Less than 24 hours after Penn State announced that student tickets would be distributed through an online lottery system, student backlash caused the university to reverse its decision and reinstate a first-come, first-serve policy for ticket distribution.

"It became very apparent, very quickly, that most Penn State students want the first-come, first-serve system," Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Communications Greg Myford said in a press release. "So that's what we are going to do."

Myford did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment yesterday.

The press release cited students' responses "on various social networking Web sites" as a reason for the reversal.

"Five thousand kids joined a Facebook group ... another thousand said they were going to come out to Old Main and say, 'We will not have this,' before the plans for a rally were even finalized," said Jordan Cascino, founder and former president of the Paternoville Coordination Committee. "That's a victory for student advocacy right there."

University spokesman Bill Mahon said the switch back was "completely in response to students."

"It's easy enough to go back and do it the way we did last year," he said. "Students spoke up, and we thought it was important to listen."

On Tuesday, the university announced its intention to replace the first-come, first-served process to a lottery system, which would have randomly distributed the nearly 22,000 available student tickets to the applicant pool.

Myford said Tuesday that the lottery system was designed to be as "fair as possible," and that the Penn State athletic department discussed the issue with several student groups before making its decision.

Cascino, who was present at the discussion last semester, said on Tuesday that he was under the impression after the meeting that the ticket distribution system was not going to be changed to a lottery.

When it was changed, student response was immediate. Plans for a rally in front of Old Main were made through Facebook, with the event gaining substantial student support throughout yesterday.

"People started joining it instantly," creator Ryan Mikac (junior-biology) said. "It went from one person to 200 in two hours."

As of press time, more than 6,200 people had joined the Facebook group promoting the ticket policy reversal and the rally.

Tom Shakely, co-director of student advocacy group Safeguard Old State, said a rally will still take place at noon today, although the focus will be different.

"This'll be an event where students can come out, meet each other and enjoy the weather and congratulate each other for making change happen," Shakely said. "It'll be a great way to thank the administration for listening to the students' voices."

The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) passed an official opinion affirming that it prefers the old ticket sale system. The opinion also contains a provision that the UPUA with investigate further recommendations for the way tickets are sold, such as allowing students to charge the fee to their bursar account.