JHU SGAThe 114th Session
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Senate Meeting #15 - 11/28/23

Minutes / Senate · 111th session · dated November 28, 2023 · updated January 19, 2024

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This document is from a previous session and is kept for the record. It may have been amended or replaced since.

111th JHU Student Government

Senate Meeting #15

November 28, 2023 / 07:00 PM / Hackerman B17

AGENDA

  1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused:
      2. Unexcused:
    2. Present

  2. Convening Business (3 min)

    1. Office of Diversity and Inclusion Presentation - Dr. Charles Lu & Chaplain Shnurr

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

  4. Public Input (3 min)

  5. Reports (17 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

      1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
      2. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
      3. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
      4. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
      5. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
      6. Director of Communications - Director Connie Weng
      7. President of the Senate - President Dalhart Dobbs
      8. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
      9. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman

  6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

    1. KSAS Governance Council SGA Presentation Discussion - Senator Timothy Huang
    2. South Asian Studies Minor Presentation - Senator Srigouri Oruganty

  7. First Reading

  8. Second Reading

    1. Bloomberg Center Visit Travel Funding Bill - Treasurer Jenny Chen
    2. African Student Association Fashion Show Funding Bill and Presentation- Senator Brandon Benjamin
    3. Constitutional Amendment - Parliamentarian Jaden Garcia
    4. SAC Bylaws Amendment - Treasurer Jenny Chen

  9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

    1. Attendance Check-Out - President Dalhart Dobbs

  10. 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 10:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate

MINUTES

1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

  1. Absentees:
    1. Excused:
      1. Unexcused:
    2. Present

2. Convening Business (3 min)

  1. Office of Diversity and Inclusion Presentation - Dr. Charles Lu & Chaplain Shnurr I. Spoke of the structure of the department, mentioning the faculty involved with their respective portfolios II. Mentioned the ecosystem, which involves the faculty diversity, the diversity leadership council III. Talked about the Student Goals, which was a three goal plan and the work done by the Center of Diversity Inclusion IV. Some of the areas focused are providing gender and sexuality resources, multicultural affairs, religious and spiritual life, and then other department-led initiatives were mentioned, including department-led student organizations VI. Spoke of their functions with respect to community, education, advocacy VII. Began speaking on religious and spiritual life at Hopkins. Their office is the Interface Center, which is across the street from the Hopkins tennis court. VIII. Spoke of the functioning of the Religious and Spiritual Affairs, which involved the role in student organizations and engagement, student advocacy, providing support to those students seeking community, funding to student organizations for important religious events, and convening a weekly Interfaith Council meeting to discuss in dialogue about faith and religions IX. Mentioned the involvement in ensuring any instructure projects taken by Hopkins to ensure that there is a room for individuals to pray and responding to community crisis X. Senator Mufasa Cruz Moreno - Asked about if there is any budget offered to religious and cultural events Stated that the budget is roughly 15,000 dollars and about 87% of the requests are given to students for their religious and cultural events XI. Vice President Jackson Morris - Asked about the results of the climate survey taken this semester and its release and followed up with a question with how Hopkins will respond to a lower student response Most likely in the Spring. Mentioned that they are not certain on the response itself and will not wish to mislead the SGA XII. President of the Senate Dalhart Dobbs - Mentioned if that there is a program being conducted by the Middle Eastern studies student organization and if the Religious and Spiritual Life Department will be interested in collaborating on them Mentioned that although there is interest for such a collaboration, they will have to look into it depending on the goals, the outcomes and the role the organization provide. With respect to having difficult conversation, Shnurr referred to it as clumsy XIII. Junior Class President Resham Talwar - Asked about if there is any change with respect to recruitment from an admissions standpoint due to the recent Supreme Court decision. Worked with Admissions for students from under searched groups to ensure that the campus is attempting to reach out and provide them with an opportunity to see the campus. Cited a program done by Hopkins last year with regards to the same and with respect to the recent Supreme Court decision, the University is not allowed to ask about one’s ethnicity but consider them whereas students are allowed to mention them XIV. Senator Hailey Tomlinson - Asked about the role of the CDI and Religious and Spiritual Life providing gender neutral washrooms Mentioned that they are involved in newer projects and they are pushing the agenda for the same in older buildings. However, there is a map students can refer to for checking gender neutral washrooms.

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

4. Public Input (3 min)

5. Reports (17 min)

  1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)

    1. Student Body President - President Ryan Chou
  • Encouraged communication between the Executive branch and the rest of the SGA, especially feedback
  • Met with leadership groups around campus and found that there is a lot of interest in faith and cultural based dialogue, which will become a larger initiative
  • Spoke on how the framework of related initiative are currently being made
  • Opted to expand the executive branch, which includes an expansion in the scope of the Publication and Programming departments
  • Meeting with other leadership groups around campus, local schools and other JHU campus for potential collaboration
  • Mentioned the revamp in the operation of the SGA executive branch
  • Recognised former members of the executive branch for their work (Elaina, Kobi, Chris, Vanessa, Milton)
  • Recognised the efforts of the members of the President’s cabinet (Jackson, Amy, Jenny, Shalala, Connie, Jason, Kaitlyn, Sean, Dalhart, Nasreen), members of the CMC, Programming and Assistant Secretaries
  • Recognised the efforts of the judiciary and the Senators and advisor Charles
    1. Student Body Vice President - Vice President Jackson Morris
  • There will be a meeting with Dean of Whiting on Thursday (30 Nov)
  • Still working on Bloomberg Center Transportation & program
  • Still working on Town hall for closing MSE library
    1. Student Body Secretary - Secretary Amy Li
  • Remade the attendance sheet by changing some inputs. It is essentially the same with some minor interface modifications
  • Expecting vacancies for Spring 2024 which should be filled early Spring 2024.
    1. Student Body Treasurer - Treasurer Jenny Chen
  • $11,855 left in SGA discretionary funds
  • Dec 21 11.59 pm last day to submit any requests- spring form open
  • Wed Dec 6 Jenny will hold a OPTIONAL 101 workshop for finances
    1. Chair of Programming - Chair Shalala Leny
  • LOTQ (had difficulty healing Shalala)
  • Planning to send out the Bloomberg tour form by today (28th Nov)
  • Planning for more spring events, and members can add input & ideas
    1. Director of Communications - Director Connie Weng
  • Highlighted missing headshots & requested SGA members to reach out to either modify or add missing headshots
    1. President of the Senate - President Dalhart Dobbs
  • His last GBM
  • Referenced joint statement published on Instagram
  • Requested more senate engagement in Middle Eastern Committee next semester
  • Mentioned the need of having members attend and help at the LOTQ (Shahala will send out the form soon)
    1. Director of Research - Director Jason Shumsky
  • No updates
    1. Advisor Report (2 min) - Dr. Charles Norman
  • N/A

6. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

  1. KSAS Governance Council SGA Presentation Discussion - Senator Timothy Huang
  • Started with a presentation (linked above)
  • Added Student Affairs to the list of sponsors on 2nd slide and potentially transform this event into a lifetime Hopkins event series.
  • Event is primarily for freshman but anyone is welcome
  • It will resemble SIF
  • Mentioned the need for contacts to the Bio, Physics and Chem departments
  • Budget is ~$5,000
  • In case SGA funding is needed, it won’t be more than ¼ of the total budget
  • How can we get SGA involved?
    • Mentioned the need to engage students as much as possible to prove to the dean that this should be a reoccurring event
    • Proposals: Tabling, Bring Props to advertise SGA, SGA volunteers present
    • Motioned for a 10-min moderated caucus
    • Stone: proposed that LEED send out an email to make it seem like this is a school sponsored event
    • Omatara: best way to market is through social media and reposing on other orgs pages. Proposed attendance incentive for SGA volunteers. Proposed sending out a form to the teams channel which would be propagated through the SGA members to other groups and orgs.
    • Tyler: has contacts with Chemistry and is willing to help add them to the event. Asked about modality and logistics, Timothy replied by mentioning that this year the event will NOT be held at the rec, but if it is successful they might hold it in the rec next time.
    • Vishnu: Why does BME not want to table? They’re the only major that does not accept students who change majors (only people admitted to the program upon admission to Hopkins)
    • Resham: advocated for having also juniors & seniors to attend and not only freshmens & sophomores. She also mentioned the importance of showing student interest in order to get more funding and help make this event “the best event ever.”
    • Brandon: more focus on social media, having FYM bring their cohort (mandatory excursion). Is the major fair more focused on classes/academics or research? Timothy: focussed more on academics and in the future it could be on a bigger scope and include research.
    1. South Asian Studies Minor Presentation - Senator Srigouri Oruganty
  • Felt the need to create that minor because there are other cultural minors and other schools have it
  • Talked about the people they’ve contacted:
    • Melody McCoy & Beth Romansky: anyone from SGA can attend the meeting early Spring
    • Other names are on the presentation
  • Mentioned how SGA and other students can help.
  • A senator asked for a timeline and other language requirements. Response:
    • Timeline: long time (no specific date was mentioned)
    • Language: will not be pushing for a language requirements
    • They want it not to be centered around one thing (like India) but focus on other aspects and points of views.
    • Assistant secretary Amy talked about her experience on launching a minor which would take several upper levels of approval
  • Brandon asked a question: would study abroad be an option? Response:
    • There might be funding for study abroad

7. First Reading

8. Second Reading

  1. Bloomberg Center Visit Travel Funding Bill - Treasurer Jenny Chen
  • Dalhart: introduced the basics of the bill
  • Form will be sent out soon
  • BILL PASSED
    1. African Student Association Fashion Show Funding Bill and Presentation- Senator Brandon Benjamin
  • Cut of the pricing by half
  • BILL PASSED
    1. Constitutional Amendment - Parliamentarian Jaden Garcia
  • BILL PASSED
    1. SAC Bylaws Amendment - Treasurer Jenny Chen
  • BILL PASSED

9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

  1. KSAS Senator Vacancy email out soon!
  • Email will be sent out tomorrow for vacancies!
    1. Attendance Check-Out - President Dalhart Dobbs

10. 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 10:00 PM and SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion, whether before or after the adjournment estimate