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Thursday, February 19, 2015
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By GENEVIEVE HUMMER
Daily Staff Reporter
University
President
Mark
Schlissel hosted 200 students,
faculty and staff members Mon-
day morning in the Michigan
League Ballroom to jump start
a campuswide conversation on
diversity.
Schlissel
announced
plans
for the leadership breakfast in
December through an e-mail
newsletter delivered to students
and faculty. In September, the
Office of the Provost released
reports from three faculty-led
committees that included 13 rec-
ommendations for diversifying
the campus, including the cre-
ation of a strategic diversity plan.
Michigan Daily reporters were
not invited to Monday’s event.
According to a University
press release and several facul-
ty, administrators and students
who attended the event, Schlis-
sel announced intentions to pri-
oritize the issue during his term,
echoing sentiments similar to his
September inaugural address.
“I am committed to making
diversity, equity and an inclusive
campus environment a major
focus of my presidency,” Schlissel
said. “Together, we can embrace
the best parts of our past and the
brightest minds of the future, and
create new levels of pride and
excellence for everyone in the
University of Michigan commu-
nity.”
Though
Schlissel
acknowl-
edged the challenges ahead, he
expressed optimism for the Uni-
versity’s ability to achieve signifi-
cant change.
Issues of diversity, inclusion
and equity have played a promi-
ZACH MOORE/Daily
The Michigan men’s soccer team (LEFT), the Michigan marching band (TOP RIGHT) and the Michigan baseball team (BOTTOM RIGHT) perform during Mock
Rock at Hill Auditorium Wednesday.
See DIVERSITY, Page 3A
Men’s rowing
team earns second
straight win at event
By LEV FACHER
Managing Editor
The Michigan men’s rowing
team might not get much public-
ity around campus, but on the
Hill Auditorium stage, it reigns
supreme.
Wednesday night, the Wolver-
ine rowers channeled their inner
Walt Disney to repeat as champi-
ons of the Student-Athlete Advi-
sory Committee’s Mock Rock
event, an annual charity com-
petition that pits various teams’
wacky
performances
against
one another before hundreds of
current and former athletes, stu-
dents, fans and alumni.
The event was conceived in
1999 in honor of Jeff Reese, a
member of the Michigan wres-
tling team who passed away
while training for an upcom-
ing event. This year, SAAC
partnered with the Ann Arbor
YMCA, contributing proceeds
to benefit children’s programs in
the Washtenaw County area.
The winning act was an
impressively orchestrated musi-
cal-theater rendition of “The
Little Mermaid,” complete with
dozens of costumed rowers.
Some of the more notable getups
included a crab, a large card-
board boat named “S.S. Boat,” a
jellyfish, a rock, a seahorse and,
of course, a mermaid.
While appointed judges have
decided the winner in the past,
See ROCK, Page 3A
Exchange signs up
almost 341,000
residents during
open enrollment
By JACKIE MILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
When open enrollment closed
Sunday, almost 341,000 Michigan
residents had signed up for health
insurance through the Affordable
Care Act’s insurance marketplace
— a 25 percent increase over last
year.
Both
the
general
Health
Insurance
Marketplace
and
the Healthy Michigan Plan, the
state’s Medicaid expansion pro-
gram, have experienced some
level of success in the last year.
With the closure of the enroll-
ment period last Sunday, Presi-
dent Barack Obama said 11.4
million people signed up for or
renewed their coverage during
the three month period.
Currently,
559,965
benefi-
ciaries are covered under the
Healthy Michigan Plan, which
is designed to cover residents
between the ages of 19 and 64
who have an income at or below
133 percent of the federal poverty
line.
Carrie Rheingans is project
manager for the Washtenaw
Health Initiative, a countywide
drive working to improve access
to health care for low-income
residents. She said the enrollment
rates were surprisingly high.
“Overall, this number has real-
ly blown out of the water any esti-
mates that anybody was making
in the state,” Rheingans said.
Rheingans added that she is
not aware of any major issues that
have occurred within this year’s
first enrollment period, but noted
that Michigan residents seem-
ingly learned from the previous
period, and are becoming smart-
er shoppers.
In particular, Rheingans said
many are concerned about which
health insurance plans their doc-
tors will accept, as patients gener-
ally want to stick with the doctor
that they are currently with.
“Many patients who enrolled
the first time, last year, who are
re-enrolling this year have been
See ACA, Page 3A
Roey Gilad
discusses regional
challenges to
Israel’s borders
By TANYA MADHANI
Daily Staff Reporter
During his second visit to
the University on Wednesday
evening, Roey Gilad, consulate
general of Israel to the Mid-
west, provided an update about
current events in the Middle
East from the perspective of
the Israeli government.
The event, titled “Israel:
Facing the New Challenges in
the Current Middle East,” was
sponsored by the University’s
chapters of advocacy groups J
Street, I-LEAD, WolvPAC and
the American Movement for
Israel as well as the Universi-
ty’s Center for Middle Eastern
and North African Studies.
LSA
junior
Inbar
Lev,
I-LEAD president, said Gilad
reached out to the organization
about giving a speech.
“People are very interested
in the relationship with our
campus and Israel,” Lev said.
“(Gilad) gives a very detailed
perspective of it, as well as
giving an educated one … and
I think that’s really important
for people to hear who don’t
know anything about the issue,
or who do and want to learn
more about the whole environ-
ment.”
In the beginning of his talk,
Gilad said he was not going to
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Roey Gilad, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, discusses Israeli security issues at the Michigan League
Wednesday.
See CONSULATE, Page 3A
New program to
focus on training
local doctors,
data collection
By RACHEL WADDELL
For the Daily
University faculty and students
will soon play a role saving lives
in a country thousands of miles
away.
The University has helped
establish a medical partnership
in Ethiopia, called the Center
for International Reproduction
Health Training. Launched Feb.
6 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the
collaboration consists of eight
Ethiopian medical schools and
a partnership with the Federal
Ministry of Health of Ethiopia.
The CIRHT looks to equip
future medical doctors with life-
saving reproductive health care
services, according to Senait
Fisseha, the center’s executive
director and an associate profes-
sor of obstetrics and gynecology.
See ETHIOPIA, Page 3A
INDEX
Vol. CXXIV, No. 69
©2015 The Michigan Daily
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WEATHER
TOMORROW
HI: 11
LO: 9
Schlissel
introduces
efforts for
diversity
ADMINISTRATION
Student-athletes unleash
wild sides at Mock Rock
Michigan sees
increased ACA
participation
HEALTH
Israeli consulate general
talks Middle East politics
‘U’ launches
reproductive
health center
in Ethipoia
RESEARCH