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Ann Arbor, Mi
www.michigandaily.com
Friday, February 23
T *"
ragic
accident
kills LSA
senior
Andrew Bensinger
died while
studying in Thailand
By EMILY ANGELL
Daily StaffReporter
A group of students gathered on
a beach in southern Thailand last
week. They created a circle of shells
on the white sand and then lit a fire
in the center. The students wrote
messages on slips of paper and threw
them into the flames.
While their messages burned,
they remembered their friend Lynn
Andrew Bensinger, an LSA senior
who had died a few days earlier. He
was 25.
Bensinger was participating in the
University of California at Santa Bar-
bara's three-month Thailand Ecosys-
tems and Cultures Project. Bensinger,
a biology major and environmental
studies minor, was studying in Thai-
land to earn credits for graduation.
While traveling by train from
Bangkok to the island of Phuket on
Feb. 8, Bensinger leaned out of a win-
dow and was struck by a pole. He was
knocked out of the train.
No one noticed he had disappeared
until the next morning, when he
didn't appear for breakfast. Project
leader Chris Carpenter became wor-
ried and notified the staff aboard the
train. Later that day, his body was
found near the railroad tracks.
The American Embassy in Bang-
kok called Bensinger's parents short-
ly afterward to inform them that
their son had died.
On Jan. 1, just one day before fly-
ing to Thailand, Bensinger, a native
of Dexter, Mich., attended his second
Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Cal. Bensinger
was a sports fan, playing intramural
flag football and working at the Cen-
See BENSINGER, Page 7
STADIUM RENOVATIONS
Vets vow
lawsuit on
stadium
Group ups rhetoric,
calls on'U' to add
more seats for
disabled
By BRIAN TENGEL
Daily StaffReporter
If the University doesn't modi-
fy the renovation plans for Michi-
gan Stadium, it will face a legal
battle with the Michigan Para-
lyzed Veterans Association, a rep-
resentative from the group said.
Richard Bernstein, a lawyer
representing the veterans group,
said the University's plans, which
include adding skyboxes, are not
in compliance with the Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act.
Ifthe Universitydoesn'tchange
the plans, the group has vowed it
will sue the University.
"If these plans are not changed,
there will be litigation before the
first shovel hits the ground," said
Bernstein, who is also a political
science lecturer at the University.
"We're ready to roll."
In November, the groupthreat-
enedtheUniversitywithalawsuit
challenging the proposed renova-
tions that would add luxury boxes
to Michigan Stadium. At the time,
the University and the group said
they were working together.
Now, the veterans association has
intensified its rhetoric.
The group said the proposal
violates the Americans with Dis-
abilities Act because the plan
allocates an insufficient number
of seats for wheelchair users and
places them all in one location.
The University also appears
to have changed its argument
against the possible lawsuit.
Atthe November regents meet-
ing, University General Counsel
Marvin Krislov said the renova-
tions only constituted a "repair,"
not an alteration. Because Michi-
gan Stadium was built in the 1927
- 63 years before the ADA was
passed - the University has not
been required to upgrade the
stadium to make it compliant
with ADA standards. The ADA
requires that the University bring
the stadium up to code if any sub-
stantial alterations are made.
In an interview on Wednesday,
though, University spokeswoman
Kelly Cunningham argued that
the $226 million renovations
would comply with the ADA, not
that the project didn't need to
comply.
While Bernstein said the Uni-
versity is violating federal law by
disregarding the ADA's guide-
lines for building stadiums, Cun-
ningham said the University uses
the UniformFederalAccessibility
Standards as its buildingcode.
She said the stadium's design
limits where more wheelchair
accessible seats can beadded, but
the University is still looking at
ways to add more.
Even so, the Department
of Education's Office for Civil
Rights sent a letter in November
to Gloria Hage, the University's
deputy general counsel, that
expressed concerns about the
stadium's accessibility for wheel-
chair users.
"We believe that the number
and location of wheelchair spaces
the University contemplates add-
ing are inadequate and will not
See STADIUM, Page 7
ANGELA CtEEv/nairy
Students board the Michigan Student Assembly's Airbus last night en route to the Detroit Metro Airport. The line far the
bus extended from the door on State Street to well around the corner on Madison street. Chris Cunningham, director of
operations for Airbus, estimated that students have saved about 1 million dollars on cab fare over the five years the ser-
vice has been in operation.
WORKING FOR PEANUTS
FUN DRAISING
Giving to colleges
up, but not at 'U'
Donations rise
by 9.4 percent
nationwide ,
By ELISE WOZNICKI
For the Daily
Donations to American uni-
versities are up 9.4 percent from
last year, according to a report
issued Wednesday by the Coun-
cil for Aid to Education.
The University of Michigan,
though, did not appear to ben-
efit from the generosity.
Donors gave $257 million to
the University during the 2006
fiscal year. This was an increase
of $1 million - just a .4 percent
increase from the University's
record-setting 2005 fiscal year.
The report measured donations
to American universities over
the 2006 calendar year. How-
ever, the only fundraising data
available from the University
of Michigan is divided by fiscal
year.
During the same period, con-
tributions to the University's
Michigan Difference campaign,
which are tallied separately, fell
from $492 million to $352 mil-
lion from the 2005 fiscal year
- a decline of28.4 percent.
Comparatively, gifts to Stan-
ford, which broke nationwide
college fundraising records last
year, rose almost 50 percent to
$911 million.
Much of the increased giv-
ing across the nation came from
alumni, who donated 18 percent
more to universities last year
thanin 2005.
Judy Malcolm, a spokes-
woman for University's office
of development, said the Uni-
versity receives donations from
almost 64,000 people per year.
With 465,180 living alumni,
the University of Michigan has
been a major recipient of mon-
etary gifts in the past. Malcolm
said it was the first public uni-
versity to establish a billion-
dollar fundraising campaign,
raising a total of 1.4 billion dol-
lars from 1992 to 1997.
The Michigan Difference
Campaign has a $2.5 billion
goal. As of Jan. 31, donors had
given $2.41 billion to the cam-
paign.
The University of Wisconsin
at Madison was the only public
institution on the Council for
Aid to Education's list of the top
10 fundraising universities of
2006. It raised $326 million.
Malcolm said the University
of Michigan has tried to attract
donors through a series of new
See DONATIONS, Page 7
ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING
MV ..
usic industry
cracks down
Complaints to 'U' TOP 25 OFFENDERS
quadrupled last Illegal download complaints sent to
semester
School Rank Notics
By KATHERINE MITCHELL thiovniersty 1 1f3
Daily StaffReporter PadueUniver srty a teat
anivrsite fe fbraska-Lincste 3 1t02
Students across the country
are being targeted in the lat- Ktoxill
est crackdown on illegal music
downloads.
The Recording Industry Asso- rUnversty of Massachusetts at 6 897
enserst
ciation of America, a music indus-
try trade group, is sending out a
torrent of complaints this year voareiruen 85 57t
about illegal music sharing on farth CroaStt ae ersa a55
college campuses. UnversityfeWiscons r nra
The University has received -Madison
more than four times as many aniaersohFridae 11 eat
complaints so far this school year Sracusry to ate
than all of last year.
So far the University has
received more than 400 com- Universtyof Wsconsin Eau 14 473
plaints this academic year com-
pared to 93 complaints during the Bstonaeiersity tt are
2005-2006 academic year. gNorher iesity 16 ast
The University of Michigan KenttateUniverity tt 404
ranks 18th on the RIAA's list of UiversityMih 18 400
universities that have received
the most complaints.UniversityuofTeasatAstne37
Purdue University received North Dakota Sate University 20 360
more than twice as many com- reanaUiversity 21 3s
plaints, despite having a simi- Western Kentucky University 22 353
lar number of students living on SetonHalUniversity 23 338
campus.
When the University receives ArizonaStateUniversity 24 336
See MUSIC, Page 7 MarshallUniversity 2s 331
Sam Baine, 6, and his brother Brett, both of Grand Rapids, test the buoyancy of packing
1 peanuts at the Hands-On Museum yesterday. The event was part of Engineering Week,
sponsored by the University's engineering honors society.
TODAY'S HI: 28
WEATHER LO: 13
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