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. MkIei igan Dafi1lj 420 Maynard S. Ann Arbor, MI148109-1327 www.michigandaily.com IAN DILIWNGHAM SIMONNEKAADIA Eai'torinCief nsi"nssaer CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom s o.siceho2rs 734-763-2459 ot.3 News Tips news@michigandaily.com Letters to the Editor theilmcigndal."m or visit michigandaily comletters PhotoDepartment photo@michigandailycom Edtrl ae opinnion@micig5andilycom Sports Section sportsemichigandaily com Magazine statement@michigandaily.com Advertising Phone: 734-418-4115 Department dailydisplay@gmail.com Women strac slides to 37th Fini All-i Mich field co to dista "bread; way for as coac elsewhe always< ners tolf That end, as ing 37th Champi was sof team A events. "I wa the effo 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 EDITORIAL STAFF Stephanie Shenoada ManagingEditor U,-,,m ShohamGeva ManagingNewsEditor "ENIO NE "EDTO: Allana Akhtar Aarica Marsh EditorialPage Editor opinioneditors@michigandaly.com SENIOR EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR: Michae Schramm Jakelourim ManagingSportsEditor sportseditors@michigandaly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR: DanielFeldman GiancarloeBUonom ManagingArtsEditor geonomo@michigandaily.com SENIOR ARTS EDITORS. Adam Theisen Allison Farrand and Ruby Wallau Managing Photo Editor photo@michigandaiy com Eml Shmergad l~cmManaging Design Editor MeaghanThompson ManagingCopyEditor The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published every Thursday during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, vaaU.S. mail are $111. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April)is $195. University affiliates are subecttoa reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions fur fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. 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.