Senate General Body Meeting #5 — Minutes (09/09/25)

113th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #5

September 9, 2025 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17

MINUTES

1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

   1. Absentees:
      1. Excused: Zaynab Mirza, Avi Liu, Ava Flores, Tanisha Taneja, Mamadou Thiam, Ndeye Coulbary
      2. Unexcused: Haden Gilley
   2. Present

2. Convening Business (1 min)

3. Amendment and Approval of the Agenda (1 min)

4. Public Input (3 min)

5. Reports (5 min)

   1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)
   2. Advisor Report (2 min)

6. First Reading (5 min)

   1. Board of Directors Amendment - Senator Kevin
7. Senator Kevin presented the amendments on the chair of the board of discussions, which includes increasing transparency and accountability to the student body, and delegation of creating 4 instagram posts per academic year covering ongoing and completed initiatives.
8. President Vishnu clarified that the Director of Communication (DoC) is in charge of social media transparency, thus this must be discussed with DoC.
9. Senator Caraline motioned for 5 mins Q & A.

Caraline asked Kevin for more clarification on “increasing transparency and accountability.”

Kevin explained that the clause aims to explain the objective of instagram posts.

4. VP Omotara expressed her concern about the uncertainty of the creation of instagram posts.
5. PoS Srigouri suggested Kevin move the reading after he consults with the DoC.

Kevin highlighted that this initiative of informing the student body on SGA initiatives is unprecedented. He clarified his intention on having quarterly updates on Social Media is to increase SGA representation.

6. VP Omotara suggested the constitution amendment needs more clarity on who will be responsible for this initiative.
7. The reading was moved to IA.

8. Second Reading (5 min)

   1. Phi Delta Theta Crab Fest Funding Bill 2025 - Senator Juan Hidrowoh
9. Amy motioned for 5 minutes recess for the Finance committee to discuss the bill. Motion was passed.
10. Motion to vote was passed. No abstention nor objection was recorded. The bill was passed in favor.
11. Non-Legislative Business (30 min)
    1. Director of Communications Appointment - President Vishnu
12. President Vishnu introduced Johnalyse. Jo presented her past visual works including flyers and stickers for Hopkins events.
13. Voting for appointing Jo as DoC was passed in favor.
    2. Director of Research Appointment - President Vishnu
14. President Vishnu introduced the position responsibility of DoR for surveys and research.
15. The voting for appointing Jason as DoR was passed in favor.
    3. WSE Curriculum Committee - Junior Class President Tarini
16. Tarini encouraged if any senators in WSE were interested in joining the curriculum committee and explained the application process.
    4. Programming Presentation - Chair of Programming Tyler
17. Tyler went over the overall schedule for programming. There will be a tabling event on September 18th for the freshman election. Jay games will be hosted on September 20th 12-4pm. He introduced national holidays tabling on September 26th as an opportunity for each committee to present their initiatives and receive feedback from the student body. National day of failure on October 13th will be an open space for students to talk about what it means to be successful and reflect on their experience at Hopkins. SGA fall retreat (at DC campus) will be held either October 11th, 18th, and 25th.
18. Poll for fall retreat was conducted. October 11th was selected by popularity.
19. Extra mile day on November 1st will be a 5 mile run with Hopkins spirited water stations. For next semester, there will be family feud, speed dating, Hopkins talent show, Hopkins spirit week, and inauguration month. Senior week will be held from May 13th - 19th.
20. He presented his goal as a programming chair: making Hopkins known for its school spirit.
    5. Credit Overloading Survey - Senator Kevin, Senator Jazzlyn, and Senator Omotola
21. Academic Affairs (AA) committee senators presented their survey on credit restriction among KSAS students. The survey is aimed to reflect how the student body feels about the restriction.
22. Motion for 5 minutes Q & A was passed.
23. PoS Srigouri asked if they have thought about how they will send out the survey to ensure the maximum engagement. AA answered the survey will be sent via email and they expect high engagement with the short survey.
24. President Vishnu addressed these surveys and will be responsible for DoR Jason for the future reference.
25. AA addressed that credit limitation and FA requirements in KSAS come hand in hand.
26. AA shared that the administrator's intention of this policy was to prevent students from overwhelming themselves. However, this may not be an effective policy as Hopkins students are already adding extra curricular work such as research and the credits for research should be disregarded from the class credits for KSAS.
27. Cohort Time (15 min)
    1. SGA Goals and Vision Presentation - President of Senate Srigouri
28. Srigouri presented SGA Goals and Vision. The pillar objectives for this year include 1. Increasing school engagement and school spirit, 2. Increasing administration transparency, 3. Addressing student services concerns.
29. PoS Srigouri highlighted the expectations for the senators. VP Omotara presented initiative tracker implementation. The purpose of the tracker is for the Executive branch to best support every senator and their initiatives. The forms will be sent out on Teams.
30. President Vishnu presented past initiative examples to the Senate.

Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

Adjournment (Estimated 9:00 PM)

Time-length and adjournment estimates are provided for the benefit of guests at Senate meetings. However, SGA meetings are always slated to extend until 9:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate.