FROM THE DAILY: SURVIVING SPRING BREAK OPINION, PAGE 4 ONE ALUM'S VISION BLOGUPDATES ABOUT'M'STARS FROM THE NFL COMBINE WHAT'S NEXT FOR MUSEUMS ARTS, PAGE5 MICHIGANDAILY.COM/THE GAME ~1ie f IidianDaiIt 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 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news(dtmichgandaily.com and let us know. ENJOY SPRING BREAK The Daily will resume publication March 5. For updates, see MICHIGANDAILY.COM, INDEX NEWS...... Vol. con,sNo.105 S U D OK U. ,02000 TheMichigan Daily michigandailycom O P IN IO N.. ...........2 ARTS .................. .......... 3 CLASSIFIED...... ...........4 SPORTS ................ ..5 ..6 ..8