PINWill Grundler takes on what's left in Ann Arbor when everyone leaves for spring break - and things. get. weird. PAGE 4A
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, February 25, 2010
michigandaily.com
CAMPUS MENTAL HEALTH
As demand
soars, CAPS
increases its
programs
University Police officer Mike Mathews plays a training game with Tazer an explosive detection dog that's part of the Department of Public Safety's K-9 unit. The K-9 unit
was the first of its kind in the county and does sweeps before major events.
For DPS's canine unit, a
very 'serious game of fetch
Total appointments
are up 4 percent
over last year
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
After four new offices were
added to the Counseling and
Psychological Services counsel-
ing center last semester, CAPS
officials are continuing to see
demand for their services climb
and plan to continue to increase
programming to reach more stu-
dents.
CAPS saw an increase in
funding from the University last
semester, allowing for the new
construction, but CAPS Direc-
tor Todd Sevig said CAPS offi-
cials are continuing to use the
funds to expand their program-
minsg beyfhd just the new offices
- especially in light of a recent
increase in the number of stu-
dents using their services.
"We're trying to make good
use of the money," Sevig said. "It's
not just dollars and cents to us; it's
what we can do with it, so we're
remaining engaged with students
to make sure we're making use of
our increase in money."
According to CAPS statistics
obtained by The Michigan Daily,
from Jan. 1 to Feb. 19, 2009, there
were 465 first appointments and
1,220 individual appointments.
During the same time period in
2010, CAPS had 497 first appoint-
ments and 1,263 individual
appointments. Combined, total
appointments have increased by
more than 4 percent.
"Basically, more people are
requesting services," said CAPS
Associate Director Vicki Hays.
"There's more demand."
Hays said the average wait
time for an appointment is now
seven to eight days compared to
the rough average wait time of
14 days in October - prior to the
completion of the new offices in
early November.
According to the 2008-2009
CAPS annual report, 96 percent
of University students said they
would return to CAPS if theyever
needed to seek help again, and
98 percent said ifa friend was in
need of similar help, they would
recommend him or her to CAPS.
The report also states that
from 2008 to 2009, CAPS had
3,127 students request clinical
services, which is a 63-percent
increase from 2000 to 2001 when
1,914 students requested services.
Though Hays doesn't know
the reason for the increase in
demand, she cited a few fac-
See CAPS, Page 5A
Renowned for their
bomb-sniffing skills,
DPS dogs sweep areas
* before major events
By DEVON THORSBY
Daily StaffReporter
For years, the University's police
force has been revered throughout
Washtenaw County for its tracking
abilities. The Department of Public
Safety is able to locate almost any-
thing, from hidden explosives and
fleeing suspects all the way to a key
on a football field - thanks in part
to two officers with four legs.
For the past eight years, DPS's
canine unit has served the Univer-
sity and surrounding areas as one
of the leading forms of explosive
and article detection and tracking
in the county.
DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown
said the department chose to cre-
ate a canine unit in the wake of
the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,
based on heightened level of con-
cern for the safety of students and
guests on campus.
"That represented a significant
change in that there was extraor-
dinary threat and damage," Brown
said. "The war had come to the soil
of the United States."
At the time the program was cre-
ated, DPS was one of the first agen-
cies in the county to have a canine
unit. Since then, others have been
added, but the University's police
dogs are known for their credibility
in tracking and detection.
See a multimedia piece aboutthis
story on McanDaly.corn
Sgt. Jason Forsberg, head of the
canine unit, said thanks to the suc-
cess of the dogs and their handlers,
the program is in high demand
throughout the county.
"Our handlers and dogs have
been very competent in what they
do over the years," Forsberg said.
"I'd say it's evolved in that we get
more requests for services from
other agencies as other agencies get
See CANINE UNIT, Page 3A
SPR ING BREAK
New locations and purposes
for spring break travelers
TAKING A LOOK
Fewer students said
to be going to Mexico,
seeking meaningful
0 trips elsewhere
ByNATALIE BERKUS
and SUZANNE JACOBS
Daily StaffReporters
Next week, many students will
soak up the sun on beaches in hot
spots like Florida, the Bahamas
and Aruba but many are also
choosing to avoid the typical desti-
nation of Mexico this year.
According to Ann Arbor trav-
el agents, the number of spring
break travelers going to Mexico
has decreased this year because of
safety concerns due to the Mexi-
can drug wars and because stu-
dents are saving money for more
culturally-enriching trips abroad
or within the United States.
Rashmi Popat, manager of
Boersma Travel in Nickels Arcade,
said the number of students head-
ing to Mexico is down this year, in
part due to the current violence
related to Mexican drug cartels.
According to The Guardian, as
of mid-January there have been
283 deaths in the year 2010 due
to the Mexican drug war. Several
cartels have been fighting with
one another for control of the drug
routes into the United States over
the last few years, but violence
has escalated since 2006, when
President Felipe Calderon ordered
6,500 troops to tryto end the fight-
ing.
"Mexico travel has gone down
compared to Jamaica or Costa Rica
See SPRING BREAK, Page SA
TEXTBOOKSAND TECHNOLOGY
iPad could alter textbook market
MARIssA MccLAIN/Daily
Research assistant Sarah Williams (BACK) sets up her multimedia piece "Recognition of Chinchilla" with help from gallery
director Gloria Pritschet in the new "Mind" themed exhibit at the Gallery Project on South Fourth Avenue yesterday.
STJDYING OVERSEAS
Class trip to study Philippines
experiences funding troubles
Programs to read
textbooks on device
already in the works
By A. BRAD SCHWARTZ
Daily StaffReporter
While online bookstores have
changed how many students shop
for textbooks, the Apple iPad may
soon signal a change in the format
of the textbooks themselves.
Apple Inc. recently announced
that it will be adding a tablet com-
puter - the iPad - to its line of
digital devices, which will be avail-
able for purchase in March. Recent
news suggests the company will be
working with textbook publishers
to develop course materials for the
iPad.
Some textbook publishers have
contracted ScrollMotion, Inc. - a
company that has already devel-
oped applications to read maga-
zines and newspapers on the
iPhone - to create textbook and
study guide applications for the
iPad, according to The Wall Street
Journal.
W. Russell Neuman, John Derby
Evans professor of media technol-
ogy at the University, said he is
skeptical that the iPad will be as
popular as the iPod and iPhone,
but thinks e-books, in general,
have a promising future on the
new platform.
"In the next few years, e-books
will probably largely replace ink on
paper as the medium of communi-
cation, using a technology like the
,See IPAD, Page 5A
Students go to learn
about the economics,
politics of country
By ALEXA BREEDVELD
For the Daily
A group of about 25 graduate
students will be heading to the
Philippines next week to study
various aspects of economics and
government in the country. But
the trip, which is part of a Public
Policy course, was harder to fund
this year than in years past due to
the down economy.
During spring break, the stu-
dents will be meeting with govern-
ment officials and policy makers
in the Philippines as part of Pub-
lic Policy 674. The course gives
students the chance to study a
given country's economy in depth
and then travel to that country.
The trip is usually largely funded
through the University, but that
funding was a little harder to
secure this year, according to Matt
Schaar, a business school graduate
student, who directed fundraising
See CLASS TRIP, Page 3A
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