STUDENTSTOY TROUBLES
* OPINION Columnist Eileen
Stahl returns to Toys "R"Us
h year's ad d efor a trip down memory lane,
but gets a rude awakening.
See Opinion, Page 4A
JIFe-1Nid ian BaiIP

Ann Arbor, Michigan'

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

michigandaily.com

PASSING ON TRADITION

THE ECONOMICS OF HIGHER ED
Few options
in pricey test
prep. market

As demand grows
for exam help, few
colleges opt to offer
an alternative
By MALLORY BEBERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
When LSA senior Kelli Hunts-
man started preparing for the
LSAT last year, she took advan-
tage of the one graduate school
entrance exam prep course
offered by the University.
But when she started the LSAT
Familiarization Course through
the Career Center her junior
year, she realized it wouldn't be
enough.

"I thought it was a good intro-
duction course to see the differ-
ent kinds of questions the LSAT
had," she said. However, Hunts-
man added, "I felt I definitely had
to take another class after that to
be fully prepared."
Facing the prospect of a gradu-
ate school entrance exam that
could determine the course of
their professional careers, stu-
dents around the country are
turning in increasing numbers
to test prep classes for the LSAT,
MCAT, GED and GMAT. But,
with a void of alternatives from
their respective universities, stu-
dents are forced to fork over big
bucks to commercial test prepa-
ration companies like Princeton
Review and Kaplan Test Prep and
See TEST PREP. Page 7A

JED MOCH/Daily
University of Michigan Chabad's Rabbi Alter Goldstein and his children prepare to bring in Passover by getting rid of all bread products at the Chabad House on Oakland
Avenue. During Passover, Jews celebrate being liberated from slavery in Egypt. They honor their ancestors by abstaining from any food containing yeast for eight days.


FILLING CRISLER ARENA
After tourney run,
ticket sales boom

Athletic Dept. joins Twitter craze

Athletic Department:
1,032 student season
tickets already sold,
470 sold last year
By ERIK TORENBERG
DailyStaffReporter
The men's basketball team's run
to the second round of the NCAA
Tournament could spell record-
setting student ticket sales for
next season, according to Athletic
Department officials.
The department has already sold
1,032 student season tickets for the
2009-2010 season. Last year only
470 student season tickets were
sold according to Marty Bodnar,
associate director of ticketing sales
at the University.
Despite the fact that early dis-
count ticket sales end today at 5

p.m., Bodnar said the boost in sales
could make for a record setting
year.
"If we hit 2,000 (tickets) it might
be the highest since the mid-'90s,"
he said.
Bodnar said the reason for the
surge is quite obvious.
"There is no question that our
team exceeded expectations last
year, making the Tournament for
the first time in11seasons," he said.
"On top of that, with (Manny) Har-
ris and (DeShawn) Sims returning,
we have an exciting team coming
back."
He added that a 20-percent dis-
count on student tickets may also
have contributed to the increase in
sales.
After today, ticket prices will
increase from the discounted rate of
$99 to $125. Basketball tickets at stu-
dent rates willibe offered forlincoming
freshmen studentsstartingin June.
See TICKETS, Page 7A

To get closer with
fans, 13 teams
and Rich Rod
start 'tweeting'
By MATT AARONSON
DailyStaffReporter
Shaq, Diddy, Tony Hawk
and Al Gore do it. So does Pete
Carroll, and your one weird
uncle. It seems like just about
everyone is "tweeting" these
days.
And recently, even the Uni-
versity's Athletic Department
and head football coach Rich
Rodriguez have joined in on
the micro-blogging craze.
In an effort to make pro-
grams more accessible to fans,
the department announced
yesterday the creation of eight
new "Twitters." The new
micro-blogs for eight varsity
sports will accompany five

others that have already been
crying it out for the last few
months.
Twitter.com is an online
service through which users
can send and receive "tweets"
- text-based updates limited
to 140 characters.
In time, the Athletic
Department plans on having
Twitter pages for all 25varsity
sports.
Athletic Director Bill Mar-
tin wrote in a press release
that the move was an effort to
embrace the latest in technol-
ogy.
"This is a communication
instrument that can speak
directly to our fans," he wrote.
"As a department, we need to
be cognizant of social media
communication and this will
be our first official move in
that direction."
As part of the push, Rodri-
guez started his own Twitter
page. Bruce Madej, associate
See TWITTER, Page 7A

UM.CoachRod
The Daily's favorite RichRod tweets as of
Sp.m. yesterday evening. teesaso


Rich we are getting ready for a
scrimmage and I am excited to
watch our guys compete!!
II:1, A, 1 lpr ?thfroii ys'irterfi cd
ts a great day to be a Michigan Wolverine! Watching film of
yesterday's practice. Our team is working hard everyday! GO
03 8AI lr]thfiro iweb
Congratulations to John and the MBBALL teamllH d t
the big dance! See ya in Kansas City!
2:4 z' M.arht h ]ntyif mrr sweb
Story on MGOBLUE.com about pro day. Will Johnson
benched 225 47 times to set a NFL record!nsN
underwayr Victors Night
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MSA fills two exec. slots, one left empty

CAMPUS COMPUTING
University to merge three
information tech. entities

Assembly denies bid
1 for re-nomination
of former general
council Benson
By JENNA SKOLLER
Daily StaffReporter
After a more than six-hour
Michigan Student Assembly meet-
ing last night, the new executive
board is still missing a student
general counsel.
The recommendations for chief
of staff and treasurer - Ambreen
Sayed and Vishal Bajaj, respective-
ly - were approved by the assem-
bly, but the recommendation for
student general counsel, Michael
Benson, was not.
The student general counsel
serves as MSA's parliamentarian,
advising the assembly on student
government legal affairs like cases
in the Central Student Judiciary.
Benson, who is the former stu-
dent general counsel, wrote in an

Move a response to
requests for more
centrally delivered
IT services
By VANESSA NUNEZ
Daily StaffReporter
In an attempt to keep pace with
the evolving information age, the
University has plans to combine the
three largest Information Technol-
ogy service providers on campus.
The University will combine the
Information Technology Central
Services (ITCS), Michigan Admin-
istrative Information Services
(MAIS) and Information Technol-
ogy Security Services (ITSS) into
one main IT organization. The
merger is a response to requests
from some of the University's

schools and colleges for more cen-
trally delivered IT services.
The merger of the three IT ser-
vices will go into effect by Apr.
20, but the new organization will
probably not be completed until
summer.
The new organization will be
headed by Laura Patterson, the
current associate vice president for
MAIS and ITSS. Patterson will be
responsible for directing the trans-
formation of IT on campus and
will report to the University's chief
financial officer and vice president
for academic affairs and provost.
"The main idea is that we want
to coordinate IT better at the cen-
ter," said John King, Vice Provost
for Academic Information.
King said that merging the Uni-
versity's three existing technology
branches would help create a more
coordinated operation. He added
See IT MERGER, Page 7A

Members of the Michigan Student Assembly discuss executive positions at their weekly meeting last night in the Union.
e-mail that he was disappointed "I'm confident that the newly existing four executives," Benson
the assembly didn't approve his constituted executive board will wrote.
appointment, but said he thinks (achieve) great things together, President Abhishek Mahanti
the new executive board will fare and that whoever ultimately fills wrote in an e-mail that he and
well no matter who is elected stu- the role of student general coun- MSA Vice President Mike Rorro
dent general counsel. sel will serve to (complement) the See MSA, Page 7A


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INDEX NEWS.....
Vol. CXIX, No .25 OPINION.,
Q2009The MichiganDaly ARTS.......
michigondoily.com

................ 2A CLA SSIFIEDS .........,,........... 6A
....................4A SPORTS...............A...8A
5A THE STATEMENT ..................1B

I