Oxford and other college towns have a vested interest in making sure students fill out their census forms by April 1.

The number of students living in a county helps determine the number of seats in Congress a state might have, how many federal dollars can be funneled to a state and its communities, and how much student loan money is doled out.

But, as Oxford and University of Mississippi officials are well aware, obtaining an accurate student head count is no easy task.

One of the local community’s most popular annual cultural events is slated for this weekend. The India Association of Oxford and Ole Miss will present “India Night 2010 – Umang (the Joy)” Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $7 at the University of Mississippi Union or Ford Center Box Office or at the door.

The University of Mississippi recently created the Violence Prevention Office to educate and, hopefully, reduce and prevent incidences of sexual assault, date violence and stalking. The new office received $300,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to help fund its operations, Coordinator Linda Abbott told members of the UM Faculty Senate on Tuesday.

University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones, author John Grisham and Square Books owner Richard Howorth paid tribute to Barry Hannah at a talk on “literary Oxford” Thursday as part of the Oxford Conference for the Book. The conference is dedicated to the late Hannah, who died Monday at age 67.

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The 17th annual Oxford Conference for the Book, set to begin on Thursday, was planned to be dedicated to Barry Hannah and to include several talks planned with the author. Ann Abadie, associate director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and organizer of the conference, said that the conference will go on as planned with some changes expected. The Saturday afternoon block of panels are dedicated to Hannah — as a teacher, as a writer, and on how to teach his works.