The University of Michigan 
Solar Car team placed third in 
the Bridgestone World Solar 
Challenge on Thursday afternoon 
after a five-day, 1,800-mile race 
through the Australian Outback.
The team’s car, Electrum, 
reached 
the 
finish 
line 
in 
Adelaide, 
South 
Australia 
averaging about 49 miles per 
hour. The Belgian team, Agoria, 
placed first, followed by the 
Japanese 
team 
from 
Tokai 
University.
Engineering junior Andrew 
Dickinson, the project manager of 
the 20-member team, said he was 
proud of his team’s persistence 
through all the challenges they 
faced.
“I’m really proud of my team,” 
Dickinson said. “We did a whole 
lot together. We went through 
a lot of challenges, and just one 
thing about this team more than 

any other team that I’ve been on is 
that, every time I would walk into 
the room and say, ‘guys, this bad 
thing happened to this challenge 
at this roadblock,’ … everybody in 
the room is just ready to go, ready 
to tackle it. It’s that persistence 
that sets us apart.”
Assistant 
professor 
of 
mechanical 
engineering 
Neil 
Dasgupta was the team’s adviser 
this year, but wasn’t able to 
travel to Australia with the team. 
Joanna Millunchick, associate 
dean in the materials science and 
engineering department, joined 
the team instead.
Millunchick said she was 
proud of the team, saying they 
represented 
the 
“Michigan 
difference.”
“I’m so proud of this team,” 
Millunchick said in an email 
interview. 
“They 
showed 
incredible resilience in the face of 
tremendous stress. 

More than 100 people from across 
the state of Michigan gathered 
on the Diag for the first annual 
Michigan National Period Day rally 
on Saturday afternoon. Sponsored 
by the non-profit PERIOD, the event 
was one of a series of rallies being 
held in every U.S. state to reduce the 
stigma around menstruation and to 
advocate for greater accessibility to 
menstruation products.

Part of PERIOD’s mission is to 
cultivate 
national 
conversations 
about the difficulty of affording 
period products for low-income 
individuals, which the movement 
refers to as “period poverty.” 
According to PERIOD’s website, 
the rallies were meant to kick off a 
yearlong campaign calling for free, 
clean, healthy and easily accessible 
menstruation products in prisons, 
shelters and schools. 
The rallies also demanded the 
end of the “tampon tax,” a popular 

term used by menstrual activists to 
refer to the value-added sales tax 
on menstruation products. While 
some 
products 
are 
considered 
“basic necessities” under the tax 
code and are thus tax-exempt, 
Michigan is one of 34 states in 
which the “tampon tax” still exists 
because menstruation products are 
considered “non-essential goods.”
The Michigan rally was headed 
by 
Wayne 
State 
University’s 
PERIOD chapter and organized 
alongside chapters at the University 

of Michigan, Western Michigan 
University 
and 
Washtenaw 
International 
High 
School. 
The event was co-hosted with 
organizations involved in menstrual 
activism 
including 
Corner 
Health Center, Dot.org, Planned 
Parenthood, National Organization 
for Women, Taylor Law Firm and 
Helping Women Period.
Along 
with 
chants 
and 
spontaneous read-outs of poetry 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, October 21, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

The 
city 
of 
Ann 
Arbor 
celebrated the installation of solar 
panels on the roof of Fire Station 
Six with an event Friday afternoon. 
About 50 people attended the 
celebration, including city officials 
and community volunteers.
Students for Clean Energy 
at the University of Michigan 
originally brought the idea of 
installing more solar panels to the 
city last year. Club participants 
as well as other community 
members volunteered to prepare 
and perform the installation of 142 
solar panels on the fire station’s 
roof.
Engineering 
senior 
Grant 
Dukus and LSA senior Taylor 
Lind, members of Students for 
Clean Energy, helped the club take 
the idea to the city. Dukus said the 
city was supportive of the student 
group’s ideas.
“We reached out to the city, 
basically saying that we had a 
bunch of passionate, energetic 
students who were looking for 
this kind of like real world, hands-
on experience and we are willing 
to put in whatever work necessary 
to kind of get this to this point,” 
Dukus said.
The 
installation 
occurred 
over a two-day period, Lind 
said. Volunteers laid out the 
panels Thursday and Harvest 
Energy LLC, the company which 
partnered with the city to provide 
the solar panels, ran the electric to 
get the system up and running.
“It was a pretty hefty job for 
two days of work,” Lind said. 
“We’re definitely thankful for all 
of the volunteers.”

The group raised a total of 
$3,295 to go toward the solar 
panels, which cost the city 
$74,000. In May 2019, the 
installation was postponed due to 
safety and financial finalization. 
The city of Ann Arbor was 
able to reduce the overall cost 
through a Solar Power Purchase 
Agreement.
Josh MacDonald, sustainability 
energy coordinator for the city of 
Ann Arbor, said the students from 
Students for Clean Energy played 
a pivotal role in taking initiative on 
the project.
“For us to continue to meet our 
goals, it’s going to be important 
to partner with the University,” 
MacDonald said. “I think in many 
ways, University of Michigan 
students are that bridge and start 

those kinds of conversations.”
MacDonald said an installation 
of this size would normally last 
a week, but the large number of 
volunteers helped it run smoothly. 
He estimated about 50 volunteers 
helped with the project over the 
two-day span.
“We were very, very happy and 
pleased to see all the volunteers 
come out,” MacDonald said. “I 
think in many ways it also shows 
that there’s a real untapped 
interest in this community to be 
a part of sustainability to really 
reduce 
our 
greenhouse 
gas 
emissions. I’m really hopeful that 
as we proceed, we can continue to 
replicate the same model.”
The 
city’s 
Office 
of 
Sustainability and Innovations 
and their Energy Commission also 

worked in partnership with the 
Students for Clean Energy on the 
installation. 
At the event, attendees were 
able to climb onto the roof to see 
the newly installed solar panels 
and learn about solar energy. The 
new system will be powering 
approximately 
98 
percent 
of 
the building and can generate 
52 kilowatts of energy at peak 
capacity. 
Mike Kennedy, Ann Arbor fire 
chief, told The Daily the fire station 
was excited to be able to partner 
with University students and have 
the opportunity to implement 
sustainable energy sources into 
Fire Station Six.

ANN ARBOR
Ann Arbor Fire Department installs 
environmentally friendly panels

Solar installation intends to implement, improve clean energy in the community

BARBARA COLLINS
Daily Staff Reporter

Some 
attribute 
a 
jump 
in 
University 
of 
Michigan 
student voter turnout in 2018 
to increased efforts in getting 
students registered, and hope 
the passage of Proposal 3 in the 
2018 Michigan midterms will 
make these results increase even 
more in future elections.
Proposal 3 amended the state 
constitution to expand access to 
voting. The proposal added eight 
policies, 
including 
allowing 
same-day 
voter 
registration, 
straight-party 
voting 
and 
absentee ballot voting by mail 
without having to provide a 
reason. 
Last month, the National 
Study of Learning, Voting, and 
Engagement released data on 
the voting patterns of college 
students in the 2018 midterm 
elections. Voter turnout among 
University of Michigan students 
increased nearly threefold in the 
2018 midterm elections, jumping 
from 14 percent in 2014 to 41 
percent. Nationally, the college-
age voter turnout rate doubled 
from about 19 percent to about 
40 percent in 2018, putting the 
University slightly above the 
national average. 

University 
voter rates 
increased 
in midterms

GOVERNMENT

Proposal 3 may lead to 
higher turnout on campus
in future political races

MAEVE O’BRIEN
Daily Staff Reporter

EMMA MATI/Daily
Volunteers and members of Students for Clean Energy celebrate the installation of solar panels on the roof of Fire 
Station Six Friday afternoon. 

Too little, too late
Michigan fails to overcome 
early 21-0 deficit at Penn 
State, falling 28-21 in heart-
wrenching fashion.

 » Page 1B

The 
Ann 
Arbor 
District 
Library hosted a lecture from 
political journalist Clare Malone 
on Saturday afternoon. 
Malone, a senior political 
writer for online media platform 
FiveThirtyEight, discussed the 
role of gender, class and race in 
the 2016 presidential election 
and how those identities may 
affect the 2020 election. About 
80 faculty, students and Ann 
Arbor residents attended the 
event.
Malone noted the immense 
stress that is often associated 
with discussing politics in our 
current climate. 
“I know that politics can be an 
overwhelming topic to talk about 
these days, so I first of all want 
to thank all of you for spending 
your night here talking about 
this,” Malone said. “I hope I can 
be of some help unspooling a 
few of the tangled threads in our 
political debate.
Malone began her discussion 
by explaining the concept of 
electability. Malone said when 
people discuss a candidate being 
more “electable,” they are often 
describing a white man due to the 
biases that exist in this country.

FiveThirtyEight writer 
Clare Malone gives talk 
on race, gender in politics

JENNA SITEMAN
Daily Staff Reporter

Solar Car team 
finishes third in 
international 
 
five-day race

‘U’ group designs increased efficiency 
vehicle to compete in Australian Outback

First annual National Period Day rally 
reduces stigma, raises awareness

Menstrual activism organizations advocate for accessibility of products

MICHAL RUPRECHT
Daily Staff Reporter

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily
Ann Arbor residents participate in the first annual National Period Day on the Diag Saturday afternoon. 

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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 6
©2019 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CROSSWORD................6

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
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AADL hosts 
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on elections

CLAIRE HAO
Daily Staff Reporter 

See PERIOD, Page 2A
See SOLAR, Page 2A

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RESEARCH

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