It may have taken him awhile, but H. Evan Spencer looks to be on the verge of getting what he wanted all along: American Disabilities Act compliance at the University.

Spencer, a doctoral student in the Molecular Biology department and stepfather of a quadriplegic student who attends the University, begAn research nearly a year ago as to BGSU’s existing compliance or noncompliance with the ADA, a piece of legislation that details the rights of disabled people, whether that disability is mental, physical or otherwise.

What he found was astounding. He first approached Disabilities Services about the problem, and when Bryan Benner, an Associate Vice President in Administration, began on the project in September, Spencer was given a rough proposal of how far under compliance the University is with the ADA: 52 handicapped parking spaces, and plenty of van-accessible lots.

Benner said Wednesday that rough draft was very rough, a proposal he gave the Disabilities and Parking offices to work from.

“I gave that proposal as a rough draft, something they could look at and go from there,” Benner said. “Since I gave that to them, and I give both groups credit for this, they have taken it upon themselves to conduct thorough research.”

The dispute lies in discrepancies between what Benner has originally termed parking areas and parking lots. The ADA states that for the first 100 spaces in a lot, there must be four handicapped spaces, or one for every 25 regular spaces, but, as the number of regular spaces goes up, the amount of required ADA spaces goes down. So for spaces 101-200 there needs to be only two, and for 201-300, 301-400 and 401-500, there need only be one handicapped space for each 100 regular.

Thus, as the lots are grouped together, the number of required ADA spaces goes down.

Spencer was told the group received permission to group the lots into areas.

“I don’t understand how they can receive permission to go against the law,” Spencer said. “The law states one thing, and they claim they have received permission to do another.”

After the two groups present their proposal, Rob Cunningham, the Director of Disabilities Services for Students, says the renovations will attempt to concentrate the number of handicapped spaces in close access to buildings on campus.

“What we will try to do is take the number of spots we come up with, and instead of putting them out in outlying lots, we will try to put them where they are needed most — in close proximity to buildings,” Cunningham said.

Benner said that when he was first assigned to the project, the University’s hands were tied a bit due to the winter weather setting in, hence the waiting of the project. He also said that the Disabilities and Parking offices have promised him a proposal by the end of the month.

Spencer said he was promised action by the first of the year. “That is perhaps the most frustrating thing about what is going on,” Spencer said. “I compare it to someone lying dying on the side of the road, and someone just driving by.”

According to Cunningham, the proposal will be presented to Benner within a week or two.

Spencer says that if the proposal the University comes up with is not satisfactory, he will continue his quest for what he terms proper compliance.

“It will depend,” Spencer said. “If they are well under what I expect the numbers to be, we may go through with what we had planned [a lawsuit].”

He may have help. His complaint has landed on the desk of the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which is conducting a preliminary investigation into his complaint. “I have a feeling that the investigation may not get very far, because the University will show that they are attempting to become compliant, the OCR will accept that,” Spencer said. “I hope they have enough information to make the judgment themselves, but I have a feeling they may not be.”

Complete cooperation and compliance is the University’s ultimate goal, Benner said.

“Everyone involved has one goal on their minds, and that is complete compliance with ADA standards,” Benner said. “There is no goal other than simply doing what we need to do to accomplish our goal.”