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Friday, September 11, 2009A
michigandaily.com
THE STACKIN' CHAIRS CLUB
School of Education graduate student David Mickey-Pabello helps pile chairs used during this year's Festifall on the Diag. About 1,000 chairs were used at more than 450 tables at the event
to showcase University clubs. (Max Collins/Daily)
FO TBALL SATURDAYS
AT&T can't handle the Big House
JOHN ROBERTS'S VISIT
The chief
still calls
the shots
In Law School class, Supreme
Court chief justice overrides
dean and cold-calls on student
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily News Editor
When Law School Dean Evan Caminker makes a
decision in one his classrooms, his orders are usually
followed to the tee. Except, of course, when the chief
justice of the United States Supreme Court also hap-
pens to be in the room.
It all started when Caminker was showing Chief
Justice John Roberts around the Law School as part
of Roberts's visit to honor the 150th anniversary ofthe
school.
After visiting with a class for some time, Caminker
told Roberts he only had time for one more question,
according to ane-mail from Law School student Jor-
dan Peterson, who was in the class.
"After taking one more question, without missing a
beat, Roberts responded to all of us, 'The great thing
about being chief justice is that you can overrule the
dean. 1 can do another question or two before we go,'"
Peterson recounted in the e-mail.
The chief justice is spending the weekend in Ann
Arbor to participate in the groundbreaking of the
Law School's new academic building, interact with
students and take part in other activities - including
attending the Notre Dame game at the Big House.
As part oT his visit, Roberts stopped by the Law
School facilities yesterday and dropped in on Prof.
William Miller's property law class.
Students in the class began wondering what was
going on when the "big men in suits" started filing in
to the back of the classroom, according to Law School
student Adam Weiner.
In an e-mail, Weiner said one of his friends turned
to him and said, "Who do these guys think they are,
Secret Service?"
Of course, it actually was the Secret Service.
"We saw Caminker and then we saw the chief jus-
tice and then we knew they were Secret Service,"
Weiner wrote.
It was just another Thursday for Law School stu-
dent Angel Tang, or so she thought.
"You're walking to class thinking 'I hope I'm not
See LAW SCHOOL, Page 7A
Major service outage
last weekend lasted
through Sunday
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
As thousands of students made their
way to the Big House for the first home
football game of the season, many with
AT&T phone services faced challenges
they weren't expecting.
For many AT&T customers in the
Ann Arbor area, Saturday brought a
service outage - meaning AT&T cus-
tomers were not able to use their phones
to place or receive phone calls and text
messages. AT&T customers report-
edly complained of service disruptions
through late Sunday evening.
Amy Grundman, an AT&T spokes-
person, wrote in an e-mail that AT&T is
aware of the difficulties with its servic-
es in the AnnArbor areaand is working
to fix the complications. Grundman did
not indicate whether or not the system
would be fixed in time for the much-
anticipated Notre Dame game this
weekend at the Big House.
"We're aware that some AT&T wire-
less customers experienced intermit-
tent service disruptions in downtown
Ann Arbor during last Saturday's Uni-
versity of Michigan football game,"
she said. "We're responding by add-
ing capacity to cell sites that serve the
campus area to support fast-growing
wireless network volumes driven by
increased smartphone use."
Grundman said she expects the
problems will be fixed over the next
few weeks, but that she didn't know a
specific date.
Grundman also said AT&T appreci-
ates their customers' patience and apol-
ogize for any inconveniences.
Many students were affected by Sat-
urday's outage, including Engineering
junior Nelson Palomaki, who said he
had trouble with his phone before and
during the game.
"I couldn't get or send any texts," he
said. "And later I got SO from people
who were trying to get in touch with
me."
Andrew Martin, also an Engineering
junior, said the most frustrating part of
the AT&T phone service outage was his
inability to reach other people to find
out where they were and to try to meet
up with them.
"It was frustrating, especially when
I had friends that were sitting in differ-
ent seats and I was trying to get in touch
with them, but couldn't," he said.
LSA junior Jeff DeSano said he expe-
rienced difficulties in past years during
football games, but that last weekend
was worse than normal.
"Every game it seems to happen, it's
ridiculous," he said. "But last week was
pretty extreme."
DeSano said he didn't get service
backuntil Monday morning, which was
especially annoying when he was try-
ing to reach people on Sunday.
LSA sophomore Calvin Gee said his
phone didn't work while he was in the
Big House and only started working
again once he was walking back toward
his apartment.
"There was nothing really in the
way for interference but I just didn't
have any signal," he said. "I couldn't
even make a call or text message or use
the Internet. Nothing really worked so
there was no point in using it."
LSA sophomore Cassandra Pentz-
ien had a similar experience with her
phone working outside of the stadium,
but not while she was inside.
"It seemed like I could make calls
and text outside the actual stadium,
but right when I'd go inside the stadium
with my phone my texts wouldn't go
through and I wasn't able to make any
calls," she said.
GREEK LIFE
Early schedule and poor
'economy don't slow rush
SWITCHING SEATS
UM-HILLEL
At 'U,' Birthright.
plans get upgrade
Recruitment moved
up because of Jewish
High Holidays
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
The beginning of the fall semes-
ter means football season and the
start of classes, but for many stu-
dents at the University, it means
something else.
Endless singing on Hill Street
and flocks of students wearing the
same T-shirt can only mean one
thing: It's time for rush.
The Interfraternity Council
and the Panhellenic Council, the
University's two largest Greek
councils, started their recruit-
ment, commonly known as rush,
this week. While in the past rush
for the two councils has always
taken place during the fall semes-
ter, Alex Carrick, IFC recruitment
vice president, said this year's rush
schedule is earlier than normal due
to the Jewish High Holidays and
the football game home schedule.
He added that there hasn't been
too much pressure to move rush to
later in the year.
"There have even been stud-
ies done here at U of M that show
that rushing first semester does
not negatively affect academ-
ics," he said. "Most chapters want
new members by the first week of
October, and trying to push it later
would interfere with new member
education."
Stephenie Lazarus, Panhel's vice
president of public relations, wrote
in an e-mail that although some
universities hold recruitment dur-
ing the winter semester, Michigan
Panhel likes to have recruitment
in the fall so new members won't
be biased by common stereotypes
about each chapter.
"It allows women to remain
impartial about chapters during
recruitment," she wrote in the
e-mail.
Lazarus wrote that she was ini-
tially concerned that the econom-
ic crisis would negatively affect
rush, but with two new sororities
- Alpha Epsilon Phi and Zeta Tau
Alpha - she anticipates recruit-
ment will be successful.
"Currently, we have more poten-
tial new members registered to take
See RUSH, Page 7A
For first time ever,
Michigan students
will have own bus
when visiting Israel
By ELYANA TWIGGS
Daily Staff Reporter
Amid talk of an unclear future
for Taglit-Birthright programs
around the country, officials from
the University's Hillel are offer-
ing new perks to their patrons,
an indication, they argue, of the
strength of UM-Hillel's program.
Last year, Hillel officials said
they had to turn away record
numbers of Jewish students from
the Taglit-Birthright Israel pro-
grambecause ofheightenednum-
bers and fewer spots compared to
preceding years not, as many had
suspected, the national economic
meltdown or fallout from Bernie
Madoff's Ponzi scheme - which
affected a disproportionate num-
ber of wealthy Jewish people and
charities.
The decreased numbers admit-
ted to the program last summer
followed a spur in enrollment
around Israel's 60th birthday
two summers ago, when Taglit-
Birthright opened special spots
for the occasion, organizations
said at the time.
This year, UM-Hillel's Pro-
gram Director Alison Sheren said
the continued fallout from the
economic recession has still not
soured the organization's Birth-
right plans.
"We are still offering great
itineraries, offering the opportu-
nity for students to travel all over
Israel," she said.
Sheren said the organiza-
tion's Birthright offerings have
increased since last year, not
because of increased funding, but
because of a special partnership
with a travel company.
"It's not a question of funding
at all, it is just when working with
a different partner, they are able
to offer us different resources."
Sheren said. "They were able to
provide us more spots than we
See BIRTHRIGHT, Page 7A
ED MOCH/Daily
Actress Drew Barrymore took part in a question-and-andswer session for stu-
dents on campus yesterday after a screening of her directorial debut "Whip It,"
Ann Arbor served as one of the movie's several shooting locations last summer.
WEATHER HI: 73
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