Thursday, June 19, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, June 19, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
111
BOTSWANA
From Page 1
International Affairs at the Uni-
versity of Michigan-Dearborn,
travelled to Botswana as a Ful-
bright scholar in 2004. She said
during her yearlong stay in the
country, she gained a new appre-
ciation for the diversity present
within the country, as well as a
heightened awareness of how indi-
vidual actions can lead to change
internationally.
"Whatever we do in the States
or within our own departments,
it impacts everyone and this is a
global community," Porter said.
"We may not see the impact, but
it's a rippling effect."
During the speech, Seretse
highlighted both Botswana's
strengths and some of its challeng-
es. Botswana currently stands as
the world's number one producer
of global diamonds, and also has a
strong tourism sector. Seretse even
called Botswana "more peaceful
than the United States," and said
policeman don't need to carry
guns.
However, Seretse also addressed
gender-based violence in the coun-
try, as well as the issues faced by
women in all nations.
"I never want any woman to
put herself down," she said after
speaking about the lack of appre-
ciation for the work that women do
as housewives.
CEW Director, Gloria Thomas,
said by promoting her own coun-
try while still acknowledging the
challenges that remain, Seretse is
doing her job as ambassador.
"Yes, there are challenges, and
she talked about violence against
women as one of them, but there's
a lot going on that's going well,"
Thomas added.
Olayinka Davids, who runs an
NGO in Nigeria that promotes
the success of women, brought a
degree of urgency to the issue of
gender-based violence as she asked
the audience to pray for the girls
abducted by Boko Haram.
"Because of the incident hap-
pening in my country - the miss-
ing girls - I needed to come out, to
appeal, for all the others to join us
in praying," Davids said.
Seretse referenced Rwanda
as another African nation who
faced intense violence and geno-
cide, but still persevered on equal
rights issues. In spite of its violent
past, the country has progressed
in terms of gender equality in
politics, and she said it's the world
leader in the number of women
holding political office.
"Sometimes when I look at all
the good that Rwanda is doing
following the genocide, I think it
is because they have women (in
political office)," Seretse said. "We
need to move away from just talk-
ing about democracy - we need to
talk about participation in democ-
racy."
City Council debates
park in Liberty Plaza
Concerns over
crime could impede
development
By MATT JACKONEN
Daily StaffReporter
Parks and recreation is serious
business - and not just according
to Leslie Knope.
Monday night, the Ann Arbor
City Council opted out of a vote
on a resolution to improve Liberty
Plaza, and instead referred it to
the Parks Advisory Commission
for review and suggestions.
Liberty Plaza's central location
at the corner of East Liberty and
Division in the city's downtown
district has made its use a hotly
debated issue by city council in
recent months.
Monday night's resolution,
sponsored by Councilmember
Christopher Taylor (D--Ward 3),
would allocate $23,577 from the
parks budget in order to improve
the area.
Taylor said the resolution
would allow a wide range of
appropriate stakeholders to
engage in creating a downtown
park that is "vibrant and green."
Although Taylor did concede
that many citizens wanted a
downtown park other than Lib-
erty Plaza, he noted that Liberty
Plaza is more readily available to
make improvements.
"Liberty Plaza is a park that we
(already) have," Taylor said.
Councilmember Stephen Kun-
selman (D-Ward 3) said he did
not know if the suggested fund-
ing would be sufficient to meet
the goals of the resolution for out
of concern over the city's lack of
park planners; currently, the city
only has one.
Councilmember Sabra Briere
(D-Ward 1) said she did not know
if the funds would be enough to
secure the goals, adding that she
would rather have the PAC's input
on the project.
"It's all the public outreach
that is at issue that will get us to
the goal of how we take a really
pleasant area with bushes and
trees and make ita really pleasant,
safe area with bushes and trees,"
Briere said. "I would not object to
postponing this to refer it to PAC."
Kunselman also sarcastically
noted that Liberty Plaza is only
recently becoming a priority over
the city's 157 other parks.
"We have one park planner,
and we have 157 parks," Kunsel-
man said. "This one has suddenly
become the priority."
One of the main concerns with
the proposed park's location in
Liberty Plaza is that citizens -
often the homeless - loiter in the
area, which sometimes leads to
disruptive behavior.
The plaza is also often associ-
ated with drug and alcohol use as
well as violent acts; most recently,
a man was accused of using a box
cutter to slice the face of another
man in the plaza during an argu-
ment over alcohol May 31.
Mayor John Hieftje said he
believes many of these problems
can be fixed by simply redesign-
ing Liberty Plaza.
"I don't want to... have to sta-
tion police officers full-time at
a park," Hieftje said. "If we can
fix this issue through re-design,
that's what we should do."
How exactly the area would be
redesigned in order to alleviate
these issues remained unclear, but
one suggestion made by Taylor
was to remove the seating areas
in the plaza, which he mentioned
the University did when they had
similar problems near the corner
of State Street and North Univer-
sity Avenue.
Kunselman suggested using
the University Landscape Archi-
tecture students and faculty to
help with the Liberty Park proj-
ect, but Hieftje said a plan to coor-
dinate with the department was
already in place.
In addition to debating the
issues surrounding Liberty Plaza,
City Council also voted to approve
the site plan for an 88,570 square-
foot hotel on West Huron between
Main and Ashley Streets.
The plan, brought to the coun-
cil by First Martin, proposes a
six-story building, in which the
first floor would be used for retail
and the upper five stories for hotel
space.
Finally, council approved a
$75,000 agreement with Gre-
enway Collaborative, Inc. to aid
the Pedestrian Safety and Access
Taskforce in their study of pedes-
trian safety in the city.
The taskforce is currently
working to analyze and mend
the city's walkways and improve
other aspects of pedestrian safety.
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Women strac slides to 37th
Fini
All-i
Mich
field co
to dista
"bread;
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as coac
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always<
ners tolf
That
end, as
ing 37th
Champi
was sof
team A
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"I wa
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ly satisf
said. "I
first tim
son, so
tough l
the road
The
junior B
sLance runners man Erin Finn. Handler ran a
4:20.45 in the 1,500-meter run to
take sixth, becoming the ninth
American status Wolverine to be an All-American
in that event.
Finn - the top seed in the
By ZACH SHAW 10,000-meter run before the
Daily Sports Writer weekend - rose from the mid-
dle of the pack to lead for 10 laps
igan women's track and before falling back into sixth.
ach James Henry refers Though Henry remained pleased
nce running as his team's with Finn's finish, he knows the
and butter" and has felt that best is yet to come for the fresh-
much of his 30-year career man, who soundly established
h. No matter what happens herself as one of the nation's top
re, he feels his team can distance runners.
count on the distance run- "She's learning and maturing
inish strong, in the process," Henry said. "She's
belief showed last week- fallen short of her expectations
the sting of a disappoint- for herself in two championship
s-place finish at the NCAA races now and has taken a lot from
onships in Eugene, Oregon both races. It's more than racing at
tened slightly by two first- certain levels or meeting certain
ll-Americans in distance times. It's important to race and
compete against the competition
as happy and pleased with and to do so at a pace that's going
rts I saw, but not complete- to equate in the best finish, not just
ied with the results," Henry leading the most laps."
t was all of (the athletes') Three other Wolverines com-
ie going this far in the sea- peted in Eugene. Sophomore Cindy
I think we learned some Ofili took 11th in the 100-meter
essons that we'll use down hurdles, freshman Aaron Howell
." took 16th in the heptathlon and
two All-Americans were senior distance runner Alex Lep-
Brooke Handler and fresh- tich ended her Michigan career
with a 22nd-place finish in the
3,000-meter steeplechase.
Ofili and Leptich were seeded in
scoring position before the week-
end but came up short. However,
Henry feels that the disappoint-
ment has a chance to serve as a
reminder of just how elusive sus-
tained excellence is.
"It was a learning experience
for everyone," he said. "It's hard
to compete and train in-season
for as long as our athletes do, and
that's what makes what (Michi-
gan women's cross country) coach
Mike McGuire has done with the
distance group so impressive. That
group was able to finish strong
the past couple weeks after three
whole seasons of competition."
To Henry, his program's season
begins in the fall, when the cross
country team begins competing
with Finn, Handler and several
other top track athletes leading the
charge.
Though a separate sport, Henry
looks to utilize the success of cross
country - which took fourth inlast
fall's NCAA Championships - for
the rest of his team, which will be
returning four of five NCAA quali-
fiers and several scorers at the Big
Ten Championships.
"We've had the success we've
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is
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Additional copies may be picked up at the
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Erin Finn took sixth in the 10,000-meter run, one of two Michigan All-Americans.
wanted slip through our fingers to happen unless we earn it. We're
the past couple years, and it's hurt," going to have more depth and be a
Henry said. "Next year we want better team next year, but that can't
to close up our fingers and make be taken for granted. It's not our
a palm and catch the success that turn to see success unless we make
comes our way, but it's not going it our turn."
All-American Ferli~c lone scorer for men's track
By JAKE LOURIM
ManagingSports Editor
The Michigan men's track and
field team hasn't had the best sea-
son in its 103-year history, by any
account.
But it didn't come without its
bright spots. Redshirt sophomore
Mason Ferlic made sure of that.
Ferlic capped off the season
with a fourth-place finish in the
3,000-meter steeplechase, earn-
ing first-team All-American honors
and leading the team to tie for 44th
place with his five points.
Ferlic's 2013 season ended with
a second-team All-American finish
but also a bit of unfinished busi-
ness. The first-year steeplechase
athlete was the first runner left out
of the finals, finishing13th.
So he came back a year later
smarter and more experienced,
knowing that he didn't have to be
faster - just fast enough to qualify. to fifth on the third lap to fourth at
"The strategy for a prelim is to the finish.
try to qualify as smoothly as pos- Now, just more than a year after
sible without any drama," Ferlic competing in the steeplechase for
said. "I think I executed as well as the first time, he finds himself one
I wanted to. You're not trying to of the elite competitors in the race
win a prelim, you're just trying to across the country. He was the top
do it as smoothly sophomore fin-
as possible with isher.
as little mental "Coming back
effort as physical "Guys w ill be this year, having
effort as possible that experience,
- save it for the intimidated by having been to
final." the venue before,
In fact, Ferlic me now. I came in highly
finished more ranked," Ferlic
than two sec- said. "Guys will
onds slower in be intimidated
his prelim this year but third in by me now. That felt good. I had a
the second heat, with plenty of lot more confidence this year, and I
room to spare to qualify for the had a lot more fun."
finals. Eastern Kentucky junior Ole
In the finals, with some energy Hesselbjerg just beat out Ferlic at
saved up, he surged from near the the finish. UTEP junior Anthony
back of the pack at the beginning Rotich and Arkansas junior Stan-
ley Kebenei finished first and sec-
ond, respectively, fairly easily.
"I was hoping to close on (Hes-
selbjerg) onthelastlap,buthehad a
good kick home, so I couldn't quite
get him," Ferlic said. "It was almost
an uneventful final, in my opinion.
Things got out hard, the two guys
got out front and it was a good race
from the gun. There wasn't really
much jostling or drama."
Though Ferlic hoped to pass
Hesselbjerg and finish in third,
coach Jerry Clayton was optimistic
about the future for the All-Amer-
ican.
"As he progresses, his goal has
got to be to try to challenge to win
a national title," he said. "If he runs
fast enough, he'll have an oppor-
tunity that's post-collegiate. But
those things will be determined
here in the next two years on how
he focuses in."
The Wolverines took two more
athletes to Eugene, Oregon for the
championships - redshirt sopho-
more Derek Sievers and redshirt
junior Morsi Rayyan.
Sievers threw a personal record
at the Big Ten Championships to
finish seventh and shattered that
mark by almost two feet at the East
Region Preliminaries to qualify for
the NCAA Championships.
He fell short of his personal
record by three inches in Eugene,
but finished 16th and earned sec-
ond-team All-American honors to
cap a tremendous year of improve-
ment under Clayton.
"What you're tryingto do is keep
the rhythm and timing of where
he's at and maintain that," Clayton
said. "Normally, with peaking, you
can maintain those for a 4-6 week
period."
Rayyan finished 18th in 30:17.87
in the 10,000-meter run to com-
plete a long championship season.