Ann Arbor observes
May Day by social
inequality protest

University research buildings 
honored in competition for 
increased energy efficiency 

Hundreds of students 
and organizers gathered 
for festival with social 

and political focus

By EDUARDO BATISTA

Daily Staff Reporter

On Monday, hundreds of students 

and organizers gathered in Ann 
Arbor for the May Day Festival of 
Resistance, an event with a social and 
political focus.

The origin of May Day dates back 

to 1886, when the Federation of 
Organized Trades and Labor Unions 
proclaimed on May 1 that eight hours 
of work would constitute a legal work 
day. Since then, workers from all 
around the globe gather on that day 
to protest against harsh and illegal 
working conditions.

Despite the protest’s historical 

focus on denouncing poor labor 
conditions, May Day has grown 
throughout the years to tackle other 
issues, such as social struggles and 
liberation movements.

In 
Ann 
Arbor, 
specifically, 

protesters said they strived to not 
only criticize capitalist practices, but 
also to raise awareness about the 
water crisis in Flint.

Rackham 
student 
Katherine 

Crocker said she joined the protest 
because she is against both fascist 
and capitalist movements.

“A friend texted me saying there 

was an anti-fascist, anti-capitalist 
protest, so I got my red-shirt from 
my office and joined,” she said. “I 
am 
personally 
strongly 
against 

capitalism and all of the many racist 
policies and laws we have that were 
enacted by the Southern colonial 
project.”

At this year’s May Day event, 

representatives 
from 
several 

nationally-organized 
social 

movements protested in the streets 
of Ann Arbor. Among these groups 
were A Day Without Immigrants, the 
Movement for Black Lives and the 
Women’s Strike Committee.

Protesters were also careful not 

to identify themselves as leaders of 
the movement, calling it instead a 
“leaderless protest,” in the words 

of historian Peter Linebaugh. Now 
retired, Linebaugh has taught history 
at several universities including 
Harvard and Tufts University. He is 
also the author of “The Incomplete, 
True, Authentic, and Wonderful 
History of May Day.”

Linebaugh explained May Day 

is a celebration of life, as well as a 
gathering meant to enlighten students 
of the false information being 
conveyed to them. He referenced 
the struggle for water in South 
America. In an article Linebaugh 
wrote for CounterPunch on Sunday, 
he mentioned the struggle for clean 
drinking water in Cochabamba, 
Bolivia. 

“May Day is a festival of life,” 

Linebaugh said. “It’s a festival of red 
blood whose basis is water. This is 
what is being threatened around the 
world, our blood and our water…The 
indigenous people of South America 
have fought for water as a human 
right rather than something to be 
privatized by the corporate pigs and 
butchers who rule us and through 
the International Monetary Fund 
with false ideological concepts such 
as progress and development. These 
are sham notions that are conveyed to 
our students as if it was knowledge.”

Students walking by the Diag said 

they recognize the protest’s aim to 
discuss social issue, but were having 
trouble identifying the main message 
of the protest. One student, Business 
sophomore 
Christina 
Panagoulia 

Triantafillopoulos, 
believed 
the 

protest was about police brutality.

“I really don’t know what it’s 

about; I think it’s about race brutality 
perhaps,” Triantafillopoulos said. 

Education sophomore Madeleine 

Caughey said she thought the protest 
was about mass incarceration due to 
the group’s chants.

“I think it might be about mass 

incarceration,” she said. “They were 
saying abolish slavery, abolish mass 
incarceration.”

Linebaugh said that ultimately, the 

overall message of the protest was to 
bring awareness to, as well as change, 
the current class system based on the 
wealth of the one percent. 

“In fact what we have organized 

is a class system for the enrichment 
of the 1 percent,” he said. “The final 
thought is that we can change this 

Kellogg Eye Center 

achieves annual 

savings increase of 

$15,000

By CORY ZAYANCE

Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan’s 

Kellogg 
Eye 
Center 
and 

Medical 
Science 
Research 

Building 
III 
were 
honored 

last week after dramatically 
increasing 
their 
energy 

efficiency during the Michigan 
Battle of the Buildings — an 
energy reduction competition 
for businesses in the state of 
Michigan.

The Michigan Battle of the 

Buildings is a program that 
honors reductions in energy 
use and is open to all industrial, 
commercial and multifamily 
residential buildings in the 
state that runs from March 31 
to Dec. 31 every year. 

Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for 

the Battle of the Buildings, 
shared the competition’s goals 
for Michigan companies and 
buildings.

“It is a friendly competition 

designed for buildings to be 
more 
energy 
efficient, 
and 

they also provide information 
for companies to become more 
energy efficient,” Boyd said. 
“It’s all about promoting energy 
efficiency. There are easy steps 
buildings can take to save 
energy and money.”

The 2017 Energy Summit 

celebrated 
the 
2016 

competition’s “biggest losers” 
and welcomed new competitors 
for 2017. In addition to the 
awards 
presentation, 
the 

Summit featured peer-to-peer 
learning platforms for attendees 
to 
learn 
how 
Michigan 

companies 
are 
reducing 

their 
energy 
consumption 

without sacrificing comfort or 
productivity. Keynote speakers 
were 
also 
in 
attendance, 

discussing a range of energy-
related topics.

Cheri Holman, Battle of the 

Buildings creator, shared the 
main focus of the competition.

“The overall goal is to educate 

on energy efficient practices 
within the state and to gather 
energy leaders so they can all 
learn from each other,” Holman 
said.

The University of Michigan 

Kellogg Eye Center, Michigan’s 
number 
one 
ranked 
eye 

center, achieved an energy-
use reduction of 5.30 percent 
and annual savings increase of 
$15,000. This feat was achieved 

by adjusting the exhaust fans to 
rebalance the air flow through 
the building.

David Shaw, Regional Energy 

Manager of University Energy 
Management, provided a reason 
for this change.

“As buildings are used and age, 

the controls can drift or fail,” 
Shaw said. “Recommissioning 
brings our systems back to what 
they were designed to do and 
restores them to their original 
efficiency.”

Medical 
Science 
Research 

Building 
III 
managed 
to 

increase its energy efficiency 
by 
implementing 
a 
series 

of 
conservation 
efforts. 

These 
advances 
included 

recommissioning the facility’s 
office 
and 
lab 
ventilation 

controls, the installation of 

occupancy sensors in offices and 
encouraging building occupants 
to turn off lights and close fume 
hood sashes when not in use. 
These efforts resulted in a net 
decrease in energy use of 21.5 
percent.

“The education is that there 

is simple, low-hanging fruit 
to 
innovative 
technology,” 

Holman 
said. 
“A 
mix 
of 

everything is what we are 
encouraging.”

The 
Energy 
Management 

Team’s five managers, who 
worked on both the Kellogg 
Eye 
Center 
and 
Medical 

Science Research Building III’s 
renovations, are now tasked 
with helping the University 
reach its goal of reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions by 
25 percent by 2025. Up to now, 
the University has managed 
to reduce its emissions by 8 
percent per year.

“The 
energy 
savings 

achieved at the Kellogg Eye 
Building and Medical Sciences 
Research Building III directly 
contribute to this goal,” Shaw 
said. 

The University hopes to 

meet their sustainability goal 
by looking for efficiency gains 
from energy they buy and 
produce and how energy is 
used in current buildings.

Planet 
Blue, 
the 

University’s multidisciplinary 
sustainability 
initiative, 

is 
committed 
to 
fostering 

sustainability 
education, 

research 
and 
community 

engagement on campus. By 
2025, the University aims to cut 
greenhouse gas emissions by 
25 percent, obtain 20 percent 
of its food from sustainable 
sources and decrease vehicle 
carbon output, among other 
efforts. 

Shaw shared the University’s 

future projections for energy 
reduction and savings. 

“We look continually for new 

technologies and new ways 
to use existing equipment to 
cost-effectively maintain and 
operate our buildings safely 
and efficiently,” Shaw said.

The education 
is that there 
is simple, low-
hanging fruit 
to innovative 

technology, a mix 

of everything 
is what we are 
encouraging.

9

Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS