Admombob.- 46P 46Y ic i an at Ann Arbor, Michigan 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 TOMORROW LO53 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and letus know. 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