usually junior and senior students compete, explained head coach Godfrey Muganda, professor of computer science.

“The teams are formed by one to four students who work on in one computer to solve programming problems in the shortest time possible. The winner is

Naper Place lease renewed

who solves more problems in the shortest amount of time,” said Muganda.

“All teams were given seven problems, for which we had to develop an algorithm and create a running java programming that would pass all of the judges’ test cases,” said novice Cardinal team member, Pero Atanasov, ‘11, who is double majoring in computer science and economics and just started computer science this year.

Tucker Graczkowski, ‘12, and Kelvin Guilbault, ‘12, also are part of the novice team this year.

Of the seven problems, “the Cardinals solved all (of them), while Wheaton College solved six of them,” said Atanasov. Some other colleges didn’t solve more than two or four problems. “(The programming) is different when the time is limited and short – you have to think really fast.”

Besides, “every wrong answer had

NCC novice programming team wins ACCA competion

Programming see page 3

by Frank Rodriguez Salazarstaff writer

The Naperville City Council has agreed unanimously to renew North Central College’s lease for the Naper Place apartments in downtown Naperville. The decision came at a recent City Council meeting, which several representatives from North Central attended.

According to Naper Place Hall Director Mo Doyle, “Since the current lease on the Naper Place apartments expires as of Sept. 1, 2009, we had to go back to the City Council to re-lease the apartments.”

The process of re-leasing the apartments was a success. Doyle said, “In the end, the proposal to renew the lease for another three years (through Sept. 1, 2012) was approved unanimously, 9-0.”

The task of acquiring the lease in the

first place was difficult though. In 2007, North Central had to gain

the support of men like Councilman James Boyajian who, according to the Naperville Sun, said, “Dorms are built with cinder block walls. This is not going to hold up under the wear and tear of kids.”

Boyajian represented many other councilmen who thought college kids would have a negative impact on downtown Naperville.

Originally, the apartments were built to house senior citizens.

According to Doyle, “the building had originally been created and marketed as ‘urban living’ for seniors, but ended up not being successful as housing for the elderly.”

by Jon Tinmancontributing writer

by Zeljka Kampelstaff writer

Program promotes international roommates

Roommates see page 3

Naper Place see page 2

“It’s a great experience. It’s a chance to make a friend from another place that you may never have heard of or have never been to or never really known about before,” said Melissa Massey ’11, a participant in the international student program.

There are many programs available to help students reach their fullest potential, but one program that doesn’t get as much publicity is the international roommate program.

The Office of International Programs has been involved with this program for about five years. “We have been

matching up our incoming international students with our domestic students here to be roommates,” said Kelly Pilleux, International Student Advisor.

The goal is for international students to get matched up with domestic students who want and who would enjoy the opportunity to grow and learn from living with an international roommate.

International students that will be coming in the fall are from all over the world: England, France, Japan, Kenya, Northern Ireland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Taiwan. In addition to these countries, the Office of International Programs has added two new countries to the exchange program.

Students from Turkey will start in

the fall and students from Singapore the following fall.

This year, the program also had five sponsored students from Costa Rica, Uruguay, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines and China. Students from additional countries vary each year.

“What I want to make sure students understand is just because you want to live with an international student doesn’t mean that you need to speak a foreign language. Number one, the students who come to us have a very high English level –which is how they get admitted into the program." said Pilleux.

"We also have students from England, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Singapore—so many English speaking countries where

there would be no foreign language actually involved”

Another group that would be applicable to the living with an international student program is return study abroad participants.

Pilleux added, “An example is that we had around 90 students abroad in the fall, so the students who are coming back from those countries can now have an opportunity to live with someone from one of the countries they visited.”

Some of the international students come from the schools where NCC students go to study abroad; in their

Novice programmers Tucker Graczkowski, ‘12, Pero Atanasov, ‘11, and Kelvin Guilbault, ‘12, brought NCC a win at this year's ACCA competition.

The Naper Place apartments in downtown Naperville.

Tim Herron