The Debate Society Brings the Cup Home to Bilkent from Isparta Championships
Last weekend, Bilkent's Debate Society sent two teams to compete at one of the largest debating tournaments this year: The 3rd Süleyman Demirel University Debate Championship in Isparta. Through three days of strenuous debating, 52 teams from over 20 universities around Turkey tackled controversial issues such as the removal of security cameras in public areas, state sponsored bail-outs for failing firms, the prioritization of organ transplants for people who lead healthy lifestyles and the banning of pornography involving violence and degradation. Both Bilkent teams made it through six rounds of debating, broke into the quarter-finals and made their way to the grand finals where they faced some of the best debaters in Turkey. Önercan Kılıç (LAW/II) proposed, during the final, as the prime minister, that people over the age of 75 should not receive health benefits from the state on the grounds of efficiency, while opposition whip Denizhan Kılıç (HIST/V) appealed to the conscience of the audience by illustrating that the motion at hand was immoral and unethical. Arguments ranged from the permissibility of discrimination in the health sector to the purposeful state-sponsored dismantling of family values. After a hot debate, the jury committee decided that the Bilkent team, in the proposition, made their case better than the other three teams, and the debate society returned home on Monday as the Champions of the SDÜ Inter-varsity Debating Championship.
With the debate season gaining steam, the debate society has set its eyes on upcoming tournaments around Turkey and abroad. If you are interested in debating and would like to learn more, send an e-mail to debate@lists.bilkent.edu.tr
Three to Complete: A Review of Bedding Set for Three
Aslı Tanrıkulu is a graduate from Gazi University's Faculty of Art who incorporates a number of different techniques, and takes a unique approach in her art. Tanrıkulu enjoys drawing on the bottom of glasses, and using recycled items. Most of her drawings don't have faces painted into them so that those who look at the pictures can imagine their own face there. Whatever the character is doing in the picture, the viewer can imagine themselves doing what the character is doing.
Her current exhibition can be seen in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, and is called “Bedding Set for Three.” Why three? Why not two or even one? Tanrıkulu explained that people, as individuals, are born as one. As a person matures, they become two, which can lead into marriage. Marriage often leads to a family. The first born makes it three. Tanrıkulu believes that three not only makes a family stronger, but that three represents strength in a number of contexts. For example, a tripod stands on three legs, providing strength, for balance and stability.
This exhibition is the first in an autobiographical series which she has been working on for about a year. After the series has been completed, it will be turned into a movie, bringing it new life by adding motion.
To me, art is all about how an artist creates it, what the artist wants observers to perceive, and what observers actually perceive. Mainly, it is all about the different ways each individual can define the same thing.
İrem Esen (MAN/II)
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International Project Brings Computing Students Together
The ability to work with colleagues from other cultures on international projects is a key asset in today's job market. This is why, last week, the Department of Computer and Instructional Technology Teacher Education hosted two students, Christine Price and Chris Routh, and their supervisor, Archana Chidanandan, from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) in Terre Haute, Indiana. They visited Bilkent as part of a joint International Term Project Course: CTE 312. Students from Bilkent and RHIT have been working together with the International Children's Center to design and develop a software application that will be used to educate and inform children and adults about child rights issues.
When asked about the project, Christine said that she believes it provides a unique opportunity to work with a diverse group of people. While working with a large team, she is hoping to improve her skills in teamwork and division of labor. Chris is excited to work on a project which can have far reaching effects for children around the world. It also provides an opportunity to learn how to communicate across languages and cultures.
This visit has served as a good starting point for students from both sides. They have gotten to know each other well and Archana believes that, in the future, the students should find it easier to communicate with each other in spite of time and cultural differences.
Second Bilkent ACM Student Chapter Seminar on Game Programming
 Immediately following the first of their seminars on software technologies, Bilkent's Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) Student Chapter organized its second seminar on Game Programming, in association with the Bilkent Technology Society. Mehmet Tunçkanat, the Manager of Microsoft Turkey's Academic Programs, and Daron Yöndem, the Manager of the International .NET Association's (INETA) Turkey Branch lectured to around 80 undergraduate students on Game Programming for XNA Game Consoles, Windows Platforms and Silverlight 2.0 Web Applications. The Department of Computer Technology and Information Systems (CTIS) hosted the seminar.
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