Senate General Body Meeting #24 — Agenda (04/01/25)

112th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #24

April 1, 2025 / 07:20 PM / Hackerman B17

AGENDA

1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

   1. Excused Absentees: Omar Gharib, Jennifer Tang Cabrera
   2. Unexcused Absentees:

2. Convening Business (40 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. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

7. SVC Presentation- Secretary Buse Koldas & President Nasreen Naqvi
8. SGA Merch- Senator Tanisha Taneja
9. Closed Session

10. First Reading

11. Second Reading

12. Board of Directors Amendment- Senator Daarian Rouhani
13. JHU Snack Packs Bill- Chair Tim Huang
14. Chair of Programming Bylaw Amendment- Chair Tim Huang
15. Chair of Programming and Meetings Constitution Update- Chair Tim Huang
16. Voter Turnout Bill- Chair Tim Huang

17. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

18. 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.

112th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #24

April 1, 2025 / 07:20 PM / Hackerman B17

MINUTES

11. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Excused Absentees: Omar Gharib, Jennifer Tang Cabrera
    2. Unexcused Absentees:

12. Convening Business (40 min)

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

    1. Fraternity & Sorority Life Senator Yashas Mallikarjun gave a motion to add a closed session to talk about the ICE deportations on campus. The motion passed.
    2. Agenda has been approved.

14. Public Input (3 min)

15. Reports (5 min)

    1. Cabinet Reports (4 min)
       1. Student Body President Stone Meng wished everyone good luck if they are running for the elections. He also said that the executive board is creating transition documents.
       2. Student Body Vice President Amy Li informed that a previous SGA secretary is joining the meeting today.
       3. Chair of Programming Tim Huang informed that the Junior Formal raised $1,300 for the Children’s Hospital. They are thinking about how to send the money to the hospital and the photos will be out tomorrow. He mentioned that the Freshman Formal will be in a couple of weeks.
       4. President of the Senate Nasreen Naqvi will be leaving SGA after four years. She proposed that instead of transition documents, we could have transition videos this year. She asked the opinion of the senate. Our last GBM will be on April 15th. The Storytelling Event on April 23rd of this year will include a new twist this year, which Naqvi is very excited about. This is a great opportunity for networking while eating dinner.
    2. Advisor Report (2 min)
       1. Snell wished everyone good luck who is campaigning.

16. Non-Legislative Business (15 min)

17. SVC Presentation- Secretary Buse Koldas & President Nasreen Naqvi
    1. Naqvi and Secretary Buse Koldas introduced the Johns Hopkins University Sesquicentennial Volunteer Committee, which is a committee preparing celebrations for the 150th year of Hopkins. The committee’s motto is ‘Sesquitize it!’ and the celebrations will take place from July 2025 to December 2026. The events throughout the year will have the 150th branding.
    2. Koldas introduced the Sesquicentennial Awards Program to enhance existing academic programs and activities. They wanted to explicitly talk to SGA as an opportunity to get funding for an event towards the 150th year. As an undergraduate group, you will need a faculty advisor. There will be two application cycles, and more information will be shared on Teams. Maximum funding a student group can receive is $5000.
    3. Naqvi added that this is an extra opportunity for these groups because they will have extra funding. Naqvi and Koldas wanted to bring this opportunity further so that SGA can be aware in advance.
    4. Senior Class Senator Ryan Alezz asked about the number of funds. Koldas answered that you can apply under the three award categories she went over. However, there isn’t a specific amount of awards that has been talked about yet, Naqvi added.
    5. Senior Class Senator Jacquelyn Slade asked if an event can be proposed by an undergraduate and alumnus as a collaboration, to which Koldas said yes.
    6. Religious and Spiritual Life Senator Zachary Bahar asked if these will clash with the 250th anniversary for the United States. Naqvi answered that while talking to board members this wasn’t mentioned, she will definitely bring it up next time.
    7. Freshman Class President Jason Yu asked if it can be for an initiative. Naqvi answered that it has to be a school wide event; however, Koldas suggested applying under the Creative Vision award anyways.
18. SGA Merch- Senator Tanisha Taneja
    1. KSAS Senator Tanisha Taneja suggested creating SGA merch. She suggested this because they had multiple tablings where it was hard to distinguish who was in SGA and who was not. They plan to talk to the Finance Committee. Once they have every member from SGA order, they will order the merch.
    2. Junior Class Senator Anisha Rasamsetty showed the designs, which can be found in the link above.
    3. Alezz suggested looking at different colors to pop in the crowd.
    4. KSAS Senator Daarian Rouhani stated that the quarter zip is the best option and the logo should go on the back with just the letters SGA.
    5. Student Body Vice President Amy Li pointed out that it won’t be possible to order the merch this year, Rasamsetty said they are waiting to order it after the results of the new SGA. The number of apparel is temporary.
    6. WSE Senator Moses Frumkin pointed out that buying apparel for student government members might make it seem that the funding is going the wrong way to the public.
    7. Bahar suggests allowing the members to buy a sweater.
    8. Alezz mentioned that the intention is not to give merch towards SGA but rather visibility for finding SGA members. The quarter zips might be pushing it too much. They could use a local shop in order to not waste money.
    9. Taneja mentioned that quarter zips will be better for weather versatility. She likes the suggestion of choosing local shops.
    10. Huang agreed with Bahar that it might be bad for optics. One idea is a merch order for all of the student body. There are designs that are ready. If you want to turn it into a general body, you can have these types of merchandise for SGA and merch that people can buy.
    11. Sophomore Class Senator Arihant Singh knows multiple people who are struggling with funding; and therefore, having a specific design just for SGA will be a bad look. He suggested choosing a better stand out merchandise. The T-shirts seem overpriced, so he agrees to go with a local store.
    12. Slade understands the concerns about funding; however, she thinks that this is a good marketing tool and fosters the visibility of SGA.
    13. KSAS Senator Danial Nabizadeh loves the initiative. He pointed out that Senior Class Senator Jennifer Tang Cabrera sent out a form with some designs she brought together, so he suggested comparing these designs to hers. Nabizadeh added that the SGA needs something that will help them get more visibility.
    14. Taneja will look into Huang’s idea of going for local shops to not spend SGA funding.
    15. Freshman Class Senator Kevin Xu agrees that it is hard to distinguish SGA members from others, which could be resolved with badges or merchandise. It is not unordinary for other student body clubs to hand out merchandise, so it might not be a big problem. However, he agrees to lower the costs.
    16. Rouhani told Taneja and Rasamsetty to not get discouraged by bad optics. He personally doesn’t see anything wrong with SGA getting merchandise when SGA has been helping other clubs do the same.
19. Closed Session

20. First Reading

21. Second Reading

22. Board of Directors Amendment- Senator Daarian Rouhani
    1. Rouhani asked anyone with a question to ask him. The bill intends to improve communication and transparency between committees.
    2. KSAS Senator Jaden Garcia pointed out that there are two co-chairs for Internal Affairs. Rouhani said that he will specify.
    3. Answering Alezz’s clarification request, Rouhani said that the only new thing being added is the new board, so it is not creating any new positions.
    4. The bill passed unanimously.
23. JHU Snack Packs Bill- Chair Tim Huang
    1. The event will be organized on April 30th. They will be giving out snacks and face masks. It is a collaboration with Health & Well-Being. This will be advertised to the student body.
    2. Yu asked if the food is for the volunteers, to which Huang said that it is for everyone participating.
    3. Xu asked who the face masks are for, to which Huang said that they will be distributed.
    4. Rasamsetty asked if it was the same catering service as the one in the Junior Formal, to which Huang said it’s not.
    5. Alezz asked if there were dietary restriction foods for vegetarians and vegans. Huang responded that it will be provided.
    6. The bill passed unanimously.
24. Chair of Programming Bylaw Amendment- Chair Tim Huang
    1. The bill changes the programming structure. It will take effect next year.
    2. The bill passed unanimously.
25. Chair of Programming and Meetings Constitution Update- Chair Tim Huang
    1. The bill has been changed according to feedback from Internal Affairs and others.
    2. Alezz said that if a committee consists of people who are not enough to have a quorum in the whole group, then their meetings are exempt from being open meetings. Meetings where the members are more than the number required to vote on something need to be open, which sets a good precedent for the future. He thus suggested closing all committee meetings.
    3. Huang said that the reason why he decided to keep some committees open is because SGA is a pretty open club, so he wants to make sure people find out about what’s going on inside. People don’t come to committee meetings; however, it is still beneficial to keep them open.
    4. Xu agreed that not a lot of people will come to SGA committee meetings. Xu agrees that we should maintain some type of transparency instead of looking for precedents to rationalize not having transparency.
    5. Slade wondered why this is being brought to the senate although it only interests the committees themselves. Huang said that it is required by the SGA constitution.
    6. Sophomore Class Senator Jazzlyn Fernandez said that she doesn’t agree with closing the committee meetings. She proposed that in the middle of a lawsuit, it is not a correct move to close down the meetings. This is because the members are elected in and it’s sending the wrong message to now have them be closed. It seems like there is something hidden, which doesn’t seem fair to other branches. She also points out that there are documents that are given in discretion which are determined by only two people.
    7. Huang said that the lawsuit will happen either way and will follow the old SGA constitution. This is not a reflection toward it as this passing doesn’t have an impact. He said that Internal Affairs go through impeachments, logistical laws and other internal affairs, similar to the Judiciary meetings, which are not open to the public. This is why Huang thinks Internal Affairs should be closed to the public. For the executive board, he said that when the administration visits SGA meetings, they give information to the executive branch, which they can not share with anyone else. He added that there isn’t any organization that has their executive board meetings open.
    8. Garcia said that technically, even if nobody is looking at it, it should be there for the record. Garcia asked for an iClicker vote.
    9. Fernandez said that the first thing people do when they are running is to open their accounts to be as available as possible. If someone is being impeached, then they are not holding themselves accountable to those things. The Judiciary closed because they went through things like the lawsuit. They have their own accountability. Internal Affairs go through things that are already public. She thinks that closing the meetings because we don’t want them to see the behind the scenes, then we are limiting public opinion. She thinks that we should hold ourselves accountable to transparency.
    10. Sophomore Class Senator Omatara Tiamiyu mentions that a lot of people don’t attend the meetings anyway, so she questioned what is the harm of opening the meeting minutes and what problems have occurred before. She additionally asked if the executive meetings are closed to the general public or to the SGA as well.
    11. Meng said that a lot of great points have been made, and he suggested leaving this discussion to the next leadership.
    12. Huang said that he wants to pass the Chair of Programming part of the bill.
    13. Alezz states that it would be better to have an option to close the committee meetings if they are discussing proposals or bills that need to be confidential. In finance, most meetings are open as people sometimes come in to ask questions. In these cases, it is good that they are open. By implementing this will give meetings flexibility.
    14. Huang responded by suggesting to change Article 4, Section 5 to any branch meeting, meaning in a committee, if ⅔ of the committee votes to close the meeting, then it can be closed.
    15. Frumkin asked if committees have the power to decide if they want to close the meeting or the executive board. Frumkin understands that there are some topics that should be held in discretion, but SGA should hold the executive meetings accountable. The goal is to allow people to come to meetings.
    16. Huang said that in the past, these meetings have always been open.
    17. Li asked to clarify ⅔ of the Senate to “voting members.”
    18. Naqvi opened an iClicker vote.
        1. The Senate voted on the bill. There were 12 votes in favor and 19 votes for tabling it and editing it.
        2. The Senate voted again on the bill to decide whether the Chair of Programming amendments should be passed. Those amendments passed with 29 votes in favor and 2 against.
26. Voter Turnout Bill- Chair Tim Huang
    1. Huang said that this is involving the Committee of Student Elections. There has been low voter count in the elections for the past few years. Therefore, they want to pass an initiative to encourage the student body to participate. The tabling will be on April 8th. The first 240 people that come and show that they voted will be given a Krispy Kreme Donut. The whole order will cost $431.
    2. Responding to Xu’s question about how exactly they will prove that they voted, to which Huang said that they can show their Hopkins Groups form.

27. Prospective Legislation & Announcements (5 min)

28. 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.