The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 — 3A

coming from Congressional 
Republicans. 
They 
said 
if 

the ACA is repealed, it will 
need to be replaced; however, 
lawmakers have yet to bring 
forth a definitive plan for 
replacement.

“In the last year, we’ve 

heard discussion of increasing 
premium costs and higher 
deductibles, and we do need 
to worry about that, there’s no 
question about it,” Dingell said. 
“There are a lot of statistics 
and numbers but we need to 
know what the facts are, we 
need to understand.”

Laurie 
Burchett, 
an 

insurance 
specialist 
at 

University 
Health 
Service, 

stated that for students who 
obtain an illness that needs 
to be treated at an outside 
facility, health insurance is a 
requirement. She has found, 
however, that many students 
at the University do not have 
their own health insurance 
and 
cannot 
receive 
this 

treatment. She continued by 
explaining that the portion 
of the ACA that allows young 
adults to stay on their parent’s 
health insurance until age 26 is 
crucial for college students.

Claire Fitzgerald, a senior 

majoring in political science, 
gender and health studies and 
business, was also a member 
of the panel. She described 
her experiences as a college 
student and how the ACA 
has affected her and her 
classmates.

“For college students in 

particular, the ACA gives us 
the ability to receive access 
to 
contraceptive 
provision, 

preventive 
sexual 
health 

care and the mental health 
support and flu shots we need 
in a crucial and tumultuous 
time without worrying about 
obtaining coverage outside our 
parents’ plan,” she said.

Fitzgerald 
recalled 
a 

time when she contracted 
mononucleosis and had to 
be hospitalized for a week. 
She said if she were not able 
to be on her parent’s health 
insurance, paying for the large 
hospital bills would have been 
extremely difficult.

Panelists 
also 
described 

how women in particular are 
affected by the ACA, as they 
are provided contraceptives, 
prenatal care, mammograms 
and several other preventative 
screenings.

When moderators opened 

the floor to the audience, 
many attendees had questions 
regarding what they could do as 
individuals to advocate for the 
ACA. Panelist Michael Budros, 
a Rackham student, stressed 
the importance of outreach 
and 
education, 
especially 

toward those who may not 
understand the entirety of the 
current situation.

He said there are many 

people 
who 
have 
health 

insurance 
under 
the 
ACA 

without realizing it and at the 
same time hold a disdain for 
the legislation under its more 
common name, “Obamacare.”

“Don’t underestimate the 

power of talking to your 
friends and families, especially 

people who live in different 
areas,” he said. “They might 
know that they’re benefiting 
from the Affordable Care Act 
but hate Obamacare.”

Dingell stressed situations 

surrounding 
controversial 

issues like the ACA should not 
be made political. She said in 
cases that affect the well-being 
of citizens, public health is not 
a matter of political ideologies.

“This isn’t a partisan fight, 

it’s about real people’s lives,” 
she said. “There are a lot of 
people that are just scared to 
death about what’s going to 
happen to them, so that’s why 
I am so concerned about this 
because this isn’t a political 
game, it’s real people’s lives, 
and that’s why it does matter 
and it is so important.”

LSA freshman Kieran Byrne 

attended the panel as a member 
of a younger generation that 
has seen the ACA in action 
for the majority of their lives, 
and who hasn’t personally 
experienced any major effects 
from other health care plans. 
He explained the importance of 
students from this generation 
attending panels such as this 
one and educating themselves 
on issues that could change 
very quickly in the near future.

“I 
think 
it’s 
important 

that people have a good idea 
of what’s going on in terms 
of 
the 
legislation 
that’s 

going to happen and what 
laws are already doing for 
us,” he said. “I think a lot 
of news and information is 
very sensationalized and it’s 
important to hear from the 
people who actually have an 
impact.”

DINGELL
From Page 1A

identifying … to this day, they 
are still regarded as white. So 
basically, we don’t have a count 
on how many Arab Americans 
or Middle East Americans exist 
in the United States, we don’t 
know how many exist in the 
University of Michigan.”

Public Policy junior Nadine 

Jawad, who serves as senior 
policy adviser to CSG, stressed 
the importance of having a 
record of how many ME/NA 
students there are on campus 
to allocate resources toward 
that community and reach out 
to members.

“When something goes on on 

campus, if we want to connect 
with Arab American students, 
Middle Eastern students, or 
Middle 
Eastern 
and 
North 

African students and people 
identifying in this category, 
it’s very hard to reach out to a 
population of people that you 
don’t even know where they 
are, how many exist on this 
campus,” Jawad said. “If we 
want to advocate for resources 
for our community, it’s very 
hard to because we don’t have 
a breakdown of how many 
students there are so it makes 
it hard to allocate resources for 
this demographic of people on 
campus.”

LSA junior Jad Elharake 

said with all of the talk of 
representation and outreach 
from 
students 
and 
the 

University 
of 
Michigan 

administration, it is important 
to have an idea of how many 
ME/NA 
students 
are 
on 

campus.

“This will be our third year 

planning a graduation for ME/
NA students, and when we’re 
trying to reach out to students 
and graduates and seniors, 
there isn’t a Listserv we can go 
to, so we have to go by student 
organizations 
or 
friends,” 

Elharake said. “Just to show 
you how dysfunctional it is … I 
know we talk about access and 
outreach and representation 
amongst FSAs (faculty, staff 
and administrators), but we 
don’t even know how many of 

us are on campus.”

Jones 
said 
the 
authors 

hoped 
to 
see 
student 

government support for the 
resolution before approaching 
administration 
and 
sending 

the resolution to University 
President Mark Schlissel.

“All you’re being asked to 

do is show support for this — 
you’re not asked to actually 
create the box, you’re not asked 
the logistics of the box,” he 
said. “It’s basically going to be 
in the racial category, when 
applying to anything or under 
distinctions, so there would 
be a separate ethnic category 
where 
you 
could 
identify 

distinctions. This is primarily 
a racial category we are looking 
to implement, and you would 
just be supporting the idea.”

The 
resolution 
passed 

unanimously 
among 
the 

assembly.

Engineering 
freshman 

Mario Galindez, a member 
of the Engineering Student 
Government, proposed another 
resolution during the meeting 
to support an academic holiday 
on Election Day.

He referred to the long 

lines students had to wait in 
on Election Day, and specified 
these as being a potential factor 
in discouraging students to 
vote.

The resolution proposed an 

academic holiday for Election 
Day 
2020 
and 
all 
even-

numbered years after that. 
The proposal was passed on to 
the resolution committee for 
further review.

CSG
From Page 1A

to Athletes Connected, an 
initiative to support student-
athlete 
mental 
health 
in 

memory of Garrick Roemer, 
a University student-athlete 
who committed suicide in 
2014.

In an effort to reach out 

to the greater Ann Arbor 
community 
and 
continue 

encouraging 
their 
support 

for treating mental illness, 
the 
organizations 
choose 

Fresh Start Clubhouse, a local 
organization that helps adults 
in the Ann Arbor Community 
with 
mental 
illness 
by 

emphasizing 
employment, 

education, 
housing 
and 

wellness programs as their 
2017 beneficiary.

In 
previous 
years, 
the 

event has relied solely on 
the audience to judge the 
performances; however, this 
year, Harbaugh was joined 
by his wife, Sarah Harbaugh, 
and University alum Summer 
Berman, director of Fresh 
Start Clubhouse, behind the 
judges table. 

In 
the 
middle 
of 
the 

show, 
current 
members 

and 
employees 
of 
Fresh 

Start Clubhouse took center 

stage 
to 
be 
recognized 

and gave a performance to 
share 
their 
message 
that 

no one is ever alone. One of 
the 
organization’s 
current 

members shared his personal 
story 
and 
history 
with 

depression and how, with the 
help of Fresh Start Clubhouse, 
he was able to improve his 
quality of life.

In 
response 
to 
the 

performance 
by 
Fresh 

Start 
and 
the 
story 
of 

overcoming depression, the 
Harbaughs offered to match 
every donation made. The 
organization 
received 
a 

standing ovation.

Co-host 
Drake 
Johnson, 

a fifth-year senior running 
back, shared how important 
he felt the issue of mental 
health for student-athletes 
and the fervor he has to be 
a part of a community that 
supports it.

“As an athlete, it’s very 

critical that we recognize 
how important our mental 
health is,” Johnson said. “Not 
even in just our performance 
but as people. I’m proud to be 
a part of this place because 
you’re not going to find this 
support everywhere.”

To continue the theme of 

mental health awareness, the 
women’s field hockey team 
dedicated its performance to 

“those who felt they didn’t 
have a message.” The team 
lined the stages with signs of 
the lyrics to Adele’s “Make 
You Feel My Love,” as a 
member of the team sang the 
song.

Afterward, 
Harbaugh 

expressed his admiration for 
the team’s performance.

“Talent, 
presentation 

and a compelling message,” 
Harbaugh 
said. 
“Women’s 

field hockey is in it to win it.”

Other teams went with 

more 
conventional 
talent 

show acts such as lip-syncing 
and choreographed dances. 
The men’s gymnastics team 
did a hip-hop dance routine, 
which was well received by 
Harbaugh.

“I thought it was dope,” 

Harbaugh said.

After the judges delegated, 

first-place 
went 
to 
a 
tie 

between 
the 
University’s 

dance team and Fresh Start 
Clubhouse.

Cheer team member Bailey 

Hedman, an LSA sophomore, 
came out to help fundraise for 
mental health after finding 
out about the event from her 
team.

“I know one of our captains 

is a really big supporter of 
this,” Hedman said. “So, the 
whole cheer team is here to 
support.”

ATHLETES
From Page 1A

with the design of the Atrias-
series robot that we have in 
our lab, and then (we) used the 
mathematics to arrive at the 
robot’s design,” he said. “Hence, 
Cassie ended up looking like 
a bird as a result of math, but 
wasn’t designed that way in the 
sense of bio-inspired.”

Grizzle’s 
lab 
will 
be 

programming and testing the 
algorithm to control Cassie, 
in the hopes they can steer 
the 
robot 
toward 
delivery-

based functions. Xingye Da, an 
Engineering graduate student 
who works in Grizzle’s lab, said 
this functionality was designed 
to maneuver through obstacles.

“Cassie 
was 
designed 

for 
carrying 
and 
delivering 

packages,” he said. “In delivering 
a package to the front of your 

home, the robot will probably 
have to climb up the stairs and 
go through other obstacles.”

Da added Cassie would be 

productive in delivering objects 
because of its studier structure, 
which can mitigate the amount of 
damage coming from collisions 
and falls.

Cassie’s 
functions 
surpass 

those of older robots: Grizzle’s 
current 
robot, 
MARLO, 
is 

another biped that “walks,” but 
it requires human assistance to 
stand up and maneuver its path. 
Moreover, Cassie is designed 
to be able to reorient its “feet,” 
which makes it able to turn in 
its course of action — a function 
MARLO lacks.

“The models for MARLO and 

Cassie were designed for outdoor 
walking, so the biggest challenge 
for MARLO is that it’s very heavy 
and when we take it to the place 
where no mobile gantry can 
work, like the Michigan Wave 
Field or the woods ... we have to 
carry it on a boom to support its 
weight in case it falls,” Grizzle 
said. “Cassie does not need this 
and is more durable.”

Along with this engineered 

mobility, 
Cassie 
is 
set 
to 

transform energy efficiency in 
robots. Da explained robots, 
compared to humans, are very 
inefficient in terms of expending 
energy.

“Compared to humans’ energy 

efficiency, MARLO is five times 
less 
efficient 
than 
humans 

whereas other robots are 100 
times less efficient,” he said. “I 
expect Cassie will be even more 
efficient than MARLO because 
of its lighter weight.”

Da 
expects 
this 
energy 

efficiency to be a main feature 
of Cassie. He explained per 
its design for the outdoors, 
conserving 
energy 
will 
be 

a necessity for carrying out 
missions.

“If you think about doing 

outdoor exploring or rescue, the 
biggest concern is the battery 
life,” he said. “If you carry more 
power, of course you’ll end up 
weighing heavier, so there’s a 
tradeoff. But Cassie was designed 
to counter this.”

Cassie, 
along 
with 
other 

bipedal robots, was designed 
to harness a variety of human 
mobility. 
Dmitry 
Berenson, 

assistant professor of electrical 
engineering 
and 
computer 

science, predicted future robots 
will integrate more humanoid-
type parts.

“Cassie is a pair of legs, but 

to do useful things you would 
need some way to interact 
with the world (with arms),” 
Berenson said. “It’s good to 
develop arm and leg capabilities 
independently so we can focus 
on the core problems of each. 
However, we’re moving toward 
a point where both technologies 
are maturing and need to be 
integrated into a full humanoid 
system.”

ROBOT
From Page 1A

problematic to the point where 
I think it would almost be better 
if it weren’t passed, because 
some of the exceptions in it I 
think are very dangerous.”

Along with several other 

residents 
at 
the 
meeting, 

Councilmember Jack Eaton (D–
Ward 4) agreed the language of 
the exceptions in the ordinance 
needed to be revised.

“I find great substance to 

the objections that were raised 
by residents of the city,” he 
said. “I’ve spoken to the city 
attorney’s office regarding this, 

and in consultation with them, 
I will be working out a better 
way to describe any exception 
we will make for this.”

Councilmember 
Sumi 

Kailasapathy (D–Ward 1) said 
she 
understood 
residents’ 

concerns with the exceptions, 
but pointed out the council was 
balancing multiple priorities 
with 
the 
ordinance. 
She 

specifically noted the federal 
funding that goes toward public 
housing for the city’s low-
income residents, which could 
be threatened by the passing of 
such an ordinance.

“None 
of 
us 
here 
have 

any doubt that the current 
president is a very vindictive 
person,” she said. “Some of you 

have pleaded with us, asking 
us why don’t we just declare 
ourselves a sanctuary city and 
then go fight it out in the courts, 
because it’s a just war. And I do 
agree with you, but the issue is 
we come from a middle-class 
perspective where we have a 
safety net. The people who live 
in public housing are not in the 
safety net. They don’t have any 
other safety net.”

Kailasapathy said the city 

currently receives $1.25 million 
per month from the federal 
government in public housing 
grants. 
Councilmember 

Zachary Ackerman (D–Ward 
3) noted the funds provide 
housing for more than 1,300 
Ann Arbor residents.

CITY
From Page 1A

It’s very hard 
to rech out to a 
population of 
people that you 
don’t even know 
where they are, 
how many exist 
on this campus

the substituted bill will be 
voted on — less than a week 
after the committee’s hearing 
for the initial bill.

To reach the income tax level 

of 3.9 percent, the new bill, 
which will take effect Jan. 1, 
2018, would reduce the income 
tax by 0.1 percent each year for 
three years — for the fourth 
year, it would be lowered by 0.05 
percent.

State Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D–

Ann Arbor) remarked that he 
thinks both the initial proposal 
and this new plan will negatively 

affect the state.

“I think that the Republican 

tax proposal and its amendment 
are both fiscally irresponsible to 
the state and the wrong move for 
us to make — it’s irresponsible to 
talk about cutting income to the 
state,” he said. “That’s hundreds 
of millions of dollars coming out 
of police and fire departments, 
coming out of schools.”

HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

Architecture professor Jim Chaffers introduces Dr. Ed Jackson Jr. at the Black History Month lecture in the Art & Architecture Auditorium on 
Tuesday.

HISTORY IN THE M AKING

TAX
From Page 1A

We’re moving 
toward a point 

where both 

technologies are 

maturing